The Hood River County School District Board formally approved appointing Bill Newton to serve as the district’s interim superintendent at a special meeting on Monday.  Newton will hold the position for the 2023-24 school year.  He takes over for Rich Polkinghorn, who resigned to take the superintendent’s job in the White Salmon Valley School District.  Newton has served as the district’s curriculum and instruction executive director for since the 2019-20 school year.  The district had formally announced his selection late last week.  He was principal at Westside Elementary from 2012 to 2018, and prior to that worked 14 years in Salem-Keizer Public Schools.  The district will begin a formal process to hire a permanent superintendent in October.