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As she nears the finish line, Marsha Hanson isn’t merely taking things in stride.

The retiring La Conner high and middle school principal has a strong kick left.

Hanson was praised by Superintendent Tim Bruce and La Conner School Board members Monday night for her yeoman work this year overseeing a detailed school accreditation process.

“We really appreciate what she has taken on,” Bruce stressed. “The accreditation process is a lot of work.”

It will also be work finding a successor to Hanson, who administers two campuses simultaneously, one of which — the middle school — is in transition due to major ongoing construction.

“With Marsha retiring,” said Bruce, “we’ll use the same process we used when we hired Bev Bowen at the elementary school. We’ll use the same type of screening interview that we used with Bev.”

But first things, first.

There are plenty of miles left to be run before the current marathon school year is completed.

Hanson and Bowen, for instance, are keeping pace with annual staff evaluations. Many of those faculty members are likewise working on mandated and targeted professional development, according to District Curriculum Director Peg Seeling.

Not to mention exhaustive spring testing.

“The testing calendar is pretty full,” Seeling said. “There will be lots and lots of testing this spring.”

And construction.

Capital Projects spokesman Bryan Young told school officials Monday the sequence of work on the new middle school facility is advancing from south to north, with the gymnasium planned near the latter stages.

“This,” said Young, “allows room to get the large equipment in, out, and around the construction site.”