The South Whidbey School District’s search for Superintendent Jo Moccia’s successor has been narrowed down to three seasoned leaders.

Moccia has been serving as the district’s superintendent for 14 years and is set to retire by the end of the 2024-25 school year.

The names were announced with a press release shared following a special board meeting Wednesday evening.

Community members can meet the candidates at a community forum from 6 to 8:25 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 15. People can participate via Zoom or in person by showing up to the South Whidbey Elementary School Board Room, located at 5380 Maxwelton Road in Langley.

In a press release, Board President Brook Willeford said the finalists are proven leaders with experience in supporting students and staff, building community partnerships and being fiscally responsible.

One of the candidates, Liz Ritz, lives on the Rock and has been working as the director of teaching and learning at the Oak Harbor School District since 2019.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she earned a doctorate in educational leadership and administration at Washington State University in 2020, earning the superintendent credential. She has worked as a technology and curriculum coach at the Bellevue School District, later landing the role of elementary school principal and director of curriculum and instruction at the same district.

Since 2020, Becky Clifford has been serving as the Assistant Superintendent for the Anacortes School District, where she oversees curriculum, instruction, student services and community partnerships, according to her candidate profile.

She earned a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Washington, a master’s in leadership in inclusive classrooms from Utica College, and a bachelor’s in exceptional and elementary education from SUNY Buffalo, her candidate profile states.

She has over 20 years of experience in education. She has previously worked as a special education teacher in New York; directed the special education department as Seattle Public Schools, where she also worked as a contractor for the schools’ technology department; served as the executive director of special service at Everett Public Schools; founded and worked at Clifford Consulting, a company that helps K-12 districts identify barriers and reach their goals, according to her LinkedIn account.

Kristine Michael has been the superintendent of Northridge Local School District in Ohio since 2023, according to her LinkedIn account.

Under her leadership, the district achieved a 4.5-star state rating and a 5-star graduation rate and saw a reduction in chronic absenteeism and improving literacy scores, her candidate profile states.

Prior to landing this role, she worked as the assistant superintendent in the same district for almost three years and at another Ohio district, Buckeye Valley Local, between 2015 and 2020. Here, according to her candidate profile, she led curriculum innovations, managed COVID-19 responses and assisted multi-million-dollar construction projects.

Michael earned a doctorate of education in educational leadership at Miami University and worked as the curriculum director at the International School of Dakar, in Senegal, according to the candidate profile.