The Bellevue School Board’s failed attempt to interview and, hopefully, hire Susan Enfield doesn’t mean the effort was wasted. Far from it.

The board has gathered worthwhile information from the community that it can now use as it moves ahead with its superintendent search.

It was a long-shot to land Enfield, the interim superintendent of the Seattle School District who had expressed an interest in the Bellevue job. Time ran out on Bellevue when Enfield was offered – and accepted – the superintendent’s job in the Highline School District.

School Board members are in the process of interviewing two search firms and say they will see if a worthwhile candidate for superintendent can be found and interviewed by the end of the school year. That will be difficult given Bellevue’s late start at this effort. Candidates, many of whom Bellevue would like to see, already are being interviewed at other school districts around the country.

Nevertheless, Bellevue remains a highly desirable school district and will have no problem attracting candidates. Thirteen already had applied for the open position. At worst, it just will take the district a bit longer to find a superintendent that fits its needs.

The extra time it takes will give the community that much more time to make its thoughts known. To its credit, the School Board has shown that this will be a priority regardless of who is interviewed, and eventually hired.

– Craig Groshart, Bellevue Reporter