Dr. Justin Irish has been selected to serve as the Northshore School District’s (NSD) new superintendent, on May 14, 2025. His term begins July 1, 2025.
Dr. Irish previously worked as an elementary school teacher in both Edmonds and Shoreline school districts. “He’s someone who has the background and is able to be a leader and can make complex decisions when for example the budget is really stressful,” said Amy Cast, the president of the NSD board. Currently, before his term has even started, he has already started working on ways to improve the district by getting inputs from the community. “Even though he doesn’t start officially till July 1, he started working on what’s called an entry plan. So he is going to be meeting his first year with students, teachers, and community volunteers to hear what’s on people’s minds. And then after getting that information, he’s going to be making his plan going forward,” explained Cast. When the NSD board was in search of the next superintendent, they first started with community engagement efforts. “We did surveys, we had some focus groups of people to learn what the community wanted in the next superintendent. And that’s really what we based it on in general,” said Cast.
Currently Dr. Irish isn’t only looking to make the school district better, however, looking at how to make school districts all over the state more responsible. “He’s part of a statewide group of superintendents who are really diving deep on how to fix school finances. He’s also part of a team of people who are doing a research study on helping school districts navigate all the important cultural questions,” said Cast joyfully. All the candidates that ran for district superintendent were specifically judged in three areas, “the leadership, the administrative, the instructional. I’ve been on the school board for 12 years, and you really do need all those balanced,” said Cast.
Dr. Irish is already working with Carrie Campbell, the executive director of communication and family engagement to make a list of people who he will meet in order to make an entry plan by getting information face-to-face. Obviously, the characteristic of caring about students, families and their needs and wants is something that helped him rise to the top of the candidate list. “A lot of people thought he was just that great match for all those needs and would be a great person to step in and again keep everything running really strong,” explained Cast. The school district was looking for someone who had a strong background in running really well rounded schools, and somebody who was willing to support what each student needs. “Dr. Irish was just really committed to schools. Just period. Like the mission of schools, serving students. He is very passionate in that area and it really comes through,” said Cast.
