Meet the Six Candidates for the Lake Stevens Superintendent Job: Bios, Resumes and Pics
J425 worked all night to get you the resumes, rundowns, photos and initial analysis on the six candidates to replace Dr. Ken Collins. Public interview tomorrow; three finalists interview next week.
UPDATE April 16 — Three finalists named.
LAKE STEVENS — By Friday, April 19, Lake Stevens schools will have a new leader – and that leader will either be an existing Western Washington superintendent from a relatively smaller school district; an assistant superintendent from a relatively larger area school district; or an experienced executive from a large suburban King County district.
We know this because Lake Stevens School District narrowed the search for its new leader to six finalists, announced yesterday at 5:00 pm yesterday. And from our initial review in putting together this rundown for J425 readers — this looks to be an exceptionally strong field.
The six semi-finalists were selected from a worldwide search that yielded 19 candidates from six states and a foreign country (Singapore).
The candidate pool in its entirety included three in-state superintendents, five out-of-state superintendents, two former in-state superintendents and seven assistant superintendents. LSSD helpfully adds that they believe three of the 19 were “identified as persons of color”.1 All three of the current state superintendents made the cut to the final six, as did two assistant superintendents and a chief of staff. All six candidates currently work in Western Washington.
As we surmised in the lede, at initial glance, it certainly appears that the board has assembled an extremely strong and varied group of well-qualified candidates.
The six semi-finalists can roughly be sorted into two pools: the current supes and the assistant supes. The current superintendents all lead slightly smaller districts than the 9,000+ student LSSD, with all three leading districts in the 2,000 to 3,000 range.
The three candidates without superintendent experience offer varied strengths: one brings considerable experience at larger districts as well as local ties; another has served in an executive role at one of the state’s most successful districts, and the third has deputy experience at a similar-sized district to Lake. You can peruse their headshots, bios and resumes below.
Up next: all six will participate in an all-day interview Saturday. The public is invited to participate. From the LSSD website:
An open board meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 13, 2024, to include student, staff and community participation. The agenda includes interviews with the superintendent semi-finalist candidates.
To maintain the integrity of the interview process, attendees will be required to remain in the room for the duration of each interview. Space is limited to 75 individuals for in-person attendance, necessitating prior registration through this form. Meeting room doors will be locked at the start of each interview to minimize disruptions. Guests may enter or leave during the break time between each interview.
By the end of Saturday’s interviews, the board will cut the field to three candidates. The three finalists will engage in final stage interviews April 16, 17 and 18 – that’s Tuesday through Thursday next week. The schedule for those days is as follows:
The new superintendent is scheduled to be announced Friday, with an expected start date of July 3, 2024.
Below, J425 has assembled photos, a quick bio and the resume for each of the finalists. Read on for that info. We’ve also attempted to pigeonhole each candidate with a topline headline describing their profile …and we offer one burning question about each applicant.
The Candidates
The Battle-Tested Executive from Blue-Blood District
John Harrison, Chief of Staff, Bellevue SD
A somewhat non-traditional although well-qualified candidate, Harrison holds the unique position of Chief of Staff at the Bellevue School District.
His Bellevue bio states that “as Chief of Staff, John supports the development and implementation of District policies and procedures; provides strategic guidance, counsel, and technical support related to strategic and annual plans and initiatives; serves as liaison for legislative advocacy and government relations; provides support for community partner organizations and district advisory groups.”
Harrison began his career as a high school social studies and physical education teacher in BC and was a long time high school principal, most recently at Mercer island High School. As a principal, he led the development and implementation of innovative curriculum and programs and created student-centered learning communities that serve all students.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Journal 425 to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.