LANGLEY – The South Whidbey School Board has unanimously chosen Josephine “Jo” Moccia, the current superintendent of the Averill Park Central School District, to be South Whidbey’s next superintendent of schools.

The board emerged from a two-hour private session late Friday afternoon where members talked about the three finalists for the job, opened a special meeting, and then took a quick vote for their top choice.

In a meeting that lasted eight minutes, board members praised the candidates and the process to find a replacement for Superintendent Fred McCarthy, who is retiring at the end of June.

The district held separate community meetings this week with each of the three finalists: Moccia; Mellody Matthes, the assistant superintendent for the Tukwila School District; and Jeff Sweeney, superintendent of the Fillmore Unified School District in California.

“I feel really good about where we are and how we got there,” said Board Member Steve Scoles.

Board members said Moccia was the best of three qualified candidates.

“This one person rose to the top,” said Board Member Leigh Anderson.