Lake Chelan School District Superintendent to Retire

The Lake Chelan School Board will need to hire a new head of their district after current superintendent Barry DePaoli announced he would be retiring effective June 30th.

DePaoli says the district is in a good place both financially and in terms of a leadership framework. He suspects that his successor will be challenged by the district's aging facilities.

"Those challenges will probably be the greatest ones given our current economic climate and where we are at with taxes." explained DePaoli, "The price of land in Chelan has really skyrocketed too, as it has across the region."

The school board was informed of the impending retirement by DePaoli in December in order to give the board enough time to find a suitable replacement.

DePaoli's time with the Lake Chelan School District began 22 years ago when he took over an alternative program. He served in the middle school and as a high school principal before his six-year tenure as superintendent. Before Lake Chelan, DePaoli was an educator in British Columbia for 13 years.

DePaoli added being able to know so many students and watch them grow has been the gift of a lifetime.

The district will have a calendar and timeline for its new superintendent search posted soon.