Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Sean Dusek interviewed five candidates for the open West Homer Elementary School principal position in a public meeting on Thursday, Feb. 25. The district expects to announce the person filling the position on Tuesday, March 1, Dusek said.
The principal position was announced as available in late January after current principal Raymond Marshall informed the district of his resignation. Marshall will complete the current school year and the new principal will start in the 2016-2017 academic year.
About 50 parents and community members filled up the West Homer Elementary library to join school board members in observing the candidates’ interviews from 4-7 p.m. The candidates were interviewed in-person or via Skype, depending on the candidate’s location. Each candidate was allotted 30 minutes to answer the 13 questions posed to him or her by Dusek. Some of the questions were based on previous parent and community feedback, Dusek said.
Those attending received input sheets to share their view of each candidates’ strengths and how well the candidate fit the position. The audience input will be taken into consideration by the board as they make the decision over the weekend.
The candidates are, in the order they were interviewed:
- Sean Campbell, Homer High School language arts teacher
- Eric P. Waltenbaugh, Kodiak Island Borough School District high school language arts and social studies teacher
- Jamie S. Burgess, Yupiit School District director of curriculum, instruction and assessment
- Alan L. Haskins, Susan B. English School principal/teacher
- Laura Murphy, Razdolna School 2nd and 3rd grade classroom teacher
Anna Frost can be reached at anna.frost@homernews.com.
