SEQUIM — Describing the search firm as one that can cast a broader net nationwide, the School Board on Monday night decided to hire executive recruiters McPherson & Jacobson to find the Sequim School District a new superintendent.

Although the agreement is yet to be signed, School Board member John Bridge said it was expected that recruiting a successor for retiring Superintendent Bill Bentley could cost as much $10,000.

Bentley, who has been with the district since 2007, will retire in June.

Bridge said McPherson & Jacobson proposed a fee of $8,500.

“They do this all the time,” Bentley said of the firm that also has been hired to find new superintendents in the Port Townsend and North Kitsap school districts.

“They’re going to give us a better candidate,” he said after the board interviewed Rich Parker, a south Whidbey Island representative for McPherson & Jacobson, during a work session.

New board president

Bridge stepped aside Monday night as School Board president after he and other board members voted to seat Sarah Bedinger as the board’s new president.

Bedinger, who has been on the board more than nine years, will contact both Omaha, Neb.-based McPherson & Jacobson and the other recruiter the board interviewed Monday night, Twyla Burnes, superintendent of Educational Services District 112 in Southwest Washington.

She proposed a lower fee of $4,500, but board members said McPherson & Jacobson recruits nationwide, which was their preference.

Bridge said the board was expected to meet again with the firm next week to set a schedule, then move forward on recruitment in the second week of January.

Finds good fits

Parker told the board that of the 425 searches McPherson & Jacobson has done since 1991, 81 percent of the superintendents have stayed with the districts for five years and 66 percent have stayed with the district 10 years or more.

He said 51 percent of the first superintendents the company recruited in 1991 are still with their districts.

“That’s an amazing statistic,” said School Board member Virginia O’Neil, adding that most superintendents she has known stay in their posts between three to five years.

Narrow the search

Parker said the firm could narrow the search to possibly six candidates after screening applicants but that the process would be left up to the board.

Board members discussed inviting three finalists to introduce them to the community and tour the district’s schools and meet faculty.

After interviewing finalists in closed executive session or publicly, whatever the board chooses, then a final selection could be made, they said.

________

Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.