SEQUIM — Rob Clark is no longer the “interim” Sequim School District superintendent after the board extended his contract by one year.
Clark’s contract extension was adopted unanimously by those present at Tuesday’s school board meeting. Board member Jim Stoffer was excused because of illness.
Clark’s new contract will keep him in place for the 2020-2021 school year, with a one-year option to be determined in December.
He will be paid $155,000 for the first year of the contract, with the salary of the option year to be determined if and when that option is exercised.
“I feel great,” Clark said when asked about his reaction to the decision. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be a superintendent.”
Clark was hired as the interim superintendent in June 2019 after the departure of previous superintendent Gary Neal.
In the seven months since, he has drawn repeated praise from school board members for his work in the district.
With plans in motion for a bond measure on the November ballot, board president Brandino Gibson had previously indicated that he and other board members felt that it was the wiser course to keep Clark on-board to plan and oversee the efforts at passage.
Discussions and planning for a new contract have been in motion since October, and Clark and his wife Linda have since purchased a house in Sequim after previously living in Port Ludlow.
A discussion about final terms in Clark’s contract during the meeting was fairly smooth, with only a few questions about various parts of the contract.
Clark requested the removal of one clause in the contract regarding supplemental contract days, saying that it’s inclusion had been “a miscommunication.”
That removal solved most of the questions that board members had, though multiple members sought clarification over the handling of the cap on vacation days.
Vacation days ultimately wound up being a sticking point with Neal after he announced his resignation, having accumulated more than his contract allowed him to receive a payout for.
Clark assured the board that there would be no such problems with him, and the board members were satisfied.
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Conor Dowley is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at cdowley@sequimgazette.com.
