Coos Bay SD 9 board accepts superintendent resignation, appoints Gary Roberts as interim and authorizes contract talks

The Coos Bay SD 9 School Board announced that it accepted Superintendent Justin Ainsworth’s resignation and moved quickly to name an interim leader and authorize contract negotiations.

At the start of the meeting the board chair said the resignation had already been accepted on the consent agenda and publicly confirmed that Ainsworth had resigned. The board then discussed next steps for leadership before the start of the school year. “We had a very quick meeting and some people in the audience may not have even realized that the superintendent resigned, since we accepted his resignation in the consent agenda,” the chair said.

Several board members said the board’s priority was to ensure continuity for the district as administrators and staff return before students. One member noted the district previously ran an OSBA search and suggested the district may be entitled to another search or credit because the hired candidate did not remain the full term covered by that search contract.

Board member Kim expressed concern about handling the resignation through the consent agenda and the short notice: “Something as big as the superintendent’s resignation should be, in my opinion, not in a consent agenda,” she said, adding that the superintendent’s contract calls for 60 days’ notice and that the board had not received that timeline.

The board discussed compensation parameters for an interim appointment; a board member said a salary range of “160 to 180” would be an appropriate starting point for negotiations (the transcript did not specify units). The board then considered whether the prior emergency action authorized contract negotiations; a member said it did not and moved to authorize the executive committee to negotiate terms.

The board voted to authorize the executive committee (chair and vice chair) to negotiate an interim contract with Gary Roberts for the 2025–26 school year. After the motion passed, the board invited Roberts to speak. On screen, Roberts thanked the board and said he was “humbled and honored to be selected” and described immediate preparations including cabinet and administrative meetings to ready the district for the school year.

Separately, the board moved to appoint interim superintendent Roberts as chief administrative officer, district clerk, and budget officer for the 2025–26 school year; the motion passed.

The board said negotiations would begin immediately with the goal of concluding terms before the school year starts on August 1. No members of the public had signed up to comment during the meeting.

The board adjourned after finishing its business.