SNOQUALMIE – Valley residents will get a chance to participate in an elected body that covers an area from Snoqualmie Pass to the outskirts of Redmond.
Snoqualmie Valley School District Board Member Dave Reed announced last week that he would be stepping down next month. A replacement will be appointed from applicants for the position by the four other board members after being interviewed at the board’s regular Nov. 18 meeting.
Reed is currently president of the board. Vice-president Rick Krona will be appointed president once Reed leaves. Leadership positions are filled on a rotating basis.
Unlike council members on the North Bend and Snoqualmie City Councils, the board of directors represents certain demographic areas. Reed’s district, all of Snoqualmie and the Lake Alice community, has changed dramatically over the past decade. With the addition of the Snoqualmie Ridge neighborhood, Snoqualmie is one of the fastest growing cities in the state and a far cry from the sleepy logging town it once was.
“Rich [McCullough] once joked that I had more trees in my district than anyone else,” Reed said.
Reed’s replacement will be appointed by the board to finish out the term that expires in 2007. Although the board member must come from a certain district, they are voted in and out of office by the district as a whole.
“It’s a true democracy,” said district superintendent Rich McCullough.
Reed has served on the board since 1993. He was one of two Valley residents who applied for a board position left vacant by Don Gmazel, and after the other applicant dropped out, Reed filled the vacancy.
Since being appointed, Reed has been involved with developments in education at the state and local levels. Reed has overseen the introduction of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), helped negotiate labor contracts with the district’s teacher’s union and helped pass several levies, including a $54-million levy in 2003 that will fund, among other projects, a new fiber-optic network throughout the district.
“It’s been great,” Reed said. “We’ve accomplished a lot.”
Reed said his decision to leave was affected by a couple of factors. When he started serving on the board back in 1993, he had two children in school. Those children, Laura and Eric, have since graduated and Reed said it is important to get some representation on the board from parents with children in the district. Presently, Krona is the only board member with a child enrolled in the school district.
Another reason is a burgeoning world of new business ventures. Reed is a business lawyer but has recently become involved in new technologies for medical and retail services.
Reed has known for awhile that he would be stepping down and saw the pending retirement of McCullough as a good reason to make his move now. He said the new board member, who will be working with the new superintendent, should be involved in the search for McCullough’s replacement. The board plans on reviewing candidates for the position next February.
At the Oct. 14 board meeting, Reed’s colleagues commended his years of service and reluctantly gave their blessing to his decision to leave. The district’s board of directors is the most senior in the state and has won awards at both the state and national levels.
“I approve this, with regret,” said board member Rudy Edwards.
* Candidates interested in applying for board member position No. 3 in the Snoqualmie Valley School District should file a letter of interest with superintendent Rich McCullough by Nov. 1 in order to be considered. Board members are paid $50 a day for duties pertaining to the school district.
For information on applying, contact Peggy Richter at (425) 831-8000. A map of the district is available at the school administrative office at 8001 Silva Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie.
