Washington High School principal search narrowed to one

CEDAR RAPIDS - Only one candidate remains in the Cedar Rapids Community School District's search for the next principal of Washington High School.

The sole finalist, John Cline, will be available to meet with community members at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the cafeteria at the school, 2205 Forest Drive SE, district officials said in a news release Tuesday.

School district officials had planned to have at least two finalists visit the school, but a second candidate declined and dropped out of the running, district spokeswoman Marcia Hughes said in an email.

The school board is expected to make a final hiring decision at its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday at 2500 Edgewood Road NW.

Cline has been an assistant principal at South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2013, according to the Cedar Rapids Community School District release.

The 3,000-student school is part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district and, according to the release, has the third-highest student growth scores in the state as well as a high graduation rate for a large Hispanic student population. Thirty-six percent of the school's students are white and 31 percent are Hispanic, according to the school's website.

'Mr. Cline stood out based on his experience with diverse school communities, laserlike focus on improving student learning outcomes, and high regard by the staff at South Mecklenburg High School,” Mary Ellen Maske, deputy superintendent for Cedar Rapids schools, said in the release.

Cline earned his bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his master's degree from Queens University of Charlotte.

Both Kennedy High Principal Jason Kline and Washington High's interim principal Carlos Grant also previously worked for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district.

Grant, but not Kline, was one of about 50 people from the school district and the Cedar Rapids community who interviewed candidates for the opening at Washington High, where about 1,350 students attend school, Hughes said. Those interviews took place over the last few weeks.

The search for a new principal began in January, months after Ralph Plagman, who was principal at Washington High for 35 years, was asked to resign after a substitute teacher at his school was arrested for sexually exploiting a student.

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