Four candidates have applied for the open position on the Highline School Board of Directors, representing District 5.

The School Board will interview candidates on Wednesday, May 11 starting at 5:30 p.m., and interviews will be live-streamed on the School Board page here.

Community members will have the opportunity to provide feedback to the school board through an online form following the interviews.

The four applicants (in alphabetical order):

    • Hamdi Abdulle is the executive director of African Community Housing & Development, which is headquartered in SeaTac and runs education programs in partnership with several Highline schools. She is a former educator in both Somalia and the U.S. and holds bachelor’s degrees in education (with a focus on science education) and biology.
    • Azeb Hagos holds a master’s degree in guidance and counseling and has served as a school counselor in K-12 for ten years, Experience includes working with multidisciplinary teams to build district-wide programs, teaching social-emotional skills to grades K-8, providing training on mental health to educational staff, and supporting students who are homeless or in foster care.
    • Chad Harper has a Master of Arts in Teaching with a K-8 certificate. During his career as an educator, he has worked in high-needs, multicultural schools in Federal Way, Kent and Highline, teaching sixth-grade language arts, social studies, and health and serving two years as an elementary school librarian. He is currently a middle school librarian in Highline.
    • Anna Lugo has served as a substitute office assistant, high school special education paraeducator, tutor for students learning English, and elementary and high school special education teacher. She cites organizational skills, team building experience, and a vision for bilingualism and/or multilingualism as contributions she would bring to the school board.

School Board members are scheduled to vote to appoint one of the candidates at their May 18 meeting. The new board member will be sworn in at the June 1 school board meeting.