Camas School Board Narrows Superintendent Search to Four Candidates

Camas, WA — The Camas School Board has narrowed its Superintendent search down to four candidates following the July resignation of former superintendent, Dr. Jeff Snell. He left to lead Vancouver Schools. 

Seventeen candidates were submitted through the consultant firm McPherson & Jacboson following a nationwide search, and the school board met in workshop two weeks ago to winnow down the list. The new superintendent will assume duties in July 2022.

Those finalists are:

• Michelle Kuss-Cybula, who is the superintendent of the 849-student Cle Elum-Roslyn School District in Cle Elum, Washington. Prior to this current role she served as Director of Teaching and Learning at the Bellingham, Washington School District.
• John Anzalone, an assistant superintendent of education services for the massive Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada. He became a principal at age 32 and he beat 42 other applicants to land the top spot at Eldorado High School, where the graduation rate jumped up by 24 percentage points during his tenure. He recently ran for U.S. Congress as a Democrat. Anzalone, 41, hails from a big Italian family in Buffalo, New York. 
• Charlene Williams, who has served as CSD’s assistant superintendent since 2016; Prior to that she worked in Portland Public Schools for 14 years as Senior Director of School Performance (leading Roosevelt cluster schools), Principal, and Director of Education. She has been a leader in implementing district equity programs, which began in 2019.
• Heidi Harris, an assistant superintendent of student learning at the Auburn School District in Auburn, Washington, which is a role she’s had since 2013. She manages a $48 million dollar budget including BEA funds, Federal and State Grants (EL, High Cap, CTE…). She applied to be Superintendent at Peninsula School District earlier this year. 

The finalists are interviewing with members of the Camas School Board, stakeholders (including teachers, students, and parents) on November 30 and December 1. Those interviews will be made public via video late on December 1 via the CSD website.

The school board hopes to select the new superintendent by December 13, but acknowledged it may take longer. 

“This is a very important decision,” said School Board President Tracey Malone. “If we need to take more time to make this decision, we will take that time.”