OceansideOceanside — Kenneth C. “Chris” Hurst Sr., associate superintendent of educational services with the Oceanside Unified School District, has accepted a job as superintendent of the tiny Othello School District in central Washington.
Hurst has been a top in the Oceanside district for two years. He will replace outgoing Othello Superintendent George Juarez, who is retiring at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.
The 53-year-old Hurst said he’s making the move because he has long dreamed of living in the region, which is near the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, and because the school district there is facing issues similar to those he has encountered in Oceanside.
The Othello school district has roughly 4,200 students, about 90 percent of whom are Latino.
“I have a big vision in my heart for every child,” said Hurst, a former Marine.
He said his parents once lived near Yakima, Wash., about 80 miles west of Othello. Since Hurst settled in Oceanside 34 years ago, his wife and two kids traveled to Yakima frequently to visit his parents, who have since moved to Atlanta.
“They lived on top of an apple orchard. There are mountains in the distance and clear blue skies,” said Hurst, who will be relocating to the area with his wife, Crystal.
The couple has two children, including a son who is a computer scientist, and daughter who is a fourth grade teacher at Oceanside Unified’s Santa Margarita Elementary School, on Camp Pendleton.
Hurst has lived in Oceanside for 34 years and previously was a teacher and at various schools in the San Diego Unified School District and Poway Unified School District. He ed the Oceanside school district in 2008.
His work with the Othello district begins July 1.
