EVERETT — Two days after Superintendent Carol Whitehead announced her early retirement, the Everett School Board turned to her second-in-command to take over the district for the next school year.
Deputy superintendent Karst Brandsma, who was out of town Monday, accepted the role of interim district superintendent during a telephone call at a board meeting early Monday.
Whitehead announced Friday she plans to retire Sept. 1. She said her decision was based in part on a death threat she received in April.
The board’s vote was unanimous to hire Brandsma for the 10-month period, but the decision raised concern with the head of the district’s teachers union because of his role in placing a surveillance camera in a classroom in 2007.
Board members Ed Petersen and Sue Cooper will meet with Brandsma to negotiate a contract. If talks are successful, the contract could be on the July 8 school board agenda.
Brandsma has been with the 18,500-student school district for seven years. He was hired as an associate superintendent and promoted to deputy superintendent.
The district held the meeting at 8 a.m. Monday morning and sent notice of the meeting electronically at 4:28 p.m. Saturday.
The timing wasn’t right for a full-scale search for the next superintendent and that’s why the board went with an interim selection, said Sue Cooper, a board member.
“This is not a good time of year to do a search,” she said. “We must be careful and thoughtful. Selecting a superintendent takes time; we must connect with the calendars of the candidates, and we must plan how we will choose a leader who can build upon the strong foundation laid by Dr. Whitehead. To ensure that the work continues, we must look inside the district for quality interim candidates.”
While school board members had high praise for Brandsma, the head of Everett’s teachers union said the appointment gives her “great pause.”
Kim Mead, president of the 1,200-member Everett Education Association, said the fact that Brandsma was part of an administrative team that agreed to place a surveillance camera in a Cascade High School teacher’s classroom in 2007 causes her concern. The union has filed an unfair labor practice with the state over the issue. No date has been set for a hearing.
“I am more than willing to work with Karst on moving issues forward,” Mead said. “The trust is going to have to be established and, at this point, it is at an all-time low.”
Whitehead received a death threat in a letter shortly after news became public that the camera had been put in the classroom of Kay Powers, who was helping students run an underground newspaper. Everett police continue to investigate the threat.
Powers was placed on leave last spring and fired in the fall. Among other things, she was accused of helping students put the paper out using school district equipment despite being warned not to do so. She was reinstated in April after reaching a settlement with the district that allowed her to return to teaching by taking a position at Henry M. Jackson High School.
Madsen, the board president, said she wished Whitehead didn’t feel the need to step down. Whitehead said earlier she planned to retire in January 2009.
“The board and I feel profound frustration that you have been put into the position of leaving because someone made the bad choice to threaten you,” Madsen said in the statement. “That said, it is where we are now, and we must consider what can be done so that the district does not lose the incredible gains we’ve enjoyed as a result of your leadership. All those things that are important to us, the things that are going so well, we would not want to lose.”
Madsen said the board is confident in Brandsma despite the union’s concerns about the camera.
“We know that all administrative actions taken were to protect students,” she said. “I believe the community will see our interim selection today as a sign of our confidence in Karst and our full understanding of what happened. We have no doubts about Karst’s intentions then or about Karst now in this leadership position.”
Madsen said the board will begin discussing how it will hire its next superintendent in the fall.
Brandsma came to the district from Tumwater, where he served as director of secondary education and technology. Prior to that, he worked in the Tacoma and Peninsula school districts. His 31-year career began in the Tumwater School District, where he was a teacher, coach and department chair.
Brandsma serves on the Everett Public Schools Foundation board of trustees and the Everett Central Lions Club board. Brandsma received the PTSA Golden Acorn Award in 2005 for his contribution to improving education.
In Everett, Brandsma has led the district in designing a plan to reform education from kindergarten through high school. He has overseen the day-to-day operation of the district in supervising and supporting classroom instruction.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.
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