On March 16, 2023, the Central Kitsap School District appointed a new member to the school board to fill the previously vacant Director position for CKSD District 2, the district that includes Central Kitsap High School.

This position would be filled by now Director Kristin Hay, who caught the attention of the school board during the interview process.

When applying to become a director for the school district, one of the many requirements is that the candidate lives in the district they’re running to direct for.

Director Hay met these requirements easily through her rich history in Kitsap.

“I grew up in Belfair,” said Hay. “After I graduated high school I actually went to Washington State University, and then I came back home trying to figure out what I was going to do with life after college. I soon met my now husband and ended up moving to Kitsap County and got a job at the Shipyard. I’ve been here ever since– 15 years now…[and] my daughter does dance and softball and my son does football and baseball. We also like to do some of the hikes around here as a family.”

The fact that Director Hay has kids that attend schools within CKSD – a 10 year old son at Cottonwood Elementary and a nine year old daughter at Hawk Elementary – served as a motivation for her to run for the school board position.

“Just having kids in the school district, I was wanting to learn more about what the school board did, what their function was, how it played with the school and how the school was kind of conducting businesses,” Hay continued. “I’m kind of an all or nothing person, so I thought that I might as well go out for the school board. Being a community member in general, you hear a lot of things that are going on at the schools. Some of them are wonderful, great things, a lot of extracurricular activities and art programs. But then there’s also other things that you hear about and I kind of wanted to educate myself on those so that I could make an informed decision regarding the school.”

Director Hay, during the appointment process, had clearly come with a purpose and a motivation to run for the school board, clearly answering and defining her goals as a future member. 

“My main goal for the school board is that I really want to improve communication,” said Hay. “I didn’t even know about the school board or what it did until a couple of years ago. I’d just like to bring more awareness to what the school board is, what it does, and what its functions are.”

Director Hay reflected a common sentiment held throughout Central Kitsap. Many residents feel completely alienated and underrepresented by the school district due to a lack of interaction and transparency between the two. 

“More open communication is what I’m looking for, so that when things are going on you’re not going to have multiple people worrying about it or asking about it,” Hay said. “If you get a question from more than one person, there’s probably more than one that really has the same question. Being able to have a way to get that information out to the community is what I want to see.”

Throughout her interview conducted by the school board itself, Director Hay would continue to reflect popular ideas that she saw as good for the district.

When asked about her views on the importance of public education, Director Hay stated that, “It’s very important that we provide [students] with an education that’s going to allow them to be productive members of our community… They’re going to build their whole future off of the education that they’re getting through public school.”

Director Hay would also answer a question regarding how she would approach setting policies that were equitable to all students and staff within CKSD, stating that, “It’s really important that we look at this as a whole and that nobody feels that they’re discriminated against in any way. We’re all human beings and we should all be loved and cared for and we should all be valued.”

After hours of decision making by the school board, Director Hay would be selected out of the five candidates who were interviewed to fill the vacated seat of District 2 and oversee schools, including Central Kitsap High School.