Riverside names superintendent
A Spokane middle school principal has been selected as the new superintendent for the Riverside School District.
Roberta Kramer, 45, is currently principal of Glover Middle School in north Spokane.
She will replace longtime Riverside Superintendent Galen Hansen, who announced he will retire at the end of this school year.
Kramer was selected from a pool of three finalists for the job.
“We felt like she’d be a great fit for Riverside and the direction we want to go in,” said school board President Chris Nieuwenhuis.
The two other candidates for the post included Bonnie Bantis, an elementary principal in the Deer Park School District, and Jim Kowalkowski, Superintendent of the 350-student Pomeroy School District in Garfield County.
The position will be a first for Kramer, who received her superintendent’s credentials from Washington State University last year. She completed her undergraduate and graduate work in Minot, N.D., and received a doctorate from the University of Idaho.
Kramer was also an instructor at the University of Idaho for five years.
She came to Spokane schools in 2000, after working as a high school assistant principal and elementary principal in Kelso, Wash.
Kramer, who will take over in July, will receive a base salary of about $106,000 per year.
“I’m excited about the new opportunity,” Kramer said. “What really made it a good fit is just their commitment to the kids; I could sense that immediately. I knew that was where I wanted to be.”
History teacher nominations
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is seeking nominations for the annual Washington State Teacher of the Year Award.
The institute, based in New York City, honors one history teacher in grades kindergarten through six from each state and United States territory each year.
The state winner is selected based on teaching experience, evidence of creativity and imagination in the classroom, and the teacher’s close attention to documents, artifacts, historic sites and other materials of history.
State winners receive a $1,000 and a chance at the National History Teacher of the Year award to be selected by the institute this fall. National award winners receive an archive of history books and materials for their school library.
To nominate a teacher, contact Washington coordinator Caleb Perkins at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, (360) 735-6351 or cperkins@ospi.wednet.edu.
Deadline for nominations is May 4.