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Dr. Atwater Returns for 2nd Round of Principal Interviews

SeldoviaGal | May 13, 2013 | 0 Comments

by Jenny Chissus

UPDATE 5/15/2013: We are only going to have 3 candidates, as the fourth candidate already accepted another position!

I totally appreciated our Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s superintendent, Dr. Atwater’s willingness to share some feedback with me last week – and now I have an update about the upcoming interviews!

This time around, there were 55 applicants for the position, and the deadline was Friday the 10th to submit an application for consideration. The FOUR candidates have been selected, and ALL candidates will be present in Seldovia (no Skype), so Dr. Atwater and his staff will be here on Friday the 17th to perform the second round of interviews for our principal position. As was described in the last article, the position has changed from a dual school principal (serving Seldovia and Port Graham) to a principal/teacher position here at Susan B. English!

Gazette: How do you avoid the situation we just had – where 2 of the 4 candidates pulled out before they even had the chance to be offered the position?
Dr. Atwater: We can’t fully – it’s a matter of folks disclosing that they are pursuing other options.

Gazette: Isn’t it essential to be in a position to offer the “right” candidate the job as soon as possible, so they don’t get snatched up for another position? Can that time frame (from interview to job offer) be minimized to secure the right applicant?
Dr. Atwater: Perhaps, we could tighten the audience input to the same day. It is difficult for me do all the interviews- limitations of my schedule prevents faster pace of hiring- this is difficult, because I like and want to be at the interviews. We have decided that all audience input will be due on Monday the 20th, to facilitate the process.

Gazette: Is the competition tough? On a desirability level – in terms of location and position? Is the Seldovia principal job in high demand (thus so many applicants) or does it lack the demands of a larger school, so new or inexperienced applicants are interested in it? (So, we may have a lot of applicants, but don’t see the dynamic, experienced applicant we desperately need for our students and community.)
Dr. Atwater: A school of 40 students can present serious challenges- there is a certain level of expertise/experience needed. It would be wrong however, to compare it to Homer High School. Thus, it is a lot easier to not have pervious administrative experience and do well at SBE than it is at HHS.

Gazette: Will any of the previous (2) candidates be in the top 4 this time around?
Dr. Atwater: No

Gazette: Thank you Dr. Atwater! See you on Friday at Susan B. English School at 3:30 – Looking forward to Round 2!!

If you would like to take part in the interview process, it is a public interview, and all those in attendance may submit their input regarding each candidate. This is a very important part of the decision, and your comments are seriously considered by Dr. Atwater. Please join us at Susan B. English School on Friday, May 17, 2013 at 3:30pm.