On Wednesday, Feb. 22, David Engle was the first finalist for the Highline School District superintendent position to face public questioning.

Highline board members have indicated they plan to appoint a new superintendent by Thursday, March 1. The board is holding a special meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 29 at 6 p.m. at district headquarters, 15675 Ambaum Blvd. S.W. They could vote on their selection and introduce the new superintendent then.

Engle has served as the executive director of Educational Testing Service in Princeton NJ. Before that, he was superintendent of North Platte Public School District in Nebraska from 2008 to 2011.

Dr. Engle has been a principal in Bellingham, Seattle and Bellevue. He also mentored teams of principals as a facilitator for the University of Washington’s Center for Educational Leadership.

Although Engle’s last two jobs have been on the East Coast and Midwest, he emphasized his Northwest roots. He said his family has lived in Washington since before it became a state.

He still has lots of family in the state including a new grandchild, he added.

Engle emphasized that his professional commitment is to justice and equity in the schools.

“The road to opportunity is through the public school system,” Engle declared. “The equity agenda is always central to my way of thinking.”
Through his work with the testing service, Engle said he learned how much technology is integrated into the nation’s leading businesses and how much all employees use technology.

“I’m not sure if we have prepared students enough yet with technology skills for careers,” Engle commented.

Engle said he opposed using student achievement as a significant tool in evaluating teachers. He admitted his answer may get him in trouble with some people.

He noted that in elementary schools every teacher helps students learn reading. Which teacher should receive credit if a child scores well in reading tests, he asked.

“It is a very risky measure to apply in a high stakes environment,” Engle declared. “We should back off a little bit from seeing it as a panacea.”

Explaining his administrative philosophy, Engle said he believes in “concentric accountability” with the student at the center.

Engle said his forte in working with school boards is “capturing priorities.

“I have a pretty good eye for things that look like panaceas but are not,” he added.

He noted that six out of seven innovative ideas fail but “creative failure is OK. We don’t do enough of it.”

Engle said innovative ideas need time to develop but at some point, a superintendent needs to use “good professional judgment” in ending programs that are not working.

He noted that he has learned from his past mistakes.

“If I make mistakes, they will be new ones,” Engle joked.

Asked about dealing with budget cuts, Engle said his first experience as superintendent in Nebraska was dealing with ten percent cuts.

Like pioneer settlers who dumped their pianos while crossing through Nebraska on their way to the Oregon Territory, school administrators need to “look at what can be left behind,” Engle said.

Engle said working in a diverse district like Highline is “the kind of work I like to do.

“We are poised to do amazing things about complex problems. It is intriguing and has so many dimensions,” Engle concluded.

After Garcia on Thursday night, Enfield, interim superintendent in Seattle will be in the spotlight on Friday.

Enfield, who has said she does not want to be the permanent Seattle superintendent, is also a finalist in Bellevue.

Bellevue is not as far along in the superintendent search as Highline, according to Bellevue spokeswoman Jackie Coe.

Coe said the Bellevue board will decide by Monday, Feb. 27, on setting an open public process to pick a superintendent.

Like Highline, Bellevue is a majority minority district, Coe noted.
Students of color make up 50.7 percent of the total enrollment, she said. Eighty different languages are used by students in the district and 30 percent speak a first language other than English. Twenty percent of students qualify for free or reduced school meals.

Both Bellevue and Highline enroll about 18,000 students.

In Highline, students of color make up 73.2 percent of students. Approximately 34 percent of students are Hispanic.