Top choice for Issaquah schools post withdraws

The Issaquah School District's top candidate for superintendent pulled himself out of the running Sunday, saying he was not the best fit for the district.

Kelt Cooper, 46, whom School Board President Jan Woldseth called the "runaway candidate," telephoned Woldseth on Sunday to tell her he was withdrawing from the district's superintendent search, Woldseth said Monday.

Cooper, who has 10 years' experience as a superintendent and is a doctoral candidate and adjunct professor at New Mexico State University, scored 24 out of 25 possible points in board members' rankings of six candidates. The next-closest candidate received 14 points, Woldseth said.

In a follow-up letter e-mailed to Woldseth, Cooper wrote that the Issaquah School District's needs and his particular skills and experiences were "not as close a 'match' as could be (and should be)."

Marianne Kersten, a parent who said she has attended every public meeting on the superintendent search, said she was not surprised that Cooper backed out. Many people were "perplexed" that he had emerged as the leading candidate, she said, given the "different kinds of communities he'd been working with."

Cooper served as superintendent at Nogales Unified School District in Arizona from 2000 to 2005. Located near the border of Arizona and Mexico, Nogales had just over 6,000 students in the 2005-06 school year. With 15,872 students, the Issaquah district is about 2-½ times that size.

Seattle Public Schools is searching for a replacement for Superintendent Raj Manhas and is using the same search firm that Issaquah is using. Next month, the Seattle School Board expects to select semifinalists, from whom it will then choose two or three candidates to present to the public, board President Cheryl Chow said.

Seattle Times reporter Alex Fryer contributed to this report.

Amy Roe: 206-464-3347 or aroe@seattletimes.com