PORT ANGELES — Mid-year changes are underway at Port Angeles School District, and a principal will depart at the end of the school year.
Stevens Middle School Principal Chuck Lisk was named acting interim assistant superintendent and Assistant Principal Renee Lancaster will act as principal at Stevens.
Also, Dry Creek Elementary School Principal Michael Herzberg has announced plans to depart at the end of the school year.
Lisk, who has been with the district since 1994, is taking the place of Gerald Gabbard, who resigned as assistant superintendent in December.
Gabbard accepted an appointment as associate professor at the College of Education at Concordia University in Portland, Ore.
The Port Angeles School Board accepted his resignation at the regular board meeting Jan. 8.
Herzberg, who has been principal at the school since July 2014, accepted a position as professional development director for the Bureau of Education & Research, a private education research institute located in Bellevue.
He will develop and manage training programs, and recruit and coach teacher trainers throughout the United States and Canada.
Herzberg’s resignation is scheduled to be reviewed for approval at the School Board’s regular meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Roosevelt Elementary, 106 Monroe Road.
A job announcement for the new principal position will be posted to the school district website, www.portangelesschools.org.
The board is also expected to approve the hiring of an additional district school nurse, Elizabeth Gratz.
Board meeting
At Thursday’s meeting, the board will consider a resolution to request a temporary waiver for new state high school graduation requirements.
The district applied to the state Board of Education for a temporary waiver of state graduation requirements for the class of 2019, but was told it needs to also approve a resolution.
If the waiver is approved, it would shift the date of new requirements for Port Angeles High School students to the class of 2021, who are in the seventh grade at Stevens Middle School.
Additional time is needed to reorganize classes to meet the new state requirements, which will increase from 20 credits to 24 credits, and reduce the available number of vocational/performing arts elective credits so students can concentrate on core academic courses, Gabbard told the board.
The Port Angeles School District currently requires 22.5 credits for graduation.
The meeting will also include student of the month presentations, the Roosevelt school report, a special education program report, an activities report and a report on the status of The Ridge highly capable program at Roosevelt Elementary, including information on the curriculum and the “myths and truths” of identifying highly capable students.
