San Juan Island School Board swears in new member and interim superintendent | Update

By Hayley Day • June 13, 2018 4:02 pm

On Wednesday, June 13, the San Juan Island School Board swore in a new member and the district’s interim superintendent.

The board selected Kari McVeigh as the interim superintendent at a special June 11 board meeting. McVeigh is an island resident, was a teacher for 11 years, and later a principal and superintendent. Her most recent superintendent position was in California. She will take over her new role this summer and the position will last a year.

Board chairman John Kurtz said McVeigh will be a good fit.

“The fact that she is an island resident and has already worked coaching our principals means the lag time from hiring to starting effective leadership will be measured in days, not weeks or months,” he said.

TJ Heller was also sworn in to fill the board’s vacant position after the former board chairman Ralph Hahn resigned for undisclosed reasons. Heller was chosen on June 8 out of four candidates.

Heller and fellow candidate Ruth McKenna ran for the board last November but lost to Barbara Bevens and Sarah Werling-Sandwith, respectively. Susan Waters and Peter Lane also interviewed for the vacant position.

Both Hahn and the current San Juan Island School District Superintendent Danna Diaz formally resigned in May. On April 16, an Oregon school district board announced that Diaz had been selected to oversee their district.

“I am proud of my time in San Juan Island and there’s no one single accomplishment I can point to because there are so many,” wrote Diaz in a guest column to the Journal. “Our student successes are too numerous to count.”

For more information on the district, visit www.sjisd.wednet.edu.