East Valley Superintendent Brian Talbott to depart school district after this school year

This school year will be the last for East Valley Superintendent Brian Talbott, who will depart from the school district at the end of June.

Talbott announced in August that he intends to leave at the end of the school year, planning to pivot his 33-year career in public education to work in an education-adjacent position in the private sector.

Talbott has worked five years at the helm of East Valley, and he said the decision did not come lightly.

“Initially, it was a hard ‘No,’” Talbott said. “This is what I know, and this is what I love. I really just started to think about the amount of time that my family sacrifices and have an opportunity to continue with the work that I love, which is around education in a different way that allows me to be home more and to help with our aging parents, and just all the things that this chapter of life brings.”

He’ll ride out this school year; his last day of work is June 30, 2026. Talbott declined to share specifics about his prospective next job, still waiting to confirm his new role.

“To be able to work with school districts, superintendents, school boards and administrators while things are tough, is something that I want to be able to do and help out,” he said of his future position.

In the meantime, the East Valley School Board will undertake the search for a new leader in the district. Talbott will continue his work around the district’s priorities, including an information campaign surrounding the district’s $220 million bond on February ballots.

He was emphatic that the timing of his departure and his announcement have no correlation to the district’s bond initiative. Talbott and his wife have no intention of leaving their residence in the school district.

“This is our home, and the only thing that it alters is that I’m no longer part of the process, but very much paying the same taxes, and I don’t like taxes any more than the next person,” he said. “However, I look forward to being able to pay into and provide our students and our staff and our community the schools that they deserve.”

Talbott has spent over three decades in public education, much like his, father Brian Talbott Sr., who led the Northeast Washington Educational Service District 101. A Spokane native, Talbott graduated from Ferris High School and started his career in the White Pass School District, sandwiched between the peaks of Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens. After advancing from history and English teacher to principal to superintendent in White Pass, he led the Nine Mile Falls School District for around 14 years. Talbott eventually settled in East Valley after assuming his current role, from which he always imagined retiring.

“I struggled with it,” he said of his decision to depart. “This wouldn’t surprise many folks, but tears of just trying to navigate the question, and I finally was able to get to a point where I can give myself permission to take care of my family and to focus on that.”