Pioneer searching for new superintendent

The Pioneer School District is beginning its search for a new superintendent after parting ways with Jill Diehl after 1½ years.

The Pioneer School Board on Tuesday swore in Doris Bolender after changing her title from acting superintendent to interim superintendent. Bolender, the former superintendent of the Southside School District, is the principal of the Pioneer Middle School.

The board announced it will begin the search for a new superintendent at its retreat on March 5.

The board will decide whether to hire a firm to find candidates, said Board President Susan Day. The district is looking for an interim superintendent to work from July 1 until June 30, 2023, with the option to make the position permanent after that, she said.

The board will head into its retreat shy a member. Day announced she received a resignation letter that day from Dwayne Kipple, whose term does not expire until November 2023. He did not state a reason in his brief letter.

“This is brand new news to us,” Day said. “We were celebrating being five.”

Thus continues a tumultuous year for the district, which has seen a two-week closure due to COVID-19 staff shortages and the resignation of two principals. The board Feb. 4 voted to place Diehl on paid administrative leave and named former Bolender as the acting superintendent.

The Pioneer Education Association submitted a letter of no confidence to the Pioneer School Board at its Dec. 14 meeting. In the letter, the group stated that if Diehl does not resign, the board should ask her to do so.

“We all believe these problems directly stem from an inability or unwillingness of the Superintendent to provide effective, competent, compassionate and trustworthy leadership for the District,” the letter states. “These problems have had a corrosive effect on staff morale and fostered a climate of fear, anxiety and uncertainty.”

Diehl has been the superintendent for a year and a half after replacing John Gummel.

The introduction to the letter states, “Efforts to bring these issues to the attention of the Board have been routinely met with resistance or been undermined through information suppression, covert intimidation ad parliamentary maneuvering.”

In the letter, the Pioneer Education Association writes that Diehl “has created an increasingly toxic, fearful and hostile work environment.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Day announced the district will follow Gov. Jay Inslee’s guidance and stop requiring students to wear face masks in the schools March 21. Face masks will still be required on school buses, though.