Bainbridge Island School District Superintendent Faith Chapel will retire at the end of the school year, district officials announced Friday.
In a letter to the school board, Chapel said it was an honor to work on Bainbridge, where she has been since 2001 and superintendent for the past eight years.
“I want to express my gratitude to you and to the Bainbridge Island community for the opportunity to serve as the superintendent of one of the finest public school districts in the nation,” Chapel said in the letter.
“It has been an honor to work with you and with a dedicated and talented group of administrators, certificated and classified staff to build upon a longstanding tradition of educational excellence and set the stage for the future,” she added.
“Faith has been an outstanding superintendent for our district,” said School Board President Mev Hoberg.
“She took the district’s helm at the beginning of the recession and successfully guided us through very trying economic times. We emerged strong, and with her leadership we have focused on improving student growth and teacher development. She has set us on a great path, and we will truly miss her,” Hoberg said.
The school district will launch a comprehensive search process to select the district’s next superintendent.
Officials said the effort will begin next week with a request for proposals from firms with experience hiring superintendents.
Chapel’s retirement takes effect on June 30
Chapel said the choice was a difficult one, but she wants to spend more time with family and friends and pursue avocational and community activities of personal interest.
Chapel began her career as an intern teacher in Laguna Beach, California in 1975 and spent 10 more years as an elementary and middle school teacher in California and Oregon.
She began her administrative career in 1986 in Lake Oswego, Oregon, as a middle school assistant principal, and then became the principal of Hallinan Elementary, Lake Oswego Junior High and Lakeridge High schools.
After moving to Washington, she worked as the executive director of secondary schools in Central Kitsap School District before joining the Bainbridge district in 2001 as the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. She became superintendent in July 2008.
