Ferrua will lead McMinnville School District in 2025-26

Kourtney Ferrua, an 18-year employee of the McMinnville School District, will lead McMinnville schools as interim superintendent in 2025-26.

The school board made her hiring official at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday during a special meeting called just for that purpose.

Ferrua will replace Steffanie Frost, the personnel director, who has been serving as acting superintendent since the board fire Debbie Brockett April 14.

The board plans another search starting later this year to hire a permanent superintendent. Ferrua has said she plans to apply for the job.

The interim search, aided by search firm McPherson and Jacobson, lasted more than a month. It included a community survey and an application period that drew 26 candidates. The board narrowed that list to three people for interviews. A community panel also met with the finalists and provided input before the board made its decision.

Board members said Wednesday that Ferrua rose to the top of a high quality field of applicants. They said they were pleased that a local candidate was the top choice, as that speaks well of the quality of the district, its teachers and staff, and the community.

School board members met in executive from before 10 a.m. to after 10 p.m. Monday, with a break for dinner, to interview and consider candidates for the interim position.

As they gathered for interviews Monday, board members were pleased the human resources position had been filled following a shorter search and interview process with district stuff.

Brian Turner has been hired as the new HR director. He is joining the district from the Salem-Keizer School District, where he is the human resources director for recruitment, retention and staffing.

Turner, a former school principal and special education teacher in Salem-Keizer, also is an adjunct professor in the principal licensure program at Western Oregon University.

Starting July 7, Turner will replace Frost, who is leaving the district after 10 years to become chief human resources officer in the Beaverton School District.

Frost applied for the Beaverton job before being named McMinnville’s acting superintendent in April, when the school board fired Debbie Brockett without cause April 14. She received a settlement of about $359,000, representing one year of the two remaining on her contract.

Brockett has been on leave since April 11, and her four-year run with the district will officially be over when that leave ends this month.

Frost, working with the district’s administrative team, has been overseeing the district while the board searches for an interim superintendent.

Look for more about the new interim superintendent in the Friday print edition of the News-Register.