New assistant superintendent ready to build

MOSES LAKE — Carole Meyer knows a thing or two about building schools.

She should. As the former principal of Salk Middle School in Spokane, she oversaw the construction of that school’s new campus. And a few years before that, she oversaw the construction of John R. Rogers High School in Spokane as well.

“That’s been my second job, building principal. I really enjoyed that process,” Meyer said. “It’s a rare opportunity to do a full remodel or build a new school, and I’ve done it twice.”

Which is one of the reasons Meyer was hired as the Moses Lake School District’s assistant superintendent. If last February’s $135 million school construction bond makes its way successfully through court — a group of school district residents are challenging the election’s certification — Meyer will get the chance to lead another major school building project.

Meyer said that while an architect might know something about building schools, only someone who actually works in one knows how they’re really used, and it’s important to bringing that insight and knowledge to the design and building process.

“As a building leader, I have an eye toward the building. As an educator, I’m able to see what the building needs to become,” she said.

Meyer has been an educator for 30 years, beginning as a special education teacher in the Mead School District and then as an administrator and principal in the Spokane Schools, and this will be the first time in her long career that she has worked at someplace other than a school.

“Which will be weird,” she said. “Come the first day, there won’t be any students here (in the administration building), and that’s very different for me.”

She’s also been married for 36 years, with three grown children and three grandchildren.

In addition to overseeing the district’s hoped-for construction projects, Meyer is also heading up the district’s teacher recruitment and retention efforts. While all districts are struggling with recruiting new teachers, Meyer said Moses Lake appears to have filled all its teaching spots for the upcoming school year.

And she also believes its important for a smaller town like Moses Lake to cultivate its own teachers from its own school students.

“Recruitment and retention is an issue, and we’re working with regional universities to grow our own teachers,” she said. “You have to want to live in a small town.”

Recent changes in funding, with the state providing more for “basic education” and raising teacher salaries, has added “a giant wrinkle” to teacher recruitment and future contract negations.

“We have more questions than answers,” Meyer said. “We’re in wait and see mode, hoping the state funds us adequately.”

Making sure there are enough substitute teachers is also a task Meyer will oversee, and she’s reviewing online training tools that will allow a substitute to receive an emergency certification at any time.

“We’re looking for people with a bachelor’s degree, who like kids, can teach at any level on a given day,” she said.

It’s a lot of work, making sure the district is fully staffed, that there are enough people to fill in, and heading up a couple of building projects which may or may not happen soon.

“It’s very complicated, and it looks like spinning plates,” she said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com