Sequim School District Superintendent Kelly Shea accepted the superintendent position at East Valley (Spokane) School District on Friday, March 6.

He’ll negotiate his contract next week and plans to submit his letter of resignation to the Sequim School Board with his last day slated for June 30, he said.

Sequim School Board members will tentatively vote on his resignation at their next meeting on March 16 while the East Valley School Board will vote on officially hiring Shea on March 24.

Shea was one of three finalists with Kathryn Orozco, superintendent of the Whitefish School District in Whitefish, Mont., and Tom Gresch, interim superintendent at East Valley.

He notified Sequim School Board and administrators immediately after the decision was made, Shea said. Over the weekend he’ll draft a note for Sequim School District about his decision.

Shea said he spent 11 hours in East Valley School District on Thursday meeting with six different staff and community groups for his final interview.

Previously, the Sequim School Board indicated they will contact the consulting firm, McPherson & Jacobson, that helped bring Shea to Sequim three years ago if he took the job .

“They will sit down and consider their options,” Shea said.

Shea said he considered and finally applied for the position in January for family reasons. Shea’s mother was diagnosed with cancer last March and has undergone chemotherapy treatment since, and last November Shea’s stepfather died. He said the only place he’d leave Sequim for is Spokane Valley in order to be close to his mother.

Shea, who is from Spokane, was hired in Sequim in July 2012 after teaching, serving as a principal and executive director of Human Services mostly in the Spokane area.

His original plan was to work here five-seven years before looking to move back to Spokane area, he said.

East Valley has more than 4,000 students, seven schools, 480 staff members and an annual operating budget of $44.4 million.

Shea said Sequim’s two recent school construction bonds that voters didn’t approve (one in April 2014 and Feb. 10) was not a factor in his decision to apply.

He sees any future planning for school construction not being affected by his decision to move either.

“Everything continues to go forward,” he said. “I’ll continue to serve as superintendent until the last day.”

Superintendent

search begins

The Sequim School Board of Directors hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 16, with representatives from the firm of McPherson & Jacobson present to review a proposal for a new superintendent search.

A regular board meeting follows at 7 p.m. Both meetings are in the district boardroom at 503 N. Sequim Ave. and are open to the public.

The Sequim School District hired McPherson & Jacobson, a firm for Executive Recruitment and Development, in its 2012 superintendent search.

Kelly Shea has served as superintendent of Sequim Schools since July 2012 and recently accepted a position as superintendent of the East Valley School District in Spokane.

View the meeting agenda online at www.sequim.k12.wa.us. For more information, call the district office , 582-3260.