The Sequim School District’s board of directors appointed a local businessman on Monday night to take the vacant spot from retiring director Bev Horan.

The four remaining board directors unanimously selected Brian Kuh, executive director of EDC Team Jefferson and president of Citizens for Sequim Schools, from a field of nine applicants.

Kuh, who helped campaign for the Sequim School District’s recently approved levies, said after the November general election he felt led to affect change locally.

“I want to strive to make opportunities better for our community and kids,” he said after being sworn in. “Facility needs haven’t gone away though. I want to find out what the community is willing to support going forward with our next facility plan.”

Board president Robin Henrikson said they chose Kuh for a number of reasons including his experience on a number of community boards and his views on community engagement.

Kuh said coffee talks, Q&A’s and meetings at watering holes are some of the ways to outreach, saying being a school board member is a 24/7 job.

He was one of five finalists and nine applicants for Horan’s position. She resigned on March 7 with the March 20 school board meeting her last after more than 11 years.

Kuh was chosen over finalists Brian Berg, a retired Sequim School District teacher; Jessica Hernandez, executive director for Port Angeles Food Bank; Brandino Gibson, supervisor for Clallam and Jefferson County WorkSource; and Becky Mitchell, a stay-at-home mom.

Per board policy, Henrikson said, finalists were narrowed to five. Other applicants included Henry Howe, Brandon Janisse, Nola Judd and Richard Labrecque. Horan was not part of the interview or decision.

Board directors reviewed the applicants’ resumés and applications on Friday, March 17, and held public interviews on March 20 during the regular school board meeting.

Henrikson said the decision was hard to make because all of the finalists were “amazing” and she encouraged them to file for the two open board positions from May 15-19.

Kuh will serve through the end of the year.

In the interview, Kuh said the biggest strength of the school district is the amount of talented youth in the community while its weakness is not receiving enough funding “to keep our facilities up to a minimum standards we can all agree upon.”

“I’m envious of other communities that don’t have to shake the trees as hard,” he said.

Kuh, who has two children attending Helen Haller Elementary and one in Sequim Middle School, also said one priority for him is to continue providing opportunities for career-readiness as students graduate from high school.

Tension mounts

Between candidate interviews and an executive session, Henrikson commented on correspondence between her and Howe about transparency and the selection process saying that Howe acted inappropriately via email and text.

Howe differed with other board members at a March 7 board meeting, saying that choosing a replacement for Horan seemed rushed with candidate filing in May and that he/she could have an unfair advantage in running in May. He also questioned why the decision wasn’t discussed in a public meeting.

Henrikson said Monday she made the decision as board president and that board input was available prior on OneNote, a computer program that allows directors and district administrators to share information.

Henrikson said she feels she made a good call that a quicker appointment gives the new director more experience and that it’s not in best interest of the district to wait.

She told Howe in the meeting it was “unprofessional to accuse me of breaking our board policy” and “inappropriate to turn things personal in emails.”

In a recent email between them, Henrikson said Howe stated “transparency is different than in reality” among the board members.

Henrikson said she feels the board makes a large effort to be transparent and a follow-up text message from Howe was inappropriate about the process.

“You overstepped your level of professionalism in an invasion of my personal space and it’s just sort of creepy,” she said.

Henrikson said she’d block Howe from her phone if he sent a similar message again.

“If I don’t respond to your emails in the future, it’s because you most likely talked to me inappropriately,” she said.

Howe said in a telephone interview he regrets the text message to Henrikson, which asked if the board members would form questions in public.

“I have no ill feelings toward Robin,” Howe said. “She was obviously troubled. I totally respect Robin and I shouldn’t have texted her.”

His bigger issue with the process, he said, was not opening the discussion process in public.

“Like we did when Sarah Bedinger resigned, we talked about it in public,” Howe said.

“I didn’t necessarily see that discussion on OneNote. Even if it is there, I feel we should have talked about it in public.”

Henrikson said on Monday that OneNote has sensitive information on it that is not all available for the public.

However, Howe said he feels OneNote should be available to the public and he has no problem opening OneNote or his emails for anyone who wants to see it.

For more information about Sequim Schools, visit www. sequimschools.wednet.edu or call 582-3260.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.

Brian Kuh, the newest Sequim School Board director, is sworn in on Monday, March 20, by Robin Henrikson, board president for the Sequim School Board. He replaces Bev Horan who stepped down on March 7. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

Five finalists, from left, Brian Berg, Becky Mitchell, Jessica Hernandez, Brandino Gibson and Brian Kuh, sit together before public interviews on March 20 for outgoing Sequim School board director Bev Horan’s position. Kuh was selected unanimously by remaining board members. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash