Shane Schutz
At the end of the 2019-2020 school year Geoff Parks, the former Napavine superintendent, announced that he had accepted a position in Arizona so that he and his family could be closer to his wife's family. This was sad news to the district. With this news, the school board asked Shane Schutz to step in as interim superintendent. Schutz said he was "very surprised" and that it "felt like an honor to apply for this position and the opportunity to run a district."
I sat down in a Zoom meeting (like lots of us have been doing recently) to interview our new superintendent. When asked what positive changes he's made so far he responded that he's trying to incite calmness over panic during these tough times and that he promotes hard work, good communication and problem solving in the district.
Shane thinks that his greatest strength in his new position is his knowledge and understanding of the community and staff, obtained from his prior years of service to the school. He also stated that "My work ethic is a huge strength, I'm not afraid of hard work."
Schutz cites that his biggest challenges have been working through constant changing requirements from the health department while also balancing accommodations for students to be successful at school during the pandemic. Despite this challenge, on the subject of students returning to school in person, Schutz says that he doesn't have any concern with students returning to campus. He has faith in the plan he and the staff have put into place. Schutz firmly believes that kids need to be in school in order to obtain the best education our teachers can give.
Shane Schutz confesses that he still has much to learn. When asked about what he feels like he can improve on his answer was budgets, knowing all the rules and how they apply to each school, and that he's unfamiliar with the elementary school since he's spent the majority of his time at the high school. He wants to continue to better his understanding of everyday nuances at the Napavine Elementary School.