GRANITE FALLS — The list of candidates for Granite Falls School District superintendent has been pared to three, and each has a Snohomish County connection.
In fact, all three at one time or another have worked for the neighboring Lake Stevens School District.
The Granite Falls School Board spent more than seven hours Saturday interviewing candidates and whittling down its list of potential leaders to replace Joel Thaut, who will retire in June.
By mid-afternoon, the board chose as its finalists:
Ken Limon, an assistant superintendent with the Edmonds School District;
Robert Manahan, executive director for teaching and Learning in Lake Stevens; and
Christine Burgess, a former superintendent for the East Valley School District in Spokane.
“The board was very impressed with the quality of the applicants, and we are looking forward to see how each candidate will interact with the students, staff and community next week,” said school board President Siobhan Sullivan. “This is such an important step in the district’s future but we are confident that the new superintendent will meet our goals.”
At the top of the list of goals is improving the curriculum and student achievement and strengthening the district finances.
“The thing that impressed me about the board is they started out with the focus on student achievement and they absolutely stayed true in their selection of their finalists,” said Wayne Robertson, a district consultant assisting in the search process.
Limon has been an assistant superintendent in the Edmonds School District since 1999. Before that he was director of instruction and elementary operations in the Lake Stevens School District for eight years and was a principal in California for 20 years.
Manahan was a principal at two elementary schools in Lake Stevens for nearly a decade before being named the district’s director of teaching and learning this year.
Burgess was an elementary school principal in Marysville for 20 years before becoming assistant superintendent of elementary learning in Lake Stevens and then superintendent of the East Valley School District in Spokane.
There were more than 20 candidates who initially inquired about the opening and about a dozen who completed applications, Robertson said.
The Snohomish County connection each finalist has should be a plus, he said.
“They all know the Granite Falls community,” Robertson said. “That can’t help but be a positive.”
Each candidate will individually visit and tour Granite Falls schools this week.
Local residents can meet and ask questions of the candidates at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the Granite Falls Middle School commons, 205 N. Alder Ave.
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