North Kitsap post an opportunity for growth, Jones says

Burlington-Edison School District Superintendent Rick Jones said Thursday that his reason for seeking employment elsewhere is to grow as a professional and as a final career move, not to escape the controversy surrounding a popular high school principal.

Jones recently was selected as one of two finalists by the North Kitsap School District in its superintendent search. Jones will visit the district next week starting Tuesday. That district will choose a superintendent within 10 days of its May 1 school board meeting.

Burlington-Edison School Board members have known that Jones was seeking another job since winter, and Jones emerged as a finalist in the Northshore School District superintendent search in mid-February.

Jones has been with the district for nearly 10 years. School Board President Liza Bott has said that’s far longer than the average tenure of most superintendents.
Jones said Burlington is a “wonderful, supportive community,” but he wants to advance his professional career.

“You make choices for professional reasons and an opportunity to grow professionally is a good thing,” he said. “Everyone should do it. We should always be growing and learning.”

North Kitsap School District School Board President Melanie Mohler said the district had 33 applicants for the position.

“I think what we are looking for in all of the candidates who applied is a good communicator, a good relationship-builder, but most of all, are they for the kids?” she said. “Those are probably three of the top characteristics that came out of the references we got from Rick and also from his resume.”

Jones, 57, said this is a good time for what could be his final career move.
But some high school teachers and staff still want answers to Jones’ statements more than a month ago that seemingly threatened the tenure of Principal Beth VanderVeen.

Steve Zeiser, an intervention specialist at the high school, said he plans to attend Monday’s School Board meeting to support VanderVeen, and he wants to hear the School Board’s answers to why Jones told VanderVeen she had just one year left at the high school. VanderVeen earned Washington state Principal of the Year in 2006 and has been at the school for 12 years.

But the School Board is not expected to address Zeiser’s questions.
Richard Glick, head of the Burlington-Edison Education Association, said he was turned down when he asked for time on Monday’s School Board agenda to discuss the matter.

“They felt our agenda item dealt with a personnel issue,” Glick said. “Of course, those cannot be discussed publicly.”

Jones said VanderVeen had one year left at the high school during an all-staff meeting in mid-March. Initially he denied saying that she only had a year left as principal of the high school. He said he doesn’t remember making that statement.
But after conferring with several teachers who had attended the meeting, he acknowledged that he might have made the comment. He said that he misspoke and that VanderVeen could stay as long as she wanted.

But Zeiser said he has a hard time believing that Jones misspoke.

“The principal was in tears and people were in shock,” Zeiser said of the mid-March meeting. “If he misspoke, he could’ve cleared it up at that point. The emotion of the room was too much for someone to carry on unless they believed what they were saying.”

Chris Chase, secretary at the high school and a co-president of the school’s Public School Employee’s union, said she plans to attend the next board meeting in support of VanderVeen.

“We are a team here,” she said. “It takes a whole village.”

Zeiser said he expects more than just high school staff and teachers to attend the meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday night in the board’s small meeting room at 927 Fairhaven Ave., Burlington.

Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at