The school board of the Bremerton School District has voted unanimously against extending the contract of superintendent James Crawford just weeks after the completion of his first year in the position.

The decision came during an executive session June 26. Upon exiting the session, a motion on whether to extend Crawford’s contract was entertained. All five directors — Karen Bolton, Jonee Dubos, John Hurley, Carolynn Perkins and Alyson Rotter — voted against the extension.

No explanation was offered, but records show some type of investigation took place.

Crawford, a Bremerton High School alum, was unanimously selected by the board in March of 2023. His contract remains in place until the end of June in 2026.

The June 26 session was the fourth such meeting this month, a string that began June 6 for what started as an end-of-year review of the superintendent. That first meeting was followed by a regular business meeting that day, but directors met on back-to-back days June 12-13 for meetings with legal counsel.

The board then accepted a letter of engagement from municipal law firm Haggard & Ganson LLP in its June 20 regular session. The letter was addressed to board president Rotter with a June 14 timestamp and was approved as a part of the district’s consent agenda.

The letter, provided in the district’s agenda records, says that BSD retained the law firm to “conduct an independent investigation of the conduct of a school district officer.”

Attorney Jeffrey Ganson says in the letter, “My objective is to find the facts and determine if any agency policies have been violated or if there are other grounds for concern. To this end, I will review documents that are relevant to the matter and interview the complainant(s), subject, and witnesses, following which I will provide a written summary of my investigation and findings.”

The identity of the district officer is unknown at this time.