PORT TOWNSEND — During his expected one-year term, the interim superintendent of the Port Townsend School District says he will attempt to change the image of the district and spread the word about its positive aspects.
“There are many good elements in the district, but they don’t fit together,” said Gene Laes, who has been on the job for 1 ½ months.
Laes, addressing the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce on Monday, compared the district with a puzzle “where we have all of the pieces, but we don’t have the board.”
Laes said he wants to change the perception of the school district’s quality because “many people have the impression that Port Townsend is a mediocre school district.”
This hurts the community because many people choose where to live based on available data, and if the word is out that the school district is substandard, it could discourage people from relocating to the area, he said.
Laes said this is primarily a communications problem since the system has many attributes of which the public is unaware — although there is room for improvement.
Laes said the district is lacking in the depth of some instructional programs — math has never been a strength — and the textbooks are badly in need of replacement.
“We have three good schools,” Laes said, referring to Grant Street Elementary, Blue Heron Middle School and Port Townsend High School.
“But they don’t communicate between the schools or talk to each other about curriculum development.”
Communication is also an important aspect in shepherding a proposed maintenance and facilities levy, expected to appear on the ballot early next year.
Even though several jurisdictions are asking for tax increases, the school district’s would only continue a current levy, Laes said.
“If we pass this levy, people’s taxes will not go up,” he said.
Many districts flaunt the number of their graduates who go on to college, which Laes called a meaningless statistic.
He said he would rather prove the district’s success by saying how many people actually earned a degree.
“Instead of saying that a certain percentage of our graduates attended college or graduated college,” Laes said, “I’d rather be able to say that 100 percent of our graduates are in the work force, or we have prepared them to be productive members of society.”
When asked about the possibility of merging some or all of the operations of the Port Townsend and Chimacum school districts, Laes said any potential merger was not on the list of what he wanted to accomplish during his year on the job, but the idea should be considered.
“It might make sense financially, and it might make sense academically,” he said.
“We already have some cooperative ventures between the two districts and should examine if it makes sense to take it any further.”
Laes, 63, was retired after more than a decade at the Cape Flattery School District helm when the Port Townsend job opened up, and he observed the selection process even as it failed to produce an adequate candidate.
He deliberately did not apply for the position when it first opened or when the board announced that it was seeking an interim superintendent.
He only applied after direct contact from the consultant who was running the job search — and even then was reluctant.
“When they called and offered me the job, I was pleased, but then thought, ‘There goes my summer of crabbing and fishing,'” he told the chamber audience.
Serving as an interim superintendent won’t put his plans on hold for long, even if he’ll miss some of the reward.
“I will be starting a lot of programs this year, but I won’t be around to see them finished,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.