'A brighter future, together'

MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake School District appointed Carol Lewis as its permanent superintendent at the Nov. 7 school board meeting. This followed a period of transition during which she served as both assistant superintendent and interim superintendent.  

Her predecessor, Monty Sabin, stepped down earlier this year following the discovery of the district’s financial situation. Lewis, who was serving as the assistant superintendent at the time, was promoted by the board to interim superintendent. Now, she will serve without the interim title.  

“I am honored to take on this role and I look forward to working closely with our community to build a strong and innovative school district,” Lewis said. “My commitment is to empower every student to achieve their potential while ensuring the stability and well-being of our educational programs.” 

Lewis began her career in education in 1996, teaching in Port Angeles before moving to Cheney, where she spent 20 years, she said. Lewis has held several different positions in education, transitioning from a middle school teacher to instructional coach, then administrator as a principal and ultimately to the district office. In her former roles, she emphasized curriculum development and student-centered learning approaches. 

“There have been students that I supported through a lot of difficulty when they were in elementary school, and there was pressure to have them removed from school, and I didn't give in to that pressure, and watching those kids walk across the graduation stage is the best success I could possibly imagine,” Lewis said.  

During her time as interim superintendent, Lewis met with stakeholders across the district to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand, particularly involving the budget. Lewis said the biggest among the challenges is a recent budget shortfall that has raised concerns about the financial health of the district.  

“The immediate focus is on financial stability, which serves as the foundation for everything else,” Lewis said. “Without a solid fiscal base, we cannot innovate and improve the educational offerings for our students.”  

As part of her plan for the district, Lewis outlined several key areas of focus, including community engagement, enhancing student safety, ensuring legal compliance and improving core instruction. Her prior experience as an elementary school principal plays a vital role in her approach, she said, as she aims to foster strong relationships within the community. 

“I believe that strong public school systems build strong communities and I want to be part of that in Moses Lake,” she said.  

Lewis emphasizes that effective communication with parents, students and local organizations will be critical in regaining public trust and support. She said she understands that earning trust back is vital to the district’s success, and thus, student success. 

“I'm pretty confident that the biggest challenge is a lack of public trust in the school district and that's okay,” Lewis said. “What we're doing to combat those things is being completely transparent and doing things like holding community forums, which will continue, not on a weekly basis, but the goal is to have about one forum per month on a relevant topic.” 

One of Lewis’s initiatives involves continuing community forums that were initiated during her interim tenure. During the month of October, Lewis held four community meetings to explain district finances and where the $20 million budget shortfall came from. At each of those meetings around 20 to 30 community members attended.  

“The goal, specifically behind those, was to explain the $20 million budget shortfall,” Lewis said. “So that was the stated purpose and goal of those meetings. It was also, though, just to build some confidence in the community and give the community access to be able to ask questions in a public forum and have those questions answered.” 

Lewis acknowledges that rebuilding trust is a priority, especially in light of recent turbulence within the district. Lewis said she has started a student advisory committee with students from all four of the district’s high schools to get student feedback. She also said the district is publishing more information about finances, including the treasurer's report and receiving monthly public updates from the finance director, Mitch Thompson at the school board meetings.  

“I think another thing is always trying to be as responsive as possible and so I really take it seriously if a community member tries to get a hold of me, either by phone or by email,” Lewis said. “I always prioritize responding to people, because I think that they're looking for that and if they take the time to reach out, I feel like I owe them the time to respond.” 

Lewis said she has a special enthusiasm for amplifying programs that support student achievement, both academically and socially.  

“I want to emphasize that we want every student to achieve, believe and contribute as compassionate citizens,” Lewis said. “And when we talk about every student, it's easy to say and it's not easy to do, because we have 8,300-plus students. They're all unique individuals, and so working together as a learning community to help each individual student achieve and believe and become contributing members of society is not easy, but it is the vision for our school district.” 

Lewis said she’s pleased the MLSD board voted to move forward with a levy in the spring of 2025. The district tried to pass two levies last spring and both failed.  

“I think my proudest moment, honestly, was when the board voted to approve the levy resolution, because that, right there, signals healing in our community, and it signals moving forward,” Lewis said. 

At the same meeting, the board voted a forensic audit was no longer necessary and also promoted Lewis to the superintendent role. However, she said moving forward with the levy was still the highlight of the meeting, even with her promotion.  

As she steps into her new role, Lewis said she has immense gratitude for the support she has received from her colleagues and the Moses Lake community.  

“The people here are dedicated and resilient. I am inspired by the commitment of our teachers, staff and families,” she said. “We are all in this together.” 

In her drive for effective governance, Lewis said she aims to marry fiscal responsibility with educational excellence. She said she looks forward to the stability the district will have in the near future, both with the administrative and fiscal sides of the district. The foundation work of the past few months, in which those responsible for the financial issues have left and been replaced by staff with records of correcting the district’s financial and transparency issues, has paid off. 

“This is another proud moment that Moses Lake was ready, in spite of all of our challenges, we were ready on that first day,” Lewis said. “Our kids know very little of the financial hardship that the district is facing, and that's because our amazing educators are doing what they need to do each and every day to make sure our kids are taken care of. It feels great to know the kids are going to graduate and be successful.” 

Lewis said her vision is clear: to foster a nurturing educational environment where every student can thrive, while also ensuring the community remains engaged and fully informed. 

“First of all, I'd want to say thank you for making things work in conditions that aren't ideal this year,” Lewis said in regard to the teachers and staff within the district. “I would also say this isn't forever. We are banding together. We are finding a way to move forward and we're doing that so that we can have a brighter future, together.” 

    Moses Lake Superintendent Carol Lewis has a background in education holding roles as a teacher, principal and now administrator. Lewis stepped into an administrative role after the budget shortfalls were being discovered. “I would say keep asking questions, keep reaching out and we promise we are going to be honest, and we are going to take the best care of our resources that we possibly can,” Lewis said in regard to the district earning the community’s trust back.