Cda Superintendent To Retire Cresswell Steps Down After 5 Years As Schools Chief

Superintendent Doug Cresswell will retire next July after five years at the helm of North Idaho’s largest school district.

“I beat the average,” he quipped Monday, explaining that the average tenure for superintendents is three and a half years.

Cresswell officially announced his retirement plans at Monday evening’s school board meeting. But he told board members of his intentions earlier this year, said chairwoman Wanda Quinn.

Quinn praised Cresswell’s low-key style and ability to keep the board informed. She noted that during his tenure Coeur d’Alene voters approved construction of Hayden Meadows and Fernan elementary schools, Lake City High School and a new middle school.

“Doug has just always been there for the district, as far as I’m concerned,” Quinn said.

Cresswell’s administration has not been without critics. Among them is Simone Kincaid, who sees his departure as a chance to improve communication between the schools and the public.

“We need someone who will listen to the parents and the community when they’re concerned that the quality of education is going down the tubes,” she said.

Cresswell’s career began in 1963, when he went to work as a teacher and coach at Spokane’s Shadle Park High School. He’s been with the Coeur d’Alene district since 1970, including a stint from 1978 to 1983 as Coeur d’Alene High School principal.

His administrative jobs twice included serving as acting superintendent.

Cresswell will be 59 at the time of his July 1 retirement. He’ll also have a military pension, having retired as a colonel in 1989 after 32 years with the U.S. Army Reserve. He plans to stay in Coeur d’Alene, he said, and hone his golf and tennis skills.

The school board expects to have a replacement hired before he leaves, Quinn said.

Cresswell couldn’t think of anything he would do differently while superintendent. The hardest thing about the job, he said, is that “You feel you’re responsible for everything that happens, but also everything that fails to happen.”

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