News

North Central Educational Service District Welcomes Cathi Nelson to Board of Direct as District #3 Representative

The North Central Educational Service District (NCESD) is excited to welcome Cathi Nelson to the agency’s board of directors. Nelson will represent District #3 which includes Brewster, Bridgeport, Coulee-Hartline, Grand Coulee Dam, Mansfield, Nespelem, Orondo, Palisades, Pateros, Methow Valley, and Waterville school districts. This position was previously held by Ed Daling who resigned after 29 years of service on the NCESD Board of Directors.

Nelson comes to the NCESD board of directors from a longtime career in education, including serving 26 years at the Waterville School District as an elementary teacher, principal, and then Superintendent until her retirement in 2018.

Nelson’s journey to leading the Waterville School District started in the Monroe School District as a paraprofessional. Encouraged by her school’s principal, Nelson earned her Bachelor of Arts and teacher’s credentials at Seattle Pacific University while raising two young boys and doing a “work study” job in the Monroe School District.

After graduating, Nelson taught in Snohomish and Monroe before moving to Waterville in 1993, where she taught as an elementary teacher for 10 years and earned her Master’s degree from Heritage University. Through a Teacher of Special Assignment, Nelson earned her Administrative credentials while at the Waterville School District. She then served as the elementary principal for five years and K-12 principal for one year before becoming Waterville School District Superintendent. Nelson retired in 2018.

During her time at Waterville School District, Nelson partnered with NCESD in a number of capacities, including the development of a district-wide leadership model which today continues to provide a high level of instruction for students, staff and family professional development, leadership training and support, and staff and facility safety.

“I learned to rely on the ESD for important networking opportunities that kept all of us current, connected, and relevant,” Nelson said in her Candidate Statement submitted to the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

Nelson was elected to serve on the NCESD Board of Directors during the fall 2021 elections conducted by OSPI which fills the expiring Educational Service District (ESD) Board of Director positions for the nine ESDs throughout Washington. ESD board members are elected by each current member of a public school board of directors (school board members) within the educational service district.

In addition to Nelson, the following board members were re-elected for another term on the NCESD Board of Directors:

• Richard Johnson, District 1 Representative
• Mary Kunkle, District 5 Representative
• Susan Albert, District 7 Representative

NCESD covers just over 12,600 square miles and provides services and support to schools in Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Okanogan counties serving over 48,000 students. The Board is composed of seven regionally elected members including: Dr. Richard Johnson (District 1 Representative), Dr. Michael Musick (District 2 Representative), Cathi Nelson (District 3 Representative), Larry MacGuffie (District 4 Representative), Mary Kunkle (District 5 Representative), Marcia Henkle (District 6 Representative), and Susan Albert (District 7 Representative).

About North Central Educational Service District

The North Central Educational Service District provides a wide array of programs, services and support to the 29 public school districts in the North Central Washington region of Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Okanogan county. The service district provides professional and timely tools to meet the needs of individual schools and districts, and a reliable point of education-related information for the communities served. The NCESD is one of nine respected educational service districts in Washington state.