Kalispell superintendent Schottle withdraws from Spokane job race

Kalispell Public Schools superintendent Darlene Schottle withdrew her name Friday from consideration for a school superintendent job in Spokane.

Schottle, who has been Kalispell's superintendent for five years, was named one of the top two candidates for Spokane Public Schools superintendent March 3. She interviewed for the position March 10 and expected to hear whether she'd been hired by the end of the week.

But before district officials could offer the job to Schottle or the other candidate, Interim Superintendent Nancy Stowell, Schottle asked them to withdraw her name from consideration.

"It felt to me as we were going through the process that the internal person was a better fit," she said.

Schottle said she decided she wasn't the best person for the job after meeting with district officials and the community.

"Sometimes when you meet with a community, you know if you're the right person at the right time," she said. "I decided to withdraw my name and give them the opportunity to go with their inside hire."

Stowell has worked for the Spokane district for 30 years.

Schottle applied for the job in February after Illinois-based Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, the search firm hired to find candidates for the superintendent position, asked her to consider it. The position appealed to her professionally, she said, and Spokane is nearer to her family members in Oregon and British Columbia.

She was not searching for a new position when the search firm contacted her. At a recent meeting, the board of trustees extended her contract with Kalispell Public Schools through June 30, 2011.

Schottle told the Inter Lake earlier this month that she considered this a "win-win situation." She was excited about the possibility of new challenges in a district five times as large as the Kalispell district's 5,200 students, but she would be happy to stay in her current position.

"It was the best of two worlds for me," she said Saturday. "This is where I belong."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com