Roettger ready to lead Lind, Ritzville schools

Sharing superintendents is the current trend for a handful of area schools, and joining the list are the Ritzville and Lind School Districts.

Leading the two districts into this new arrangement is Rob Roettger (pronounced red-ker). Lind and Ritzville School District directors approved a contract with Roettger in March.

Roettger jumped in with both feet as soon as he started acquainting himself with the two school districts. He’s met with most of the employees in both districts, one of his top priorities in the weeks before school starts.

He’s planning a retreat with both district’s board members – all facilitated by Mike Dunn, superintendent of NorthEast Washington Educational Service District 101 and former Ritzville educator – where board members and the administrative team will set goals and focus on a working relationship with the superintendent.

“The biggest part about this is it’s a huge change for both districts,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is to be careful with the whole process and for everyone to not rush into it with preconceived notions.”

His primary focus is to hear everyone’s voices, whether it’s from educators, administrators, students, parents or community members.

“This whole process is going to be tough. You can’t snap your fingers and it’s magically done and everybody’s happy… We have to be open about it, be honest and openly discuss everything. We need to listen to people’s points of view.”

Roettger is quick to note that working between two school districts and an academic cooperative are nothing new for him. He is a native of Mabton, graduating from high school in 1990. After attending Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, he finished his education at the Heritage College in Toppenish.

During his time in Toppenish, he married his wife, Esther, in 1994 and worked for a farmer as he attended night classes.

He earned a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education with a history endorsement in 1998.

He started his teaching career in Mabton in 1999. After six years, he worked for a year in Grandview before landing the position of principal in the St. John School District in 2006.

Roettger’s summer has been spent making arrangements for the family’s home in St. John as well as finding a place to live with his new position.

By the first part of August, he will be renting a house in Ritzville for himself and his family – Esther and their five children: Wyatt, who will be entering eighth grade in Ritzville; Claire, sixth grade; Garrett, second grade; Rose, kindergarten; and Elliott, who will turn two in November.

Looking to the upcoming school year, it was with the two Whitman County school districts that Roettger gained experience that he feels is pertinent to the direction Lind and Ritzville schools are heading – working in two districts that are veterans in the academic cooperative arena.

“I’m looking forward to this year,” he said. “I also want people to know that I’m not going to do less in one district because I don’t live there.”

He also understands concerns surrounding the academic cooperative, ones he has experienced firsthand when the family moved to St. John.

While Roettger was first a principal in St. John and later shared the position between St. John and Endicott, his children were members of the academic cooperative.

“Wyatt wasn’t happy about going to Endicott for middle school,” Rob said. “But then after he got used to it, he wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Rob pointed out that the current school definitions in St. John and Endicott changed a couple of years ago. Both schools have P-5 elementary schools. The middle school is in Endicott and the high school is in St. John. But a couple of years ago, the cooperative went from middle school being 7-8 grades to 6-8 grades.

“Even 20 years into the cooperative, they are still making changes,” he said.

“I’ve always looked at it from the perspective that I have five kids and I want the best for them,” he said. “Whatever we decide to do will affect me as it does everyone else.”

Rob set his pace for the school year when he presented his entry plan – an outline of his goals and priorities in the first 90-100 days – to both school districts at the July meetings.

He said he wanted board members and members of the public to know his plan for the upcoming school year.

He added that at future board meetings, there would either be additional copies of documents presented to the board or utilization of digital technology to project the documents for all to see.

• Meet with as many staff members in both districts before the beginning of the school year – Analyze what our work has been, where we are, where we are going and what we want our schools to become (vision/direction/plan).

“I think it’s important to meet the staff and hear everyone’s story,” Rob said at the Ritzville School Board meeting.

• Meet with key community groups/community members in July-September.

• Visit every classroom multiple times – at least twice – by the end of September.

• Ride each bus route in both districts to learn where our students live and number of miles they travel per day.

Rob informed the Ritzville board that he was meeting with transportation supervisor Lynn Sackmann on July 21 to learn the routes and some transportation issues.

• Discuss structure of future board meetings (combined, combination of combined/separate meetings).

Items included on the superintendent entry plan that are ongoing include:

• Attend fall sports/winter sports practices/games

• Begin study sessions with both boards using “Managing Transitions – Making the Most of Change.”

• Begin book study with principals. Begin having administrative meetings with both principals.

• Establish which committees are in place for the academic cooperative and determine what committees need to be established, all while honoring the committee work done to date (as we plan for spring of 2012 – schedules, staffing, transportation, athletics, etc.).

• Monthly cooperative updates to both boards of directors. Monthly update with regard to superintendent’s entry plan.

Roettger noted in the plan that he hopes to review it in November through a newsletter or communication with the communities with regard to the plan and what he has seen/learned about the two schools.

The second phase of the entry plan is to determine and inform the school boards and citizens what the next steps are in the first six months of 2012 in preparation for the 2012-2013 full academic cooperative.