The Haines Borough school board and its search committee pared down 25 applicants for superintendent to six semifinalists this week. The candidates will be interviewed by the school board via videoconference on Saturday, Feb. 3.

Kim Cunningham, current director of student services for the district, has 24 years of experience in education and 16 as an administrator. She has been in the Haines district since 2015 and has overseen special education services, federal programs and state exams.

Interim superintendent Rich Carlson wrote a letter of recommendation to the board on Cunningham’s behalf. “Kim has demonstrated leadership, excellent communication skills, extensive knowledge of a wide-range of education issues, flexibility, and the willingness to do whatever is needed to get the job done,” Carlson said.

Former administrator Cheryl Stickler also endorsed Cunningham, saying she is a “consummate professional dedicated to the entire realm of education.” Stickler also spoke to Cunningham’s successes as the special education director, collaborating with the School Advisory Council and maximizing grant funding.

Cunningham has served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and administrator in Texas, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Alaska.

Jay Thomas of Mountain Village, Alaska is principal of the Lower Yukon School District. He formerly served as principal in the North Slope, Bering Strait, and Aleutians East school districts, with teaching and administrative experience in rural Alaskan communities for 17 years.

In his cover letter, Thomas said test scores and graduation rates have risen in every school where he served in a leadership role. In addition, while principal in Akutan, Teller, Unalakleet and Barrow, student activity funding and travel increased by 30 percent, he said.

Roy Getchell has been the principal of an elementary school in Avon, Colorado since 2014. He previously worked as a campus director and principal at a school in Abu Dhabi as well as a principal, assistant principal, teacher and counselor at elementary and high schools in Colorado, Missouri and Nevada.

Getchell said in his cover letter he applied to work in the Haines School District 27 years ago but didn’t get the job. “In Haines, you possess the ingredients that I have waited my whole career to capture,” Getchell said. “I am the product of a small-town school system where I acquired the most important thing that places like Pierce City, MO and Haines, AK have to offer: I mattered,” Getchell said. “Small towns produce REALLY good people. My family and I want to be a part of that.”

Since 2011, Matt Shelbourne has served in various positions at the Iditarod Area School District, including principal, middle school and high school teacher, district evaluator, and interim president. He has also been an adjunct professor in career trades at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and worked as a carpenter for almost nine years before becoming an educator.

Shelbourne said in his cover letter he has seen test scores improve as principal, he has restructured staff evaluation processes, supported career technical education programs, and provided technical and instructional support to teachers in seven sites over 42,000 square miles.

Craig Wall of Idabel, Oklahoma has recently retired from a 33-year career as a teacher and administrator. He has served as a superintendent, director of athletics, director of curriculum, principal and teacher at several Oklahoma school districts. Wall is currently an adjunct professor of educational leadership at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Idaho.

“I have experienced so many different aspects of education throughout my career,” Wall said. “For some reason, I have always been blessed with being in a position in which I would get an opportunity to learn from the current circumstances.”

Patrick Manning has worked as an administrator in King Salmon and Barrow Alaska since 2006. He has also served as a counselor, teacher and administrator in Soldotna, Alaska and several communities in Idaho.

Manning said in his cover letter that his experience lies in strategic planning, staff and community relations and academic program coordination. He has also initiated culture-based education programs in more than 20 years in education.

The Feb. 3 Skype interviews begin at 9 a.m. in the school library and are open to the public, as are the candidates’ applications in the school’s district office. The school board will go into executive session after the interviews to determine finalists who will travel to Haines for in-person interviews and site visits.