‘Microcosm of America’

This summer Freeman School District’s new superintendent, Sergio Hernandez, spent a hazy August day riding a farm combine and listening to one of the district’s patrons.

What he heard from the farmer was, “It’s not broke.” In other words, the district is doing great, there’s no need to mess with success.

Hernandez agreed. “There’s a lot of pride in the Freeman School District. The community thinks highly of the dedicated teachers and staff,” he said.

He plans to continue providing a quality education for everyone in the district.

“We have to address the needs of college-bound students as well as students who see high school as the end of their education; to prepare them for the job world,” said Hernandez.

The Freeman School District draws from a diverse group of rural and urban students from a large geographical area 10 miles south of Spokane Valley.

The district stretches from near Highway 195 and Hangman Creek on the west, to the Idaho border on the east.

The district’s 860 students come from Freeman, Rockford, Valleyford, Hangman Hills, Mount Hope and Mica areas.

“I see it as an opportunity for urban and rural to come together in a small-school environment. The fact that there’s diversity is a strength. The group comes together with a common vision and goal,” said Hernandez. “We’re a microcosm of America today.”

Hernandez said one of his biggest challenges will be to address the facility needs of the district.

Another challenge will be implementing the district’s new strategic plan.

In May 2005, voters in the Freeman district failed to pass an $11.7 million construction bond to remodel the high school and elementary school buildings. The district couldn’t get the 60 percent supermajority needed to pass the measure.

This was the third consecutive time the proposed construction bonds failed.

Freeman voters rejected two $8 million bonds in 2002 to update aging school facilities.

The high school, built in 1957 for 150 students, is now home to more than 300 high school students.

The superintendent said he wants to bring the community together to work on the needs that they can address.

Before taking over the leadership role at Freeman in July, Hernandez served as the superintendent of the Tekoa School District for seven years. Prior to that, he was the director of academic support programs in Walla Walla, where he managed a $2 million program for bilingual education and Title One Learning.

Hernandez recently finished nine years on the governor’s Committee on Juvenile Justice and served as vice chairman of the state’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee to the president and Congress.

“I think it’s been helpful to give the committee an educational perspective,” said Hernandez.

Wendy Hernandez, his wife of 36 years, is an immigration attorney for World Relief, an organization that helps resettle refugees from around the world.

Hernandez said that his family immigrated to the United States from Chile when he was 5 years old, and because of this he understands the importance of having goals and dreams and people wanting a better life for their families.

Some of Hernandez’s relatives still live in Chile, but his immediate family is here. His daughter and her family live in Spokane, and his son lives in Oregon.

Hernandez said he’s received a warm welcome from everyone he’s met here.

“My door is open. I want people to share their needs and concerns – to have an open dialogue. Come in, and let’s talk about it.”