The elementary school district has a new superintendent in charge.

William Brand was hired as the interim superintendent during last Wednesday's special board meeting of the King City Union School District. He was approved 4-0, as board member Don Reynolds was absent from the meeting.

“I think that Dr. Brand is going to serve our district very well,” said Board President Mike Howard during the meeting. “He's not coming to us as a babysitter. He fully expects to hit the ground running as if he were the full-blown superintendent and intends to make a difference in this district. We are very lucky to have him with us.”

“There's this feeling in this district that everything is in place to center on student achievement,” said Brand during his speech to those in attendance. “My passion is about all students achieving.”

Brand went on to talk about his experience. “One of things that turned my life around was working in a district where many of the students lived in poverty. Once that happened my whole experience as an educator changed. I have committed as a number one goal that all students will achieve.”

Brand takes the reins as interim superintendent after the retirement of Tom Michaelson, and during a time when the district is searching for a new superintendent.

“The search is approximately three months,” Brand said of the search for his eventual replacement. “I'll be the interim superintendent while they're going out and finding the permanent superintendent. I'm looking forward to the process.”

Brand said his contract does allow for his staying with the district in the event of the search taking longer than three months. “They key of course in the search is you want to find the right candidate for the district,” he said.

When asked about Brand's selection, Howard said, “We looked at several applicants and we narrowed it down to a group of four. After interviewing those candidates, Dr. Brown was clearly a number one choice for the entire board. We're just really pleased that he has agreed to come and work with us during this short period of time while we continue to search for a permanent superintendent.”

“The challenge that we'll have is to make sure that our staff understands that he has the full support of the board to move forward as if he were our permanent superintendent,” said Howard of the challenges ahead for the district. “I think he has the ability and the experience

to begin to lead us on a good, positive change that a new superintendent would be able to just pick up and move forward.”



For the complete article see the 07-14-2010 issue.

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