PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend School District is again recruiting a principal for Blue Heron Middle School after the chosen candidate declined to take the job.
The new principal would replace Diane Lashinsky, 57, who announced in April her retirement at the end of the school year for personal reasons.
She had led the school for three years.
Craig Cooper, a Port Townsend native who is now principal of McKnight Middle School in Renton, was selected as the top candidate but withdrew last Thursday.
“We are all disappointed that Craig Cooper declined, but we will get out there again,” said district Superintendent David Engle in a text message last Friday.
The new post was on the school’s website last Friday, viewable at tinyurl.com/PDN-principal.
The application window ends June 30. Interviews tentatively are planned for July 6-12.
The advertised salary range for the position is $84,878 to $96,847; Lashinsky is earning $91,850.
Laurie McGinnis, the district’s human resources/payroll director, said that if no one is found, the district will seek to recruit someone to serve in an interim basis.
“We haven’t talked too much about that because we hope we can find someone during the second round of interviews,” she said.
The position will not be filled internally because there is no one on the school’s staff who is qualified to be a principal, McGinnis said.
The school at 3939 San Juan Ave. employs 32 certificated and classified staff and serves about 430 students, according to the job listing.
When Lashinsky resigned, Engle said that recruitment would be difficult because Blue Heron has an unusual grade configuration which requires candidates to have both elementary and middle school experience.
At that time, Lashinsky said her frustrations at Blue Heron were no different than in any other school — a lack of both adequate instructional time and the money needed to support programs.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
