Something About Gary Superintendent Gary Livingston Has Made Spokane Schools A Model Of Success

Spokane schools chief Gary Livingston has been doling out plenty of kudos lately to District 81’s students, teachers and administrators.

And he doesn’t hold back when it comes to bragging about the Spokane School Board, which he considers Spokane’s most functional government body.

Livingston is pleased that test scores are up, public support for schools is high and the district has received several hefty grants to improve teaching and learning.

But when asked about his role in the district’s breakaway success, Livingston takes little credit.

“Teachers are working so hard in this district and are really producing,” he says. “And those five people (on the board) are wonderful. They make my job easier.”

But school insiders say the windfall began the day Livingston arrived a little more than seven years ago as District 81’s superintendent.

Livingston’s talent and inclusive, share-the-wealth style, they say, have revitalized administrators, energized teachers and challenged students.

District 81 is becoming a state model of how to do things right, putting Livingston high on the list for recruiters looking for successful administrators who can lead large, urban districts. The state’s top educator even turns to him for advice.

“He’s a great guy and a wonderful leader,” says state Superintendent Terry Bergeson.

During his tenure, the district has developed world-class computer infrastructure, an award-winning diversity program and a state-of-the-art training center for staff.

But equally impressive, teachers say, is how Livingston has helped boost morale in the district by turning the traditional top-down management style on its head.

“Most districts have the pyramid structure with the superintendent sitting at the top in an ivory tower,” says Lynn Jones, president of the Spokane Education Association “Gary doesn’t do that. He interacts with us and we call him `Gary.’

“He has a willingness to work together and that’s something we aren’t used to.”

Livingston, an affable guy who lives and breathes education, says his management philosophy is simple.

“The key is to hire people smarter than you and you stay out of their way,” says Livingston, 52. “You can’t micromanage. You recruit talent, you empower people and then you will make better decisions.”

Board member Robert Fukai remembers the criteria the board used for its superintendent search. They wanted someone with strong educational leadership, a collaborative style and a person who could embrace diversity and differences of all kinds. They also wanted a leader with a vision.

“He’s been all that and more,” Fukai says.

A visionary

The board recruited Livingston from Kansas, where he had served as Topeka’s superintendent for five years. He took over for retiring Superintendent Jerry Hester in 1993, the same year the Legislature passed Washington’s education reform law seeking higher student achievement.

Livingston immediately set to work putting District 81 on a charted course toward that goal and developed a long-range plan.

Throughout 1994, Livingston and the school board hosted a series of community forums, gathering comments from parents and residents on how to improve Spokane schools.

By the end of the year, the board had adopted a nine-point strategic plan developed and written by Livingston, the board and staff. It set goals for higher student achievement, improved school safety, a commitment to diversity, teacher training, improved technology and more communication with parents and the community.

Over the past seven years, Livingston and board members have stuck to the plan, checking off goals constituents wanted met. In addition, they update the plan every four years to reflect changing needs.

“It’s been really exciting and the district has really moved a lot,” says Livingston, whose easygoing but always-professional demeanor gives no hint of the guy who once sang in a rock ‘n’ roll band and rode a Harley.

State Superintendent Bergeson says she has watched in amazement as District 81 has made huge strides under Livingston’s leadership.

“He has improved the quality of learning immeasurably in District 81 over the eight years,” Bergeson says. “It’s amazing to me and it’s about the best-run district in the state.”

Of the 10 poorest schools in the state that have made the largest gains on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning - the state’s tough, high-stakes achievement test - the majority are in District 81.

“We looked at the poorest schools that had made big breakthroughs for their reading goals,” Bergeson says. “Six are from Spokane and that is astounding.”

During a recent visit to Bemiss Elementary School in northeast Spokane, Livingston congratulated students on their WASL test scores, which have soared the past four years, surpassing both the district and state averages in reading and math. The school serves one of Spokane’s poorest neighborhoods and 85 percent of its kids qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch.

Students beamed as Livingston praised them in kid-friendly language.

“You are working very hard, and we are all very proud of you,” Livingston told the classroom of kids, stopping at their desks to admire their artwork, book reports and math work sheets.

Teaching roots

Livingston started out as a psychology major in college in Kansas. Then he took an education class on the “exceptional child.”

“I became interested in special education,” he says. “The psychology started making sense with that class.”

He paid his way through school as a member of Friar Tuck, a rock ‘n’ roll band that played gigs throughout the Midwest.

Livingston sang backup, played percussion, did the lighting and served as the announcer who got the crowd going, recalls his wife. His leadership skills were evident back then, she says.

“They were a pretty good band,” Amanda Livingston says. “He wasn’t much of an instrumentalist or a singer, but he had a big influence on the band.”

Livingston graduated with a psychology and special education degree and started work as a special education teacher, well before the federal 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act.

“There were not a lot of services and without a mandate, you had to struggle to advocate for kids with special needs,” he says.

Livingston eventually headed Topeka’s special education program. He received his doctorate degree in education from Kansas State University in 1976 and climbed the ranks to superintendent in 1988.

He remains a strong advocate for special education and students with disabilities.

Livingston is frustrated by the state’s special education funding cap. The state cuts off additional funding for special-needs students when they exceed 12.7 percent of the total student population in a district.

District 81 - the second largest district in the state - attracts a disproportionate number of high-needs special education students because it offers specialized programs. The district is beyond the cap, with more than 13 percent, and must dip into its general education funds to make up the difference.

“We are not getting funding for the level of services that has been mandated,” Livingston says.

It’s an issue he continues to lobby in Olympia.

Changing classrooms

In Spokane, classroom teaching has changed since Livingston arrived, says Arlington Elementary School teacher Sue Shook, a 22-year veteran with District 81.

“He has made tremendous changes and we are going with more intentional teaching - teaching skills that are lifelong,” she says. “The cutesy stuff is gone.”

This year, she is seeing more kids reading at a higher grade level than ever.

“I’m excited about the direction the district is going,” she says. “I feel like I’m doing a better job teaching than I’ve ever done before.”

Just as Livingston sets high standards for himself, he also expects a lot from his employees, says board member Christie Querna.

But he has managed to inspire without intimidating, and to push people without pushing them out the door. Employees are eager to live up to high expectations, rather than being motivated by fear, many say.

“If he hears people haven’t performed like they should, he isn’t afraid to make them accountable,” Querna says. “But he does so in a way that people learn from it rather than feel beat up.”

As superintendent, Livingston is the boss of about 3,500 employees who are responsible for educating some 31,000 students. While teachers may not get to know Livingston personally, he has a presence in their schools, Shook says.

“He is out in the buildings and out in the community and it feels like there is more community support than ever,” Shook says. “He is a real advocate for teachers.”

Since Livingston arrived, the us-and-them attitude teachers had toward administration has disappeared, she added.

“I feel like we are on a big team,” she says.

Each fall, Livingston makes a point to visit all 50 schools. He also attends at least one staff meeting at each building per year.

His presence extends well beyond the school day. In addition to the school board meetings, there are countless community meetings and public speaking engagements. During the school year, Livingston, who makes about $140,000 a year in salary and benefits, is out nearly every weeknight on business.

It’s a schedule his family has learned to work with.

“If I want Gary to go out to dinner or go to the theater, I call Janis,” says his wife, Amanda, referring to her husband’s assistant, Janis Fogelson, who controls his schedule.

When the couple’s son, Nick, played soccer, Amanda would call in his game schedule.

“I would call Janis and say hold these dates and times,” she says. “Gary didn’t miss many games.”

Nick Livingston, 20, is now a sophomore at Western Washington University.

Bob Wigert, a father whose four children attend Spokane schools, says Livingston has boosted the district’s credibility with parents.

He recalls the district’s push to pass the $74.5 million bond in 1998 for technology and building improvements. A technology levy had failed in 1994, shortly after Livingston arrived.

But the second time around, Livingston and board members attended community and parent meetings for three months before the election, addressing concerns and answering questions.

Not all community members were happy with all of the proposed bond projects, Wigert says. Many protested plans to demolish Lewis and Clark’s historic administration building, for example.

Even so, Livingston took the time to listen to their concerns, he recalls.

“He will listen and respond and you feel like you are being heard,” Wigert says.

The bond passed with a 78 percent approval, in part because the proposal strategically included an improvement project for nearly every school building, giving it broad appeal to voters citywide.

Spokane’s last three maintenance and operation levies also show a swing in public support, each passing by more than 80 percent - among the highest approval ratings in the state.

Challenges ahead

Despite District 81’s successes, there is plenty of work to do, says Livingston.

While the district’s test scores continue their steady climb upward, there is a long way to go.

Like the rest of the state, fewer than a fourth of District 81 students are passing the entire WASL exam, which tests their skills in reading, math, writing and listening. And, beginning with the class of 2008, students must pass the 10th-grade WASL to graduate.

Despite the huge leap the district must make to get kids over the passing mark, Livingston remains committed to education reform.

And he has helped convince others throughout the state to stick with the school-reform plan, that change to schools comes gradually, says Doyle Winter, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators.

“He has turned around the thinking of some business people who think things can be turned around quickly,” Winter says.

Last year, Livingston was president of the Washington Association of School Administrators, which also named him superintendent of the year in 1997.

Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce President Rich Hadley says Livingston has built a strong partnership with the local business community.

“I have never in my 25 years of running chambers met a superintendent with such vision, intensity and ability to get things done,” Hadley says.

Bergeson also says Livingston has had an important influence on education at the state level. He served on the Washington State Accountability Task Force, which laid the groundwork for the state’s Academic Achievement and Accountability Commission. The commission is deciding how the state will intervene and assist districts that are struggling to meet the new state standards, and reward those that are.

Livingston also is serving on the new state Professional Educator Standards Board, which will set standards for teachers to hold them accountable for student learning.

Education reform has not been without controversy. Bergeson says she turns to Livingston when she needs to talk things out.

“Sometimes when you are in the job I’m in, it’s a lonely job,” she says. “Gary’s the person I call up and say, `I have a problem and I need to talk this one through.’ He takes the time and he listens to me.”

Among District 81’s other challenges: keeping Livingston in Spokane.

He routinely receives calls from headhunters for school districts around the country. After Seattle’s beloved Superintendent John Stanford died of leukemia in 1998, Seattle board members called Livingston, Bergeson says.

“Part of our job on the board is to change his locks on his car once a week so he doesn’t drive out of town,” board member Querna says.

Livingston isn’t sure how much longer he’ll remain as District 81’s chief. At some point, he says, he would like to go back to teaching. He envisions working at the university level in teacher and administrative training.

But for now, he remains focused on his plan for Spokane schools.

“The educational infrastructure is in place,” Livingston says. “Now it’s up to us to produce higher achievement by all students regardless of differences. I think we are beginning to see it.”