After months of searching for a qualified administrator to be Chautauqua Elementary School’s principal, school district superintendent Michael Soltman announced Monday that the position will go to Rebecca Goertzel.

Goertzel was one of two finalists for the position. Both women were introduced to the public at a forum at the elementary school Monday night, when they fielded questions from the island community. Islanders asked multiple questions of Goertzel and fellow candidate Heather Moro and filled out response sheets about both women. Questions ranged from defining leadership style, to dealing with living in a small community, to the importance of testing.

Soltman and the search committee’s decision to hire Goertzel came only hours after that forum.

Goertzel, a former school director living in Costa Rica, spoke about her experience with bilingual education; nature-based, progressive and independent schools and her research background. She repeatedly stressed that collaboration is something she believes in  and said getting to know the island community and its needs will be crucial.

“Respecting one another is key. I like to create leadership teams with parents, teachers, teacher’s assistants and staff to get to know the community. I start time at a new school by meeting everyone either one-on-one or in groups.”

When asked about testing, she stressed that Vashon schools have a culture of allowing students to go outside and use their bodies to move and learn, and she would like to keep that while discovering how to meet necessary standards.

“It’s about looking at the requirements that schools need to meet and figuring out how to meet these benchmarks with what our school does well. We need to balance what we want and what we are told we need to be.”

Goertzel will take over the principal position at the end of the academic year.