New Moscow schools superintendent faces big leap

When Shawn Tiegs was hired as the new Moscow School District superintendent, he inherited a district that he says contains 10 times the number of students as his previous employer.

So it’s no surprise the former Nezperce School District superintendent has had a busy summer preparing for the 2023-24 school year that starts Tuesday.

He realized, though, the challenges of a big district are not that different than a small one.

“A lot of change, but really a lot of things that are very similar,” he said. “Just bigger.”

One of those challenges is staffing. In recent years, Moscow School District has struggled to hire enough classified staff. The two biggest needs right now, Tiegs said, are bus drivers and paraprofessionals. He said the problem is at a “crisis level.”

Tiegs said the district has raised wages for new bus drivers to $23 an hour, and offers referral bonuses and sign-on bonuses.

He also wants to use social media, including a revamped district Facebook page, to get the message out that these jobs have significant rewards beyond a paycheck. They bring value to the employee and the community, he said.

“There’s real quality for your soul and your heart to work with kids and make a meaningful impact,” he said.

Another pressing issue is aging facilities.

“We don’t have a building that is less than 50 years old,” Tiegs said.

One of those schools — McDonald Elementary — needs an upgraded heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, which is on Tiegs’ list of goals he wants to accomplish this year.

These are the kinds of problems that Tiegs wants to be proactive about addressing, but he must do so without much state funding available for public school facilities.

Tiegs said the lack of state funding forces school districts like Moscow to upgrade facilities on their own, while facing the pressure of not hurting taxpayers to do it.

His other goals include growing the offering of career technical education programs. Tiegs has not put a plan to paper yet, but as an example he said students could benefit from health occupation courses, or more programs in the field of family and consumer sciences.

“I think we have a real opportunity here in Moscow to grow and develop some really outstanding programs that we already have and to actually reach out and build some new ones,” he said.

Tiegs said another priority is to strengthen partnerships with Moscow’s public and private sector. He plans to be proactive in reaching out to representatives in those areas, many of whom likely have children that attend Moscow School District.

“We’re all in this web together as a community, and so the more that we can integrate with each other and work together for really the benefit of all, then I think the better off we’re going to be,” he said.

Community members are welcome to come to the district’s monthly school board meetings, but Tiegs said there will be a small change this year. Instead of holding all the meetings at the district office, they will be held at a different school every month to highlight that particular school. Next month’s meeting will be held at Lena Whitmore Elementary.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.