SEQUIM — From acting superintendent to interim, Jane Pryne now has a contract for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year now that former superintendent Robert Clark has resigned.
The Sequim School Board directors on Jan. 19 unanimously approved a contract offer to the former Port Angeles administrator, who had applied for the job that Clark had been given. The contract pays her a pro-rated based salary of $80,343 for the academic year’s remaining 113 work days.
Pryne took the district’s lead administrative role in late October after Clark was placed on paid leave following a complaint; the board approved Clark’s resignation on Jan. 15.
“Obviously, no one was expecting this union to happen the way it did,”said board member Brian Kuh said. “I really appreciate (her) jumping and helping us out.”
“Everybody in the district — the board, the cabinet, the team — everyone has been very gracious,” Pryne said
Sequim School Board members last week got a look at three search firms they could use as they look for the district’s next superintendent.
Clark resigned after the school board scheduled meeting to discuss an separation agreement.
The board and Clark came to an agreement to accept the lead administrator’s resignation Jan. 15, about a year and a half after hiring him and two months after an unspecified complaint put Clark on paid leave, Pryne said.
Pyrne said that Clark and the district agreed to part ways after citing “a disagreement over Dr. Clark’s style of management and decision making.”
Staff offered board directors three firms — McPherson & Jacobsen LLC, Human Capital Enterprises and Northwest Leadership Associates — as potential companies to help lead the superintendent search. The board heard from the three firms Tuesday.
“This is a very important decision, and we need to make our desires known to them of what we want,” board director Larry Jeffryes said.
After a firm is selected, feedback about what the community wants from a superintendent is crucial to the process, board President Brandino Gibson said.
While timelines vary, the firms look to have proposals to the board between March and May, with the superintendent in line to take over July 1.
McPherson & Jacobsen LLC was involved with the selection of two Sequim superintendents in recent years: Kelly Shea in 2011 and Gary Neal in 2014.
“This (superintendent selection) is one of the vital portions of our job,” Gibson said.
