With the school year nearing its end, Port Townsend School District officials are scrambling in their search for a new Blue Heron School principal after their top candidate pulled out May 21.

“Of our three candidates, they all have a job,” superintendent David Engle told Blue Heron teachers Thursday, during a brief staff meeting in the school's library.

“None of them, however, have a job with us.”

Craig Cooper, the district's top candidate for the job – which is currently held by departing principal Diane Lashinsky – declined an offer Thursday after touring the campus Wednesday, May 20. He cited his family's unwillingness to move. Cooper is currently principal at McKnight Middle School in Renton, Washington.

“This is like a car crash,” said Engle, adding that the district's other two finalists have accepted positions in other districts. “It's so important that we move fast now because the candidates who are out there are accepting positions like popcorn.”

After briefing Blue Heron's teaching staff Thursday afternoon, Engle rushed back to the district office to work on a new call for applications, which he said would be made Friday, May 22 with the goal of interviewing a new set of candidates in two weeks before the school year ends on June 12.

“When staff go into the summer, it's hard to get them back,” he said. “That's not to say that I won't be able to, but it's inconvenient.”

One teacher asked whether the district would consider any of the 10 other applicants it received after first advertising the position April 10, the same day Lashinsky submitted her letter of resignation.

“If you didn't make the evening show, that doesn't mean you're off the charts,” Engle told the teachers, adding that those who applied previously could submit a letter of interest if still interested, though he said many of those applicants had also already accepted positions in other districts.

Engle thanked the teachers for their involvement throughout the process, and many of the teachers expressed an interest in remaining involved.

“The whole process is so time consuming,” Engle said, adding that the interview committee was made up of 16 people representing staff and community members. “It involves a small community.”

The district's three finalists were interviewed May 12.

“We had really good candidates who happened to also have other offers on the line,” he said. “My intent is to get a great leader for this school as soon as possible, and if that means waiting a bit or trying some interim solution, we'll do that.”

An interim principal could be drawn from a pool of retired principals, Engle said.

Recruiting an existing district staff member would be “a last resort.

“We only need one good candidate,” he said.

Blue Heron School serves about 390 students in fourth through eighth grades.

Lashinsky, who has led the school for the past three years, is earning a salary of $91,850.