By Bill Evans

Superintendent of Lopez Schools

The Lopez School is an amazing place and I am impressed and excited by the quality education I see delivered every day. The learning I see is inspiring. We all have reason to be proud of the school that serves the communities of our islands so well. As shared on a recent at a public school board meeting, the district has, unfortunately, experienced some shortcomings of late in our financial oversight functions, resulting in significant negative impact upon staff, and financial resources.

We have diligently and conscientiously attended to each negative issue as immediately as possible upon discovery. I am very impressed with the efforts of our current district office staff and consultants in these efforts. We are moving forward with appropriate interventions and strategies to mitigate the negative effects of all of this. I am deeply sorry that these shortcomings have happened to the district on my watch and as the leader of the organization, I accept responsibility for them.

It is clear that the current part-time model for some of our office is not working as effectively as we have needed. We need to look at other options. With the unfortunate leaving of our current finance director at the end of June, we are currently seriously exploring the idea of placing appropriate elements of our financial requirements with experienced personnel and resources at one of the several educational service districts that have such technical services to provide. We are also looking at a different model of district leadership. In the face of ever-increasing demands of bureaucratic accountability and state and federal mandates, we need to create a model that will efficiently provide the management and leadership the school needs, while also striving to maximize resources to focus upon the academic side of the equation. One option is to restructure the part-time superintendent and the finance director positions into a single full-time position that combines the two roles.

To support full consideration of a new model of leadership, and to provide flexibility to implement appropriate options, I have adjusted my long-term retirement plans and I recommended to the School Board at its March 26 meeting, that they accept my resignation from the district, as soon into SY 2014-15 as it takes to successfully hire and transition to a new superintendent. It is the right thing to do for the district. By my stepping aside, the district will have an opportunity to seek new leadership, with a skill set we need. We need a superintendent whose skills include a high degree of financial savvy, to complement the outsourcing of financial services and provide the necessary oversight of that outsourcing. I pledged my full energies toward assisting in the transition to a new superintendent and the restructuring of the district office, and I shared that I would be available for as long as needed.

The school board accepted my recommendations and we will initiate the recruiting process for a new superintendent/finance director position within the next few weeks. This is the right path for the district and I hold great optimism for the opportunities afforded the district by these recommendations and the actions taken by the school board toward their realization. At the board’s discretion, I will continue to serve for as long as it takes for us to realize our preferred future. Thank you for the honor of being your superintendent.