After a lengthy executive session, Sequim School Board directors unanimously agreed Monday to appoint community member Michael Rocha to the open position on the five-member board.

Rocha was selected from three candidates that directors interviewed at the Oct. 17 meeting.

Other candidates included Derek Huntington, who ran for a school board position in 2021, and Emily Coler.

“We were thankful that they are in touch with concerns we are facing,” board president Eric Pickens said. “It was very difficult.”

Jim Stoffer, a Sequim School Board director since 2015, resigned his Director 3 position in September.

Rocha — who moved to Sequim a little more than five years ago with his family to start an auto dealership business and be near family — said he is well invested in the school district, coaching youth sports teams and supporting other school activities.

His business, Rocha Family Auto Sales in Carlsborg, has donated cars to the SHS graduation party each year.

In an Oct. 18 interview, Rocha said that in his previous job in California, he helped troubled auto dealerships become profitable.

“I felt like we need to get a bond passed, and with my marketing experience I felt like I can help with that process,” he said.

A local public school system, he told school board directors, shows what a community’s values are. He said board directors should be pragmatic in their approach to handling school issues, using approaches such as town hall-style meetings t hear from constituents.

“[That way] lot of the fear and trepidation goes away,” he said.

“We’re seeing political stuff creep into the school district, which is really unfortunate,” he said.

Transparency is critical, he said, which is helped by hosting events like town hall meetings.

Rocha is scheduled to take the oath of office at the board’s next regular meeting set for Monday, Nov. 7.

Rocha said he has three children, one at each school level (elementary, middle and high school).

“That was another reason to get involved,” he said.

Eye on safety

Safety was a key topic for the three candidates in the in-person interviews Monday evening. Sequim School District leaders agreed to prioritize installing new security cameras — tentatively starting in December — after the Sept. 4 discovery of threatening messages and images spray painted on Helen Haller Elementary and Sequim Middle School.

“That needs to be a number one concern … from the time they leave my house to the time they get home,” Coler said.

Rocha said making sure students are safe is something the district should look into but to also keep a wide view of priorities.

“Our safety is very important, but we have to be pragmatic,” he said Monday.

Huntington said a key challenge for him as a board director would be helping students recover from the months of remote learning during periods of at-home and hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Board directors planned to be in executive session for 30 minutes to select their newest colleague but twice extended the session, one that lasted for more than an hour.

“You could probably tell by the length of our discussion we had three good candidates who could offer something to the school board,” director Larry Jeffryes said.

Board director Patrice Johnston said she hoped to have each of the candidates involved with the district in some capacity, given their interest in the open board director position.

“I really appreciate all of these individuals stepping forward,” she said. “I really hope that we’re able to find places in the schools that they can each bring their interests and talents to help us out.”

Boundary adjustment

Directors on Oct. 17 approved an adjustment of boundaries between District 1 and District 2, following population changes noted in the 2020 Census.

The boundaries slightly enlarges District 2, moving the boundary line to the west to include more of East Anderson Road and the Cline Spit area.

The boundary adjustment does not affect the recent appointee’s district. It also only determines who is eligible to run for one of the board’s three positions determined by geography (the board also has two at-large positions).

Enrollment bump

Sequim’s schools have the full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment of 2,590 students — well above the 2,446 students budgeted by staff — as of October, according to a report presented Monday evening by Darlene Apeland, the district’s Finance and Enrollment Report Director.

The largest discrepancy is at the kindergarten grade level; Sequim has 173 kindergarten FTEs, with 120 budgeted prior to the start of schools.

Sequim Middle School has about 40 FTEs above what was budgeted in its three grades (6-8).