It’s no secret that there’s been tension between the current Central Kitsap School District Superintendent and some members of the Central Kitsap School Board.
And there’s also been tension between the administration and board and the teacher’s union, the Central Kitsap Education Association.
In the past several months, the board has done a couple of things that have set many people on high alert, including having a weekend retreat at the coast and scheduling it at a time when a board member, who has been known to not go along with the majority, couldn’t attend.
Fast forward a few months to April when that board member, Christy Cathcart, announced that she was resigning to move out of the area.
The board went to work to find a replacement and in May named Jeanie Schulze to that seat knowing she has had issues with the teacher’s union in the past.
In the midst of this, Superintendent Greg Lynch announced that he is leaving at the end of June to take a job with the Olympic Educational Service District 114 as its superintendent.
All of this may be history and some readers may be saying “Why bring it up now?”
Because now is the perfect time to start anew.
The Central Kitsap School District will soon have a new interim superintendent. Hazel Bauman, superintendent of Coeur d’Alene School District will fill the role beginning July 1.
Despite some controversy, the board appointed Schulze to fill the unexpired board seat recently vacated, until the elections roll around in November.
If her appointment is not what residents of the school district want, they will be able to say so in the upcoming election.
Schulze ran unsuccessfully against Cathcart for the same seat in 2011. Cathcart’s resignation saw Schulze appointed to the seat. But Victoria Crescenzi, who also applied for the vacant seat, has filed against Schulze in the upcoming race. Voters can decide in November whether Schulze or Crescenzi is the person for the job.
With these new faces comes a new opportunity.
It’s time that the administration, school board and teachers in the Central Kitsap School District find a way to move forward as a team and put the education of its students as the top priority.
And it’s time for them to be a united front and work together to improve their image.
