Kalispell Public Schools' top administrator is expected to interview March 7 for the Missoula County Public Schools superintendent position.

Micah Hill, who is in his third year as superintendent of Kalispell Public Schools, is the only person scheduled to be interviewed, said Tyler Christensen, spokesperson for Missoula County Public Schools. Hill was selected from a pool of nine candidates, Christensen said.

This is the second round of interviews the Missoula district has held for the superintendent position. In the first round, three finalists were interviewed, but ultimately passed over.

“The school board declined to select from any of the candidates and opted to reopen the search,” Christensen said.

Enter Hill. The longtime Kalispell educator and administrator said he was not seeking a new position, but was persuaded to apply by his children.

“I have three kids living in Missoula,” Hill said. “They were the ones that originally encouraged me to apply.”

He described the decision as a difficult one.

“This is a hard one because my heart has been in Kalispell for a long time. We raised our kids here. It was definitely a decision that comes with mixed emotions,” Hill said.

What appealed to Hill about the position, aside from being closer to family, was the opportunity for professional growth.

Missoula County Public Schools is a larger district than Kalispell with a staff of more than 1,400 employees and a total enrollment of 9,244. Kalispell Public Schools employs approximately 800 with a total enrollment of about 6,300 students, according to Hill.

He also noted that the Missoula school district has worked on a long-range strategic plan to set goals and priorities.

“Going into a district in the starting stages of implementing those goals would definitely be exciting,” Hill said.

Prior to becoming superintendent of Kalispell Public Schools, Hill was the Glacier High School principal for two years and spent 11 years as an assistant principal. He also served as principal of Linderman School — when it was a middle school — the dean of students and activities director for Kalispell Junior High, and as an English teacher at Flathead High School.

In Kalispell, Hill has been working on a transformational learning initiative, a multiyear process to rethink, with community involvement, what education looks like in the district. The end goal is improving educational outcomes for students.

“There are a lot of really good things happening in Kalispell,” Hill said.

Officials in Missoula hope to have a new superintendent in place by the start of July. The candidate selected for the position will replace interim Superintendent Russ Lodge, who will retire in June.

Lodge stepped into the role when former Superintendent Rob Watson took the position as executive director of the School Administrators of Montana.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.