The Forest Grove School Board whittled 30 applicants down to five for the soon-to-be-vacated position of Forest Grove School District Superintendent on Friday, March 15 during a closed executive session with their consultants, Human Capital Enterprises.
According to Forest Grove School Board Chair Valyrie Ingram, those five candidates will be interviewed for the first time in another round of executive sessions on April 4 and 5.
Executive sessions are a type of meeting held by governing bodies that are closed to the public, and generally exempt from most public records disclosure laws. No final decisions can be made during such a session. While journalists are allowed to attend them, they cannot report on the content of the executive sessions.
“As previously announced, applicant names will not be disclosed publicly,” Ingram said.
Following those executive session interviews, the school board expects to advance superintendent finalists.
After that, finalists are scheduled to interview with what Ingram said was a “representative confidential community and staff panel” on April 9.
And following that, another set of executive session interviews will be held April 18-19.
“The Board anticipates acting on the sole finalist contract and appointment in an open Special Board Meeting to be scheduled by May 1,” Ingram said.
“At that time, the district will make a public announcement naming the next Superintendent of Forest Grove School District.”
That superintendent will lead the administration of schools in Gales Creek, Dilley, Forest Grove, and Cornelius.
Current Superintendent David Parker was hired to replace former Superintendent Yvonne Curtis, who resigned in 2017 after nine years in the position. Parker announced in October that he would retire at the end of the 2023-24 school year in June.
Along with Human Capital Enterprises, the company hired by the board to spearhead the superintendent search, the board reviewed input from hundreds of community members, staff, students, and parents and adopted criteria and qualifications for the next superintendent before moving the process into open recruitment,
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
