The San Juan Island School District has hired Dianne Ball of Marysville, Wash., to be the new principal at Friday Harbor Elementary School.

Connie Martin, the school’s principal the past two years, opted earlier this year not to renew her contract and will step down at the end of the school year.

Ball’s first day on the job is July 1. Her salary range as principal of the elementary school will be between $91,500 and $96,500, according to school district Superintendent Rick Thompson.

Thompson described the interviewing process as “extensive” and said that Ball “was a pretty clear choice” of the nine-member hiring committee. The hiring process involved reviewing applications and resumes of 25 applicants, two full days of semi-finalist interviews, thorough background and reference checks, and 11 hours of finalist interviews and meetings with the hiring committee, district administrators and school board members.

Responding to an inquiry from the hiring committee about how long she planned to remain principal, Ball said, “for the longer term,” according to Thompson.

Born in Scranton, Pa., Ball is a graduate in music of Marywood University in Scranton. Education studies at Western Washington University, City University and Seattle Pacific University yielded a teacher’s certificate, a principal’s certificate and training in teacher evaluation and in “safe and civil schools.”

She has been an assistant principal in the Marysville school district for nine years, spent one year as an administrator intern in Lakewood, Wash., and was a classroom teacher for 19 years in the Conway school district.