Three candidates selected as SKSD superintendent finalists

The final selection will be announced after the school board’s executive session on Thursday.

PORT ORCHARD — After interviewing seven semifinalists on Saturday, the South Kitsap School District’s board of directors selected three finalists for the soon-to-be-vacant superintendent’s position to take part in the next step in the search process.

The candidates, one of which includes a former South Kitsap teacher, will spend a day touring district schools, meet staff and students and attend a community forum over a three-day evaluation period beginning tomorrow. According to school district spokeswoman Amy Miller, the candidates will each be interviewed again by the school board in executive session following their full day of activity at South Kitsap School District.

One of the candidates — Shawn Woodward, who is superintendent of the Lake Pend Oreille School District in Sandpoint, Idaho — taught in South Kitsap from 1992 to 1999. He left the district to become a principal for the Burlington-Edison School District. Woodward subsequently moved to the North Kitsap School District in Poulsbo, where he was assistant superintendent from 2008 to 2012.

He will spend the day in South Kitsap on Thursday, Feb. 28.

Tim Winter, superintendent of the Clarkston School District since 2014, was a high school principal and assistant principal for nine years with the Peninsula School District in Gig Harbor. He also is a veteran teacher, having taught in the classroom for 14 years in the Clarkston, Olympia and Peninsula school districts.

Winter will get acquainted with the South Kitsap district tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 26).

The third finalist is Dr. Erin Prince, who is a consultant for Prince Catalyst Consulting. From 2016 to 2018, she was vice president of Educational Policy, Chalkboard Project, Foundations for a Better Oregon.

Prince was superintendent for five years with the Corvallis School District in Oregon. She also was a teacher, principal and district administrator in Greater Albany, Lake Oswego and Sherwood school districts, also in Oregon. He earned a doctorate in philosophy degree from Oregon State University.

She will spend the day in South Kitsap on Wednesday, Feb. 27.

The candidates are competing to replace Karst Brandsma, South Kitsap’s current superintendent, who is retiring at the end of the school year after leading the district for three years.

The three candidates will each take part in separate community forums, each one beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 26, 27 and 28 at the district’s administration building, 2689 Hoover Ave. SE, in Port Orchard. Miller said community members are encouraged to attend the forums and provide board members with written feedback on the candidates.

As the close of the final interview, the school board will deliberate in executive session and select a new superintendent on Thursday, subject to reaching agreement on a contract with the selected candidate, Miller said.