Cd'A superintendent seeking job in Yakima

Coeur d'Alene School District Superintendent Shon Hocker is again in the running for a superintendent position in another out-of-state school district.

Hocker is a finalist for the superintendent position of the Educational Service District 105 in Yakima, Wash. The position will be vacated by the current superintendent, Kevin Chase, who will retire at the end of the school year, according to the district's website, esd105.org. The chosen candidate will transition into leadership July 1.

The three finalists are: Hocker; Educational Service District 105 Deputy Superintendent Shane Backlund, who has been in his current position since 2022; and Midland County Education Service Agency Superintendent John Searles of Michigan, who has been in his current role since 2011.

The position for which they are vying oversees 25 public school districts and 21 state-recognized private and tribal schools in south central Washington.

The candidates will meet Thursday with three interview panels of Educational Service District 105 staff, superintendents and agency leadership. The district's board of directors will meet with the finalists at the conclusion of the process as the next leader is selected.

Hocker, who has been with the Coeur d'Alene School District since July 2021, recently applied but was not selected for a superintendent position with the Pueblo School District in Colorado. Trustees of the Pueblo School Board voted 3-2 to offer the job to another candidate. Hocker was one of two finalists after a third candidate withdrew.

Before coming to Coeur d'Alene, Hocker spent three years as the superintendent of Dickinson Public Schools in Dickinson, N.D.