Assistant superintendent candidates grilled

MOSES LAKE — The four candidates vying to become the Moses Lake School District's next assistant superintendent spent Wednesday evening explaining their vision for education in Moses Lake, how they would oversee the construction of a new high school, and why they want to work in Moses Lake.

“I've been in this district for 16 years,” said Nikki Mackey, the principal at Knolls Vista Elementary School and the only candidate from inside the district.

“I've got K-12 experience, I worked in the district offices, overseen summer school, written reports and grants,” Mackey said. “I'm a lifer here. I have kids in the Moses Lake schools. I'm not planning on going anywhere.”

Mackey was joined at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills center by Granite Falls Middle School Principal David Bianchini from Snohomish County, Salk Middle School Principal Carole Meyer from Spokane, and Isaac Stevens Middle School Principal Charlotte Stingley from Pasco.

According to Josh Meek, outgoing assistant superintendent, the job will involve supervising the hiring and retaining of new teachers, overseeing the construction of a new high school and elementary school if the February bond election results stand, and generally being responsible for district administration.

Stingley, who was part of the troubled process of building a new high school in Pasco, said she could bring an understanding of what not to do should the Moses Lake School District be able to go though with its plan to build a second high school.

“Pasco had 4,000 kids when we built the new high school,” Stingley said. “Our kids don't deserve an overcrowded high school. But we did things we shouldn't have done. We used the word ‘split' from the beginning, and that became a very negative word.”

People become very emotionally attached to their schools, Stingley said. In Moses Lake, Stingley said she would have teachers and others work with those sixth-graders who would become the new high school's first students.

“They grew up thinking they would be Chiefs,” she said. “We need to think of this as a new opportunity. Those kids would still be part of Moses Lake.”

Bianchini explained that Granite Falls passed a bond for a new middle school STEM — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — building and football stadium by a mere 18 votes.

“We got out and communicated,” Bianchini said. “It was a big deal to deal with.”

Meyer said she worked in the Mead School District when they built a second high school, and it took years for Mt. Spokane High School to form its own identity and drop the “Mead” from its official name.

“It was not fun. I lived in the community, and it takes time,” Meyer said.

Mackey said it was important to be transparent in both decisions and actions and consider and address the feelings and views of the almost 40 percent in the Moses Lake School District who voted against the school bond.

“We need to let the naysayers have a voice,” Mackey said. “You don't want to just bulldoze the 40 percent, that would be like saying we don't want you to be a part of the community.”

Mackey said it was important to continue educating the public about the costs involved in public education, as well as the benefits the community derives.

According to School Board member Oscar Ochoa, who also sits on the committee that will recommend a candidate for the position, the district hopes to make a choice “sooner rather than later” but that there is no deadline yet to make a hiring decision.

“If one candidate clearly rises to the top, that will be clear cut and we're good, but if we've got two good candidates, we may need a second round on interviews.”

The assistant superintendent position will be vacant at the beginning of July when the current occupant, Josh Meek, will become the district's new superintendent.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.