Stowell wants to build on progress

Nancy Stowell’s roots in Spokane run deep.

She grew up here and has spent 30 years in the hallways of Spokane schools. Now she’s seeking the top post in Eastern Washington’s largest school district.

The Spokane school board appointed Stowell, 59, to the superintendent position last year, when former Superintendent Brian Benzel retired. Now she is competing for the job after a national search for a permanent replacement.

“In some ways it was like I was applying all year long,” Stowell said.

Stowell’s role as a teacher began on the sidewalks of southeast Spokane, where she was raised. “I was one of those kids who played school in the neighborhood,” she said.

She graduated from Marycliff High School, a Catholic all-girls school, before heading to Washington State University to pursue a degree in teaching. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from WSU, as well as credentials from the University of Washington.

Stowell’s first teaching job was at a Seattle high school. After a year she lost her job because of a levy failure.

Her husband, Scott Stowell, got a job at a Mead school, and the couple moved back to Spokane, where she started teaching at Libby Junior High School. Scott Stowell recently retired from Spokane schools as the K-12 science coordinator.

At Libby, Nancy Stowell became assistant principal and then principal. She moved on to Glover Junior High before becoming the district’s associate superintendent for teaching and learning. She held that job nine years before being appointed interim superintendent last year.

While she doesn’t endorse any candidate for the job, Spokane Education Association President Maureen Ramos said Stowell has been the driving force behind student achievement.

“She looked at sound professional development and teaching practices that … have raised student learning in the district dramatically,” Ramos said. That focus has also increased the workload on teachers and staff, but it’s been worth it, she said.

Stowell points to the achievement of the poorest school in the district – Holmes Elementary School, where about 90 percent of students qualify for free- and reduced-price lunch – as an example of what is working. In 1997 just 28 percent of Holmes fourth-graders met the reading standard on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the state’s standardized test. Ten years later, 86 percent of students passed.

“They have the skills and abilities to open doors and improve their lives,” Stowell said. “That’s huge.”

While she agrees with the premise of the federal No Child Left Behind law – closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their affluent and white peers – Stowell said there is much work to be done toward that end.

“We need to figure out what kind of alternatives we need to keep students connected to school,” Stowell said, noting the dropout rate is a “huge concern.”

Stowell has also worked on diversity and cultural issues in the district, attempting to connect with the more than 40 languages and cultures represented in Spokane schools.

“With her understating of the cultural needs of the district, I think it would be a very good transition,” for Stowell to move into the job, Benzel said.

Stowell says she is only as good as the people she works with and wants to keep building on the district’s progress.

“I’m very proud of the work we’ve done in Spokane Public Schools, and I really want to stay connected to that work,” she said.