Editor’s note: Dr. Richard Jones, whose tenure as superintendent of North Kitsap School District ended June 30, has a new job: superintendent of the Napavine School District. He will be paid $107,000 a year before benefits, according to the Centralia Chronicle; his predecessor was paid $113,414 in salary and benefits, according to a database on Spokesman.com. It’s a big pay cut for Jones, who was paid $165,918.25 in salary and benefits as North Kitsap superintendent. The Napavine School District, a Class 2B district, has three schools and had 779 students in May 2011, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction website. Amy Nile of The Centralia Chronicle filed this report, which has been shared by the Chronicle.

NAPAVINE — The Napavine School Board has hired a new superintendent. Richard Jones comes to Napavine from the North Kitsap School District.

Jones will replace Trisha Smith, who recently accepted the principal position at R.E. Bennett Elementary in Chehalis, after much public debate surrounding the hiring of Jason Prather as the new dean of students at Napavine High School.

The former R.E. Bennett principal, Kimberly Camren, has taken the position of principal at R.E. Jewell Elementary in the Bend-LaPine School District in Oregon.

Napavine Elementary School Principal Bob Hunt has also resigned after 17 years with the district. Hunt will take the principal position at Cascade Elementary School, pending Chehalis School Board approval at the July 19 meeting.

The current principal at Cascade Elementary School, Chris Simpson, will take over as principal at Chehalis Middle School because Jim Budgett is retiring.

Tony Miles, the former Napavine High School and Middle School principal, told The Chronicle that he resigned last June because he could see a deepening divide between the Napavine school board members and the administrators.

“To have your entire administrative team resign within a year is troubling,” he said.

Miles said he has noticed a shift in the focus of the district from academics to athletics over the last few years.

“I’m disappointed,” he said. “Over the past year there has been some distrust. That’s saddening because the kids are impacted.”

Miles, now an associate principal for the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Wash., said he hopes the Napavine School Board turns things around.

“When the new superintendent is hired, I’d hope they take advantage of the tools they have and the new administrative team is allowed to function,” he said.