Two Freeman District Administrators Moving On When School Year Ends

The two top administrators at Freeman School District have said they will leave at the end of the school year.

Harry Amend, the district’s superintendent, is headed to a job in Montana. Dennis Schuerman, high school principal, plans to retire.

The Kalispell School District has offered Harry Amend the job of superintendent.

The offer is contingent on a favorable report from a Kalispell team visiting Freeman next week.

But school board members in both Freeman and Kalispell clearly expect Amend’s move to go through.

“We just feel lucky that we’ve had him,” said Ron Fulkerson, chairman of Freeman’s school board.

One member of the Kalispell school board said that if anything, their expectations of Amend may have grown too high. Don Murray described the 5,000-student district as having plenty of potential.

“We think he’s the guy who can take us to the promised land,” said.

Amend’s move is based on two reasons. He has 30 years in education in Washington. Beyond that level, under state law, there are disincentives built into the retirement system.

His salary at Freeman is $81,921 a year. With a move out of state, he can draw his pension as well as his new salary, which is yet to be negotiated.

Also, Amend’s youngest daughter will graduate from Freeman High this spring.

Amend grew up in the Spokane Valley, attending and then teaching and coaching in Central Valley schools. He worked as head counselor at Central Valley High School for 12 years, as vice principal there for one year, and then as principal of North Pines Junior High for three years before leaving for Freeman.

He was hired as principal of Freeman High School in 1990 and became Freeman’s superintendent a year later. That same year, Schuerman became principal at the high school.

Schuerman has 31 years in education. He plans to do some traveling, some reading and projects at home, before making larger plans.

“I need to regroup,” he said. “This is a long-hours job. I remember one year, I was out 115 nights out of a 180-day school year.”

Neither Amend nor Schuerman is worried about the district making the transition to new officials.

“I think it’s good for the district,” Schuerman said, reflecting back on the team building done by him, Amend and Nancy Comstock, principal of Freeman Elementary School. Comstock also became principal in 1991.

Schuerman worked as a teacher, athletic director and assistant principal during his time in District 81. He was at Shaw Junior High, Rogers High School, North Central High School and Shadle Park High School, before moving to Freeman.

The district has about 900 students, drawing from a diverse community that includes traditional farming families, as well as suburban families.

Amend’s top accomplishments have been bringing technology into the Freeman schools, as well as building rapport with teachers and the community, Fulkerson said.

“And just kind of the icing on the cake,” Fulkerson said, is that Amend’s term as president of the Washington Association of School Administrations “kept Freeman in the loop of what’s happening statewide in education, so we’re always one step ahead.”

Amend will stay in Freeman through the school year.

“Eight years is a long time for a superintendent to be in one place,” said Joe Dahman, a member of the Freeman school board. “I’m excited for him. I can see it’s an opportunity. But I hate to see him leave. He’s a good friend.”