Education reform

Since 2000, Spokane Public Schools has seen an exodus of more than 2,000 students, so it certainly has an urgent need to figure out why fewer children are showing up and whether its own policies have abetted declining enrollment. Among other strategies, the district is offering new registration time and hours that work for parents.

“We’re trying something new … doing a better job of working with parents and the community,” said Stacy Loudermilk, a district official.

Many current and former patrons of the district likely see that comment and think it’s about time. And the frustration isn’t limited to registration. The district has a long history of inflexibility and insular decision-making, and it’s going to take more than registration tweaks and free canvas bags stuffed with goodies to turn that perception around.

Given the enormous challenges that lie ahead for the district, change is imperative. Incrementalism won’t work in a district faced with constant budget cuts, a declining level of service and a growing debate over the direction of education, with accountability and standardized testing as lightning rods.

But the district board just selected a new superintendent that is an integral part of a culture that has been averse to change. Rather than reach beyond their comfort zone, board members landed on the interim superintendent. It was hardly surprising that Nancy Stowell would be selected after the board announced that her chief opponent after a nationwide search would be a superintendent of a small city in Montana. Even then, Darlene Schottle, of Kalispell, withdrew her name to spare the community the discussion of an outsider possibly being chosen over an insider.

Controversy has long been frowned upon at the district, where regimentation is valued over experimentation.

It’s not just Spokane Public Schools that is set in its ways. In the recent past, interim superintendents have been picked for the top spot in the West Valley, East Valley and Central Valley school districts. Last September, the Coeur d’Alene School District didn’t bother with a search, immediately naming the assistant superintendent to the top spot after Harry Amend announced his retirement. By the way, the widely respected Amend came to Coeur d’Alene from the Kalispell School District.

This predisposition to comfort in the education community forms an echo chamber, where like-minded people bounce ideas off one another and outside voices are dismissed. Spokane Public Schools will be getting an unexpected infusion of $4 million this year for librarians, books and computers, but that’s the product of a bold campaign launched by several Spokane mothers who operated outside the system and took their appeal to a receptive Legislature in Olympia.

Superintendent Stowell’s first task is to assure the community that fresh perspectives are as welcome as new students. And making sure that happens will take a responsive school board that remembers it owes its allegiance to the community, not the administration.