Kara Four Bear will be the next superintendent of Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District. The school board voted 6-0 Wednesday night to offer Four Bear a two-year contract to lead the district with an annual salary of $170,000.
Four Bear comes from South Dakota, where she was formerly the superintendent of the Eagle Butte School District.
The Ketchikan board began final interviews at 8 a.m. Wednesday and announced their decision about nine hours later. All interviews and deliberations were held in private executive session. That’s different from the norm – most recently, interviews for the interim superintendent were held in an open session with livestreams available to the public.
Four Bear will be tasked with navigating massive debt and declining enrollment in the district. Her contract goes into effect July 1.
The other two finalists for the position were Anthony Graham from Missouri and local Sheri Boehlert, who currently serves as the district’s interim superintendent.
Graham is the chief operating officer for St. Louis Language Immersion School and previously worked as Director of Human Resources, Strategic Initiatives, Technology and Assessment at the Yupiit School District Akiachak, Alaska. Boehlert, who has been with the Ketchikan district for over 30 years, has most recently served as principal of Schoenbar Middle School before she took the role as interim superintendent in December.
The district has struggled to hire someone to fill the role since Michael Robbins submitted his resignation last spring.
