May 15—When asked what set her toward a career in education, Sandra Miller rattled off powerful moments of teachers who inspired her as a student.
Miller, Cassia County School District assistant superintendent, credits her ambition to a first-grade teacher who instilled in her a love of learning, a seventh-grade English teacher who asked Miller to take over for her after becoming emotional while reading to the class, and a 10th-grade teacher who complimented Miller's writing and would read it to the class.
Also, she admits another draw was the thought that education — with the ability to have summers and weekends off — would be a good profession for a mother. Instead of taking summers off, however, she ended up teaching even after she transitioned to a principal.
"I'm passionate about being an advocate for students and helping them build a successful future through education and skills for the real world," Miller said. "My husband used to tease me because I loved teaching in the summer. Even when I was a principal I taught in the summer. I felt like I needed to stay grounded."
After spending time as a teacher, principal and administrator, Miller is transitioning from assistant superintendent of the school district to its superintendent.
"With my experience as assistant superintendent, I know the district, the goals we have set and the momentum we have going," Miller said. "For transition purposes, it would be smooth. That was part of it. But I've aspired to be a superintendent to see what kind of change, what kind of leadership I might be able to give to a district and move them forward."
Miller is just one of four new superintendents in the Magic Valley starting at the beginning of July. Jerome, Buhl and Hansen school districts will also have new leadership heading into the next school year.
These new superintendents will be at the forefront of transitioning their respective districts from a turbulent year carried out amid a pandemic to one that is closer to normal as COVID-19 cases decline and more people become vaccinated.
Pat Charlton, the future Jerome School District superintendent, said this transition is all about building the right atmosphere in the schools.
"I think you go in and try to make sure that do you have that positive culture in every building, and that students are feeling welcome and safe and that parents also feel that way," Charlton said. "I think we're all going to be having a collective sigh of relief when school starts in the fall and it's kind of normal."
Promoting within the district
After outgoing Cassia County School District Superintendent James Shank informed the district's school board he was leaving for a position in Idaho Falls, it was not long until the board hired Miller to fill his vacancy.
Born in Burley, the Minico High School graduate has spent her entire education career in either the Minidoka or Cassia county school districts.
After graduating from Idaho State University, Miller returned to Minidoka County where she taught English and Spanish for 13 years before becoming the assistant principal and then principal at West Minico Middle School.
Miller then moved into a central office position where she oversaw testing, federal programs, professional development and curriculum for the Minidoka County School District. She then spent a year as the district's interim superintendent before becoming the curriculum director for the Cassia County School District.
From that position, she went on to become the district's assistant superintendent for five years before, taking over as the district's superintendent in July.
Miller said she misses being in the classroom, but she was inspired to move through the ranks and these different positions to increase the number of students she could impact.
"When I was a teacher, I had about 160 students a day," Miller said. "And I thought, well if I become a principal I can touch 450 lives, and then if I become a district office personnel, I can touch 5,000 lives possibly."
After spending years in administrative roles, Miller says she misses the relationships teachers have with their students and experiencing those moments when a student suddenly grasps a concept or assignment.
For example, she recalls teaching English in the summer and watching students become engrossed in novels such as The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Miller's favorite novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
"If I didn't know any better, I would think Atticus Finch is a real person," Miller said. "He just did what was right, and to me, doing what is right is so important."
As superintendent, Miller said she will continue the district's implementation of professional learning communities, which began about a year ago.
Through this process, teachers meet at least once a week to discuss data from student assessments and discuss what changes they need to make to upcoming lessons based on student needs.
Additionally, she said the district will have a "laser-like focus" on early literacy. She said it is the district's goal that 85% of students are reading at their equivalent grade level by the time they hit the third grade.
"Because in those grades, you are teaching students to read," Miller said. "Once fourth grade hits, students are reading to learn. If we don't set them up to be able to do that, then their middle years are very difficult."
Miller said because federally mandated achievement tests were canceled last year due to the pandemic, she is not sure if the district is meeting this 85% mark. The district has been conducting these tests in recent weeks and will have a better idea of where students stand soon.
Along with student achievement, the district also needs to continue its focus on students' social, emotional and mental health, especially in the age of social media when kids are constantly vulnerable, Miller said.
Through some private funding, the district launched a program a few years ago that set up a phone line students can call to be connected to local resources families may not know are available. Despite the private funding for this program running out, the district has continued to fund it at the cost of $100,000 annually.
This aspect of education, schools paying attention to students' mental health, has become more important throughout her career, Miller said. And it's especially significant now after the difficult school year students are wrapping up.
"I see the importance of education and what it can do for you, and that's the kind of love of learning I want to instill in our students," Miller said. "That if you want it, you can achieve it. You just have to work hard and it's yours."
Returning to the Magic Valley
Pat Charlton also has roots in the Magic Valley.
His parents met at the Albion State Normal School when it was one of the main colleges in the state for aspiring teachers. After college, they landed jobs in the Meridian School District.
Charlton was born in Meridian and lived there until moving to his dad's hometown of Buhl in the eighth grade. Some 40 years later, Charlton is making a similar geographical move.
Charlton is retiring June 30 from his position as the superintendent of the Vallivue School District and is taking over as the superintendent of the Jerome School District on July 1. Superintendent Dale Layne announced he was retiring from Jerome earlier this year.
"I thought (Jerome) would be a really good district to go to," Charlton said. "It's back in the Magic Valley — where I'm from. And it's pretty similar, actually, to Vallivue as far as demographic makeup of the student body. It's just about half the size."
Before retiring, Charlton had spent 10 years in his previous position, and another three years as an assistant superintendent in Vallivue prior to that. Charlton also spent time as a principal in American Falls and Pocatello and as a teacher in the Boise area and Filer High School.
"Probably the most fun I had was being a high school principal for 20 years," Charlton said. "I just really enjoyed the whole scene of the great American high school."
Four years ago, Charlton made his intentions clear that he would be retiring, and the Vallivue School District began to prepare his replacement. But as the time for retirement drew closer, he knew he was not quite ready.
"I enjoy getting up and going to work each day," Charlton said. "I find the superintendency is a very rewarding job, one that I really enjoy."
Despite having two parents who spent their careers as school administrators, Charlton's career path was never forced upon him. Yet, when he was in college, after switching majors a few times, it was the one field he felt most drawn to.
When Charlton's dad was younger, he was a fiery high school principal and a football coach. But, over the years, his dad mellowed out and began to show a softer side when dealing with students.
Charlton said he somewhat took after his dad in this regard and described himself as perhaps too much of a disciplinarian earlier in his career. But over the years, he became much more concerned about students as individuals and the idea of knowing when to give people a break.
"My mom was also very people-centered as an elementary school principal," Charlton said. "They were really both top-notch school administrators, and hopefully a lot of that rubbed off on me."
While leading the Vallivue School District, Charlton said one of the most challenging issues he dealt with was the district's constant and rapid growth. When he started at the district 14 years ago, it had an enrollment of 5,000 students. That number has since doubled.
He can see the Jerome School District experiencing similar growth over the next 15 years or so.
"It can be pretty challenging because probably the toughest thing is going to the patrons every other year to pony up money for new schools," Charlton said.
After a $26 million bond proposal failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pass last year, voters will decide the fate of a $27 million bond package for the Jerome School District in Tuesday's election. The money will go toward the construction of a new school, as well as additions at other schools to address some overcrowding issues.
Charlton said he is crossing his fingers in hopes that the bond passes.
In addition to dealing with growth, Charlton has been successful in increasing student achievement throughout his career. He is a big proponent of increasing opportunities for students to take advanced placement classes.
Also, as somebody who coached football, wrestling and track while working at Filer High School, Charlton believes activities that take place outside the classroom can sometimes be as beneficial as the activities that take place inside.
"You learn a lot of things," he said. "How to work with others, working with a team toward a common goal, how to win graciously and how to lose. All of those lessons are things that really help you in life, maybe more than things you get in the classroom."
Sticking with an ag community
While earning his degree at Boise State University, a career in education was always David Carson's backup plan. He was set on helping run his family's farm in Homedale.
But his family sold the farm where they grew potatoes, sugar beets and alfalfa in February 1995, only a few months before he graduated with a bachelor's degree in earth science education.
"I was planning on farming and my dad said, 'You need something else to fall back on,'" Carson said. "And so, good thing I followed my dad's counsel and had a degree to fall back on."
The backup plan worked out as he found he loved teaching.
After graduating, Carson landed his first teaching job at his hometown of Homedale. After teaching science to eighth- through 12th-graders for five years, he moved on to school administration.
Carson spent a total of nearly 20 years working as a principal in American Falls, Caldwell and Parma before landing his first superintendent job at the Hansen School District.
Now, after three years in Hansen, Carson is taking over as the superintendent for the Buhl School District starting July 1. Wil Overgaard has served as the district's interim superintendent for the last year after the school board there voted to part ways with his predecessor in early 2020.
Carson said he was intrigued by the prospect of moving to a larger district that is still small enough to know many of the students and their families personally. The Buhl School District has between 1,200 and 1,300 students, compared with Hansen's 350 students.
Although he was interested in a larger district, Carson said he wanted to remain in a more rural, agriculturally based community.
"That's what I can relate to," Carson said. "I totally understand when parents come in and say, 'My kid was absent because he was out milking cows until 1 in the morning,' or, 'Our cows got out and I have to help get them back in.' Just the culture of where a lot of our kids are coming from, exposed to and live around."
Carson said it is important for him, as a superintendent, to understand this culture because it affects and informs the decision-making process when trying to address challenges students face.
For example, because rural communities such as Hansen are physically so spread out, transportation is often an issue. This is important to consider because if a school district is going to start a program that offers tutoring help for students after school, the district needs to address how students can get to and from the program.
Additionally, because smaller, rural communities tend to not have the same resources larger cities have, schools end up providing other noneducation-related assistance to students. At Hansen, he said, the district operates a food and clothing pantry that is heavily used.
"Those are valuable, critical components that don't show up on the test scores," Carson said. "They do indirectly because if you're not taking care of all of those things, your test scores aren't going to be very good because kids are worried about things other than what is going on in the classroom."
Carson said he is not moving to Buhl with many preconceived notions of what is important to the district or community. He wants to meet with people in person and hear input from the locals.
And after this last year of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and scrutiny from some within the Idaho Legislature regarding what is taught in schools, Carson said he would like to find a way to open up schools for the community to visit.
"I think it is going to be very important for us in education this fall to get the communities in our schools," Carson said. "I'm not just talking about the parents of the students who come to school every day, I'm talking about those people who haven't been in a school in 20 years, and say, 'Here's what it looks like, here's what we do, here's how we teach.'"
Looking back on his career, Carson reflects fondly on times when he was able to establish cultures that are personal and supportive. After getting to know a student and his or her family, a school district can involve the student in something they would find meaningful, he said.
"I knew how meaningful it was because I knew what it meant to that student," Carson said. "I enjoy that. That provides meaning for my career and what I do every day."
Coming back to Idaho
After spending the last few years as the superintendent of the Imbler School District near La Grande, Oregon, Angie Lakey-Campbell is returning to her home state of Idaho to replace Carson as superintendent of the Hansen School District.
While in college, Lakey-Campbell first thought she wanted to become a computer programmer but realized she would have to move to a large, metropolitan area to find a job — something she didn't want to do. Then she thought about becoming an accountant. After a conversation with her mom, however, she decided to put her math skills to use as a teacher.
Lakey-Campbell grew up in Cambridge, where she also spent 25 years teaching and working as a principal after graduating from the University of Idaho. She left the district to pursue her first full-time administrative role and ended up in Oregon. But she is ready to return to Idaho.
"I miss Idaho, so I'm happy to be back and happy to be in the Magic Valley," Lakey-Campbell said. "I have a brother who lives in Gooding, so I'm a little familiar with the area, but most of my life was spent farther north."
So far, Lakey-Campbell has spent her career in smaller communities and she prefers to keep it that way. The Imbler School District has about 285 students. Hansen's student body is slightly larger.
She said it's easier to maintain relationships in smaller districts. And it is also easier to implement changes if there is a need to do so.
For example, while she was at Cambridge, the district switched from a standard A through F grading scale to a standards-based system. In the latter, teachers determine the level at which students need to achieve to be successful in the next subject.
This was a massive change that the district, with fewer than 200 students, decided to implement after a meeting between the superintendent and district staff. This would have taken a lot longer in a larger district, Lakey-Campbell said.
"I was just part of an accreditation review for Nampa High School, and they've been piloting standards-based grading for at least a year, maybe two," she said. "A process that for us took 15 to 20 minutes, it took Nampa two years.
"You're much more nimble in a smaller district."
Aside from it just being a smaller district, Hansen drew her in because of some of the programs it runs to assist students who need it.
"If we have a program helping kids improve and get better, it impacts their lifelong earning capability," Lakey-Campbell said. "Not that money is everything, but certainly we want citizens to be able to grow up and be able to contribute to our society."
In Oregon, she enjoyed getting to know networks of families who lived there for generations and she is eager to do the same in Hansen. After she arrives, Lakey-Campbell's first priority will be to get to know the people in the community and district staff to identify what is working and how the district can build off of its current successes.
She is also eager to get involved in sports at Hansen. At Imbler, she would run the clock for basketball games or watch the boundary lines for volleyball games. She loves athletics, and since she is no longer in the classroom, this is one way to stay closer to students, Lakey-Campbell said.
"Every student has a story," she said. "Every student has a mom and dad that loves them dearly and wants to see the best for them.
"How can we as a school district become better to serve our students, and in turn, our community?"
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