POULSBO — The North Kitsap School District’s secondary principal selection committee members whittled a list of nine candidates down to three. They then interviewed those three and chose the top two — Gregory Rayl and Kathy Prasch — as finalists.

Then on April 24 Rayl withdrew for personal reasons. The Herald was unable to contact Rayl as he is teaching at an English school in Cairo, Egypt.

“We feel that it is important to continue the process to the end with our remaining candidate,” said Gregg Epperson, NKSD executive director of student support services and leader of the NKHS principal search team.

The process continued Monday when Prasch met with NKSD administrators, NKHS staff and students starting at 7 a.m. Then she finished a marathon day, meeting with parents and the community in an evening discussion at 7 p.m.

Later this week, Epperson and a group of NKHS representatives will travel to Santa Teresa High School in San Jose, Calif., the school, which Prasch has led since 2003, to get a better look at her leadership through the eyes of her colleagues as well as the school environment she has fostered.

As principal, Prasch has overseen changes in the school’s culture including the implementation of Small Learning Communities.

Santa Teresa High School’s 2,250-member student body is now configured into five school-wide SLCs. But Prasch’s experience with the SLC format began in the classroom in the 1990s.

She began teaching at Concord High School in an academy that was “California’s premiere small learning community for at-risk students,” Prasch said during her meeting with the NK community.

One of the most important factors of that and other successes throughout her career has been communication, she noted.

“My passion has become connections,” she said. “Students to teachers, teachers to each other; then teachers back to students and ultimately we want to connect students to the curriculum.”

Prasch also noted her focus has always put students first. And if she is named the next NKHS principal her primary goal would be to help North Kitsap students feel comfortable through the NKSD secondary level changes which will take place when Kingston High School opens at the start of the 2007-2008 school year.

“The more honestly and openly we deal with those changes, the better off we (will be),” Prasch said.

After visiting Prasch’s current school, the search committee will take another step in the hiring process, Epperson said.

“Then Wednesday (May 10) I’ll bring the search team back together and we’ll do the final debrief and determine whether or not we are going to recommend her,” Epperson said of the upcoming week.

If Prasch is recommended, the final decision will be presented to the school board May 11. If she is not, then the NKSD would either reopen the hiring process or select an interim principal to fill the post until another candidate is chosen.