Blaine school board accepts Granger’s resignation

In a special meeting on March 31, the Blaine school board accepted the resignation letter of superintendent Christopher Granger, who will serve his last day for the district on June 30.

Granger was offered the position as Sultan school district superintendent on March 6, and will start his new position on July 1. Granger was a finalist for at least one other superintendent position, interviewing at the Ellensburg school district in February 2024.

With Granger’s departure now finalized via a 26-word resignation letter, the board voted to hire Northwest Leadership Associates to lead the search for a new superintendent. The hiring firm specializes in superintendent searches, and primarily focuses on consulting with school districts in the Pacific Northwest, according to its website.

The school district did not announce the appointment of an interim superintendent, citing ongoing contract negotiations with Northwest Leadership Associates.

A contract between Granger and the Sultan school district was finalized on March 20, paying an annual salary of $230,000 for three school years. That represents a slight pay bump for the departing superintendent, who earned a base salary of $215,979 for the 2024-25 school year.

Granger will visit the Sultan school district on Friday, April 11 for community meetings, and will continue to visit the district as he transitions to his new job, according to a press release from the Sultan school district.

Since starting as Blaine’s superintendent in 2019, Granger has received several contract extensions from the board.

Granger oversaw a particularly tumultuous time in the school district’s history, guiding the district through the Covid-19 pandemic that included a transition to and from in-person classes, and a steep contraction of public education funding affecting districts across the state.

Through his six-year tenure, the Blaine school district underwent three consecutive budget cuts, drastically reducing the number of staff. Over three years, the school district was forced to cut the full-time equivalent of roughly 145 staff positions.

The district also announced during the special meeting it will enter into an agreement with director of finance Keith Yaich – who is resigning from the position on April 21– to serve as a financial consultant as the district searches for a replacement.

Yaich was hired in the summer of 2024 to replace former finance director Amber Porter. He had previously worked as chief financial officer for the Bennett school district in Colorado.