The Central Kitsap School Board filled two important positions Wednesday when it announced the selection of an interim Superintendent and fifth board member.
Immediately following the approval of minutes and the consent agenda, Jeanie Schulze received the oath of office and joined her fellow four board members. She was appointed to the District 4 seat following a 3-1 vote.
Mark Gaines, Bruce Richards and Chris Stokke voted to appoint Schulze to the position. The lone dissent on the board came from Eric Greene, who voted for Victoria Crescenzi.
Schulze ran unsuccessfully against Christy Cathcart for the same seat in 2011. Cathcart’s resignation in April allowed Schulze to apply to temporarily fill the vacant seat.
Despite the appointment, Schulze will have to run for election if she wants to serve beyond the upcoming election in November. Her position on the board will come before District 4 voters in the fall if she chooses to file for election.
Crescenzi will also have the opportunity to bring her campaign before the public. If she chooses, she can file to run for the two remaining years on Cathcart’s District 4 seat.
Schulze served as the school district’s community relations specialist until she retired in 2004.
Cathcart criticized her former colleagues following the selection. During the public comment period, which came shortly on the heels of Schulze’s appointment, Cathcart read a short statement.
“In the election of 2011, the community spoke and clearly communicated their preference in director District 4,” Cathcart said. “It appears to me that the majority of the current board did not listen and hear the community’s message.”
Cathcart left the room immediately after addressing the board.
Superintendent
Following Schulze’s appointment, Gaines informed the room that Hazel Bauman, superintendent of Coeur d’Alene School District will fill the role of interim superintendent.
She will take over from outgoing superintendent Greg Lynch, who took a job with the Olympic Educational Service District 114. His commitment to the district ends June 30.
Bauman beat out two other finalists, Roseburg School District Superintendent Larry Parsons and the Chief Academic Officer of Tukwila School District, Steve Rowley.
She has served as superintendent in Coeur d’Alene since 2008 and worked within that district for 29 years.
Baumen said in a Coeur d’Alene School District press release that the opportunity to be closer to family on the West Coast played a role in her decision to come to Central Kitsap. In that press release Bauman said she and her husband hope to return to Idaho in “a few years” to retire.
The board and Bauman are in the process of contract negotiations, which Gaines said he expects will be completed by the next meeting on May 20. The Coeur d’Alene School Board will have to release Bauman from her contract before she can join Central Kitsap.
