By Pepper Fisher
SEQUIM – The Sequim School Board has voted unanimously Tuesday night to extend Interim Superintendent Dr. Jane Pryne’s contract until June of 2022.
The terms of Dr. Pryne’s contract will be further discussed at the next board meeting.
Board President Brandino Gibson says Pryne offered to stay on in a full-time role until the District was ready to launch a full-on nationwide search for a permanent superintendent.
Gibson says a search firm has been paid to conduct the search, but they’re recommending holding off for a while.
“There’s some potential that there may not be a strong pool out there right now because we’re late in the game, and that, based on the, you know, kind of the hiccups that we’ve had over the last several months within the district and the concerns where Sequim is, you know, national news with some of our other issues in City Council, that it may discourage a strong candidate pool.”
Gibson says if Dr. Pryne had not agreed to stay on another year, the job would have been posted nationally this Friday. He says this gives them some wiggle room, and explained the Board’s thinking process.
“We’ll post it during the normal time frame after the school year, and that’s when we started attracting those people that are starting to look. Right now, the the pool that’s out there are people that are kind of pulling their name out of the hat. ‘Well, I didn’t get picked up yet, so I’ll just stick where I’m at’.”
Pryne, a former superintendent of the Port Angeles School District, was brought on in November after Rob Clark was placed on leave pending an investigation into a staff complaint that has never been fully explained by district officials.
Clark ultimately resigned in January. A statement from the board at the time said Clark and board had a “disagreement over Dr. Clark’s style of management and decision making”. It stated Clark had elected to resign in the best interests of the district.