Ferndale School District has narrowed down its new superintendent applicants from 16 to six. The Finalists come from school districts around Washington, Oregon and Colombia:
Daniel Chaplik has been superintendent of the Sultan School District in Snohomish County since 2007. After working as a commercial fisherman, he got his bachelor’s degree from Western Washington University and his master’s from Whitworth College in 1992. He began teaching and eventually received his administrative credential from Western.
Karen “Kristi” Dominguez is the current assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning for Bellingham Public Schools. She joined the district’s administration after spending nearly 30 years working as an early learning educator with 18 years in the Bellingham district. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Western and earned her doctorate in education from the University of Washington.
Ferndale High School graduate and Lummi Nation member Heather Leighton is the current principal of Vista Middle School in Ferndale. She has also served as principal of Lummi Nation School and taught in the Mount Vernon and Lynden School Districts. She has two Masters of Education degrees from City University and earned her teaching degree came from Washington State University.
John Parker of Bogata, Colombia has worked as the director of innovation at Colegio Nueva Granada — a top international private school for elementary and secondary education — since July 2019. Prior to that, he worked in the Puyallup School District for 13 years and received his doctorate in education from UW.
Former Scappoose Middle School interim principal Paul Peterson worked as a superintendent for the Oregon district from 2006 to 2011. He resigned for a position with the Northwest Regional Education Service District amid a discrimination lawsuit filed by three women in the district’s administration, the Columbia County Spotlight reported. The school district settled with the three women for $500,000. Peterson received his bachelor’s degree from Washington State University and has a master’s of education from Heritage College.
Dana Rosenbach, superintendent at North Mason School District in Mason County, has taught in Washington, California, Florida and Virginia. She earned her bachelor’s degree from WSU and a master’s in educational leadership and administration from California State University, Northridge.
The school district will conduct interviews on March 19, starting at 8 a.m. at Horizon Middle School. The interviews will be broadcast virtually, and the community is encouraged to watch and provide feedback about candidates. The board will pick three finalists at the end of the day.
Three finalists will be selected for a second round of interviews and participate in a community forum. The school board will announce its final selection March 25.
Last September, Dr. Linda Quinn retired from the district after 12 years and Mark Deebach took over as interim superintendent. Deebach served as assistant superintendent for business and support services and will resume his position once the new superintendent starts July 1.
Northwest Leadership Associates recruited candidates for both positions.
A previous version of this story incorrectly wrote Mark Deebach’s name. The story has been updated to reflect this change on March 12 at 2:45 p.m. The Cascadia Daily News regrets this error.
