Podcast: Community Cafe Bainbridge:
Meet our new public schools Superintendent Peter Bang-Knudsen

<i>Podcast: Community Cafe Bainbridge:</i> <br>Meet our new public schools Superintendent Peter Bang-Knudsen

Community podcasts - Bainbridge IslandIn this 23-minute podcast, our new Superintendent of the Bainbridge Island School District, Peter Bang-Knudsen, responds to questions about his personal background — such as his discovery of his commitment to teaching, coaching and helping kids — and his forward-looking goals and vision for our public schools, teachers and students.

Peter Bang-Knudsen starts service as School District Superintendent on July 1, 2016
Peter Bang-Knudsen starts service as School District Superintendent on July 1

Our elected School Board conducted a national search and chose Peter, who graduated from Bainbridge High School, has children in our schools, knows our community well, and has been serving as Assistant Superintendent since 2010. He had been hired that year by our much-admired but retiring Superintendent Faith Chapel, who recruited Peter from a leadership role in the much-larger school district for Bellevue.

Faith is retiring after a 40-year career in education, with the most recent 8 years as BISD superintendent.

Retiring Superintendent Faith Chapel recruited Peter from a leadership role at Bellevue school district.
Retiring Superintendent Faith Chapel recruited Peter in 2010 from a leadership role at Bellevue school district.

Peter officially takes on his new role on July 1st. In this conversation recorded on June 23rd, he responds to questions about:

  • Experiences during this transition period
  • How his interest in education, teaching and coaching arose
  • Examples of early formative experiences in public education
  • His professional career path
  • Examples of his responsibilities as Assistant Superintendent in recent years
  • His support for ongoing School District collaboration with our four other local government units (City, Fire, Parks and Library)
  • His views on emerging policy issues and practical concerns
  • His thoughts on the right balance in a small district between special options programs for individual needs and the more widely-shared curriculum and community-school approaches
  • His views on the most important measures of success for our public schools
  • What Peter’s message might have been if he had spoken at this month’s commencement for graduating seniors

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters