The six candidates for Washoe County School District superintendent were in Reno Monday and Tuesday, interviewing with the board and meeting the public.

The male candidates were selected Friday from a pool of about 20 applicants.

They are Robert Alfaro, 58, of Las Vegas; Karst Brandsma, 55, of Everett, Wash.; Dennis Dearden, 57, of Tucson, Ariz.; Gary Larsen of Nampa, Idaho; Pedro Martinez of Chicago and Heath Morrison, 42, of Germantown, Md.

One to three are expected to be tabbed as a finalist for the position, and the board is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Saturday to make that selection. Whomever the board chooses will replace Paul Dugan, who after five years of service, is retiring Aug. 1.

“With all the literature and statistics I've seen, Washoe is well on its way to being a high-achieving district,” Alfaro, a regional superintendent in Clark County, said. “I think this school district needs some tweaking here or there, and there is some room for improvement, but I view Washoe as a great opportunity.”

Brandsma is the interim superintendent of the Everett Public Schools in Everett, Wash.

“I guess the reason I aspire to the work of being a superintendent is because I feel a calling to public education, which is the world's most important work,” Brandsma said. “What it has to offer is giving kids hope, and there's a euphoria around that which is hard to explain.”

Dearden's work took him away from the day-to-day running of a district as he has mentored superintendents and their cabinets for about two years.

“I've found throughout the period of time I haven't been a superintendent that I missed the job,” Dearden said. “I kept thinking, ‘I should be there.' The thing that caught my eye about Washoe County was their vision of building a world-class school district. That's a lot tougher than it sounds, but it's exciting to me to be in a leadership role in this kind of district because it takes a different kind of leader to get you there.”

Morrison is a community superintendent for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland.

“Myself, my principals and my teachers see those challenges not as barriers but as opportunities,” Morrison said. “We see them as opportunities to meet kids where they are and take them where they need to be, and where they need to be is high school graduation, college readiness and work readiness.”

Martinez, chief financial officer of the Chicago Public Schools, and Gary Larsen, superintendent of the Nampa School District in Nampa, Idaho couldn't be reached for comment.

Visit tahoebonanza.com Saturday for coverage of the board's finalist selection.