Selah names interim schools chief finalists

SELAH, Wash. -- Three men have been selected to vie for the position of interim superintendent in the Selah School District.

They are Eugene "Skip" Berquam, a retired superintendent from the Spokane area; Rick Pass, superintendent of the Knappa School District in Astoria, Ore.; and Steve Chestnut, retiring superintendent of the Moses Lake School District.

The interim super-intendent will run the 3,500-student district from July 1 to June 30, 2010, at which time a permanent superintendent will take charge.

The school board chose the three candidates from a pool of 10 applicants.

The public is invited to meet the candidates and participate in a question and answer session Monday. The process begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Selah Intermediate School cafeteria, 1401 W. Fremont Ave.

The school board will be conducting interviews of all the candidates during the same session. Each interview will be conducted in the same fashion.

The first candidate, Berquam, will answer questions from board members from 3:30-4 p.m., which the public may observe. He will then field questions from the public until 4:30 p.m.

After that, while the board meets in executive session for about 30 minutes to discuss the candidate. Public input will be gathered by Dennis Ray, the facilitator who heads the consulting company helping the district choose the interim superintendent.

A similar schedule will begin for Pass at 5:30 p.m., followed by Chestnut at
7:30 p.m.

Before retiring, Berquam, who lives in Spokane, has worked in a number of administrative posts, including superintendent of special services for Educational Service District 101, which covers several eastern counties, and was also superintendent of Reardan schools, just west
of Spokane.

Pass served with Knappa schools for 27 years, 11 as superintendent. He announced his intention to resign from his post last March. The school district has slightly more than 600 students.

Chestnut has been superintendent of Moses Lake schools, with 7,400 students, for the past 12 years. An educator for 32 years, he is retiring from his position at the end of this month.

The school board has not indicated when the final choice will be announced. A phone call to Todd Trepanier, school board president, seeking comment on the process, was not returned Thursday.

The outgoing Selah Superintendent, Debra Howard, resigned May 13, after serving in the district for a year. Her last day is June 30.

Her resignation followed a series of community reactions to administrative decisions announced in the spring. Events began in March when Principal Joe Jones said he was leaving the high school.

Several hundred community members and students -- who believed Howard was forcing Jones to resign -- protested the decision at school board meetings in March and April.

Jones rescinded his letter of resignation in April, but Howard resigned a month later.