Schools

Bellevue School Board Splits Over Interviewing Enfield for Superintendent Post

The board split 3-1-1 abstention to start an interview process with interim Seattle Superintendent Susan Enfield to replace Amalia Cudeiro, who left the position of Bellevue Superintendent last month.

The Bellevue School board split over a decision to start an interview process with interim Seattle Superintendent Susan Enfield, and establish a hiring process for other candidates.

Two board members said at a special board meeting Friday morning that an accelerated process ignores four evenings of public input and a week of emails on the community’s priorities in hiring a new superintendent.

Enfield’s name has emerged as a candidate for the position, which she also applied for four years ago – the last time Bellevue searched for a superintendent.

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Board president Paul Mills and board members Chris Marks and Mike Murphy approved the motion to start the interview process with Enfield, who is also being considered as a finalist in other districts.

Board member Steve McConnell voted against and board member Christine Chew abstained from a motion to start an interview process with Enfield because the community’s needs have changed slightly since Enfield was first interviewed three years ago.

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McConnell sand Chew said they wanted to first establish a hiring process before considering any candidates, though they differed slightly on the details on how long such a process should take

“I don’t think that right now, I feel like we’re doing due diligence,” Chew said, saying that the past four public forums on the community’s priorities are for the next superintendent would be for nothing.

Chew told the board she could not support an “ad hoc” process.

McConnell said that his vote against offering an accelerated interview without considering other candidates was not a reflection on Enfield.

It “is a reflection on a process that does not honor the community input,” McConnell said.

However, board members who want to start an interview process with Enfield say that she would be a highly qualified candidate that they would lose if the interview process didn’t start right away. Enfield is already one of the top finalists for the top school position in the Highline School District, according to the Highline Times.

“I do suggest that this happens to be a unique case,” Mills said. “If this doesn’t work out, then we can move forward.”

Enfield was a finalist to be Bellevue’s Superintendent in 2009, but lost the position to Amalia Cudeiro.

Cudeiro resigned from her position as Bellevue superintendent several weeks ago in order to care for her ill mother. She had been on leave since December.


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