PORT ANGELES — The School Board unanimously accepted Superintendent Gary Cohn’s resignation Monday night, allowing the eight-year schools chief out of his contract a year early to take a similar position in Everett.

The board also formally set up the mechanism to find Cohn’s successor, a process begun informally by the board last week.

Cohn’s contract had a renewal option for every year of the three-year contract, so the resignation allows the current year to expire this June 30, board president Steve Baxter said.

Accepting the resignation is the formal statement that Cohn’s contract will not be renewed, he said.

Last week, before Cohn’s resignation was official, the board decided by consensus — but without a formal vote — that Baxter should contact the Washington State School Directors’ Association to get more information on how to conduct a superintendent search.

Later in the week, Baxter set up meetings with two search firms.

“Right now we are having informational meetings,” he said Monday night.

“We don’t know anything about the timing or the process yet. We are just getting information from these firms.”

Consulting firm McPherson & Jacobson Consulting LLC presented to the board last week, and Principled Leadership Consulting will make a presentation on Thursday.

Mike Boring, search consultant with McPherson & Jacobson, said the firm had aided the board when Cohn was selected as superintendent.

‘Transparent search’

“The board is committed to a very transparent search process,” Baxter said.

“We intend to involve students, staff, community members and local business and community leaders in the search process for our new superintendent.

“We welcome input now regarding the hiring of a new superintendent to lead our schools.”

“The board might decide not to even go through a search firm and to go a completely different route.”

A Port Angeles School District news release dated Friday, Baxter was quoted as saying the board had decided to move forward with the superintendent search last week.

No commitment

Baxter on Monday night said he was speaking in the news release of gathering information on the path to the search and that the board hadn’t committed to anything.

“I wanted the search firms to come and talk to us a little about the process,” Baxter said.

“In these economic times, we couldn’t afford to waste any time — so I went ahead and set up informational meetings.”

Baxter said that once the board decides to take action toward the search, bids will not be required.

He said the state school directors’ association provided information to him on searches.

“This type of thing wouldn’t [cost] more than $50,000,” he said, “so we wouldn’t need to go out to bid.

“Some school districts might just pick someone out of the phone book or that they are comfortable with, but we wanted to get some more information before proceeding.”

Final day June 30

Cohn will finish work in Port Angeles on June 30 and begin his job with the Everett School District on July 1.

He said he is not sure how quickly he and his wife, Sue, will move to Everett.

“That is dependent on the housing availability,” he said.

The Everett district offered Cohn the job on March 5.

He accepted at that point and began contract negotiations. The contract was approved Tuesday evening.

Cohn declined to release any details of the contract.

Everett School District representatives were not available after hours on Monday, and the minutes were not yet available from the School Board meeting.

The Everett position had been advertised with a pay range of $190,000 to $210,000 annually.

Cohn’s yearly salary in Port Angeles is $138,658.50.

Cohn, 53, was one of 20 candidates considered by Everett schools.

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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.

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