PORT TOWNSEND — When the Port Townsend School Board deliberated Thursday night on a choice for superintendent — opting instead to seek an interim superintendent — it was considering only one finalist.
The board, set to choose a successor to Superintendent Tom Opstad from two finalists, learned at the beginning of Thursday night’s meeting that Mellody Matthes had withdrawn her name from consideration.
Matthes, 50, executive director of human resources for the Oak Harbor School District on Whidbey Island, was one of two finalists, the other being Thomas Churchill, 48, superintendent of the 300-student Hood Canal School District in Shelton.
When the meeting began at 8 p.m. Thursday, Board Chairman Bobby DuBois informed his colleagues that Matthes was no longer interested, he said.
Neither ‘the right one’
“We thought we had three options: the two candidates or to appoint an interim,” DuBois said. “All of a sudden we had just two.”
The board deliberated for another hour, after which time DuBois issued a written statement on Thursday that read “while the candidates were very worthy, neither was the right one.”
The board decided to seek an interim superintendent and focus on a search for a permanent schools chief in September.
The board will discuss its next steps at the beginning of its next meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday in the Lincoln Building Board Room, 450 Fir St.
While Matthes was under consideration for the Port Townsend position, she also had a parallel application with the Tukwila School District.
The Tukwila district offered her a salary “significantly higher” than the $120,000 a year offered by Port Townsend, she said.
Opstad — who accepted a superintendent job in Aberdeen paying $140,000 annually — was earning about $115,000 a year in Port Townsend.
Matthes said Friday that Tukwila had been pressuring her for a decision, which she postponed until after last Tuesday night’s board meeting, where both candidates were considered.
The board did not reach a decision and reconvened Thursday night to continue discussion.
On Wednesday morning, after the board failed to come to a decision, Matthes accepted the Tukwila position and called consultant John Fotheringham to withdraw her name from consideration.
All those involved are vague about what happened next, and how the information was disseminated.
Fotheringham said he did nothing after that point, and said he “did not know” how the School Board learned about Matthes’ decision.
DuBois said he heard the news from Fotheringham sometime on Thursday, but could not recall whether it was by phone call or in an e-mail.
Whenever it was received, DuBois said he kept the news to himself. He said that to do otherwise would violate the state open meeting act.
The board spent Thursday night discussing its options and chose the interim path, which board member Beth Young said “was always on the table.”
Fotheringham, who ran the search, will cease his involvement and the process will be taken over by his colleague, Dennis Ray.
Gathering more names
“We are in the process of gathering names of people who would be interested in the interim position,” said Ray, who is president of the search firm, Northwest Leadership Associates.
“When we have enough candidates for consideration we will take them to the board,” he said.
After Opstad gave notice in March that he intended to take a position in Aberdeen for the next school year, the board interviewed three search firms.
The board hired Ray’s company to complete the search, agreeing to an $8,000 contract paid in stages throughout the process, the caveat being that it would see the district through to a successful candidate.
The district has not received a bill for services, even though the consultant would have sent two bills under the terms of the contract.
The search firm solicited 26 applications, whittling them down to six and then three.
One dropped out, leaving Matthes and Churchill, who toured the district and met the public last week.
Matthes said on Friday that she enjoyed the experience of meeting the Port Townsend public, and that she would consider applying for the position again next year “if the Tukwila job doesn’t work out.”
She said that timing was one consideration in her withdrawal, but money paid a part.
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Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.