Okay, now we get it. Susan Enfield’s puzzling decision to drop out of contention for the permanent position of Seattle Schools superintendent–without having another job offer– suddenly makes sense. It looks like she’s on the inside track for another superintendency right across the lake. The Seattle Times

reported that Enfield yesterday expressed interest in becoming superintendent of the Bellevue School District. Outgoing Bellevue Superintendent Amalia Cudeiro resigned from the post just Tuesday, but took a leave of absence in December–right around the time that Enfield, now Seattle’s interim superintendent, said she wouldn’t be seeking to stay on here.Did Bellevue’s directors intimate to Enfield back in December that she would be a leading contender? They already knew Enfield, since she applied for the superintendency there three years ago. And it sounds like the search for other candidates is but a formality. Bellevue schools’ board president Paul Mills told the Times: “We want to make sure we go through a public process so that everyone has a chance to weigh in. But yes, she’s certainly a candidate.” Commenters on the Times’ website and the lively blog Save Seattle Schools suggest that the decision for Enfield is, as one put it, “a no-brainer.” The pay in Belleuve, at $225,000 a year, is the same as in Seattle. And there’s a perception that the Bellevue job would be, as another commenter put it, “a much easier gig.” Enfield apparently felt micro-managed by board members in Seattle, as DW reported last month. But it would be a mistake to think that the Bellevue district is a piece of cake. Bellevue has long been far more diverse than many Seattleites realize. Nearly a quarter of its students receive free or reduced-price lunches (although admittedly Seattle has far more in this camp). More worrisome to a potential leader, the district’s relationship with its teachers has been fraught. Not only did teachers overwhelming vote no confidence in Cudeiro, who was perceived as imperious (remind anyone of a certain former Seattle supe?), but teachers struck in 2008. One of the big issues then was the district’s insistence on a standardized curriculum, which is a direction Seattle has headed toward, including under Enfield.So it wouldn’t be surprising if tensions erupted under Enfield too. But she certainly knows what she’d be getting herself in for, and apparently thinks those challenges are better than sticking around to see what happens in Seattle.