WALLOWA — The effort to find a new superintendent for the Wallowa School District is back to square one, after two candidates received finalist invitations and ended up declining, according to Superintendent Tamera Jones.

Jones said in an email and a Facebook post that the school board and its advisory committee reviewed applications from eight candidates and interviewed three on Saturday, Feb. 4. The finalist invitations were offered to two candidates.

“After careful consideration by each candidate and for different reasons, both withdrew from the process,” Jones said. “Both were very complimentary of the board, school and community but indicated that it was not presently the right time or fit.”

She said the process would begin anew at the Feb. 13 regular school board meeting. The board will immediately advertise the position and build a new search calendar.

Jones said a new closing date to apply for the position will be March 8.

“We feel very confident we will get a good candidate,” she said.

The board is working with the Oregon School Board Association in seeking candidates. The position pays $100,000-$120,000 a year, Jones said.

Of the eight candidates, applicants came from an array of states. In addition to Oregon, applicants were from Idaho, Nevada, Kansas and elsewhere, Jones said.

The current superintendent has told the board she wishes to step down from the position she has held since 2020. In April 2022, trustees accepted Jones’ resignation as superintendent and agreed to have her stay on as interim superintendent for a year while they seek a replacement.

Jones said she wants to retire from the position to spend more time with family.

“I want to play with those grandkids and do some traveling,” she said. “Family’s important.”

Jones has spent 38 years as an educator, 31 of those years in administration.

“That’s a pretty good run,” she said.

Enterprise also is seeking a permanent superintendent to replace its interim Superintendent Tom Crane. On Feb. 6, the Enterprise School Board announced it had extended invitations to two candidates for a Feb. 23 finalist forum.

Those candidates are Rebecca Nordtvedt, the superintendent at the Wallowa Education Service District, and Chester Bradshaw who, since 2018, has been the superintendent of the Sugar-Salem School District in Sugar City, Idaho.

The finalist forum will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Enterprise High School multipurpose room, 201 SE Fourth St.