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Shawn Woodward named as new Mead School District superintendent

A sign is picutred outside of Mead High School in September 2017 in Spokane, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Jim Allen jima@spokesman.com

Shawn Woodward, who has led the Lake Pend Oreille School District for the past seven years, has been named superintendent of the Mead School District.

The announcement was made last weekend to staff and posted on the district’s website, but not announced to local media.

Woodward will take over on July 1. He succeeds Tom Rockefeller, who announced his retirement in January effective at the end of the school year, after 12 years leading Spokane County’s third largest school district.

Board president Carmen Green cited Woodward’s “high energy” and his “focus on building principles of education” at Lake Pend Oreille.

Woodward was not available for comment on Tuesday, but announced his resignation Monday, effective at the end of the school year.

“I’m definitely ready for a new challenge and other opportunities,” Woodward told the Bonner County Daily Bee.

“I am really proud of the work that we’ve done as a team over the years – again, I’m just ready for a new challenge,” Woodward said Monday.

“When I looked at the challenges and the opportunities that were associated with the Mead School District job when it was posted, I felt like I had the skill set to make a difference there right away,” he said.

After seven years as an elementary and middle school teacher in the Washington towns of Port Orchard, Poulsbo and Burlington, Woodward became a principal in 1999 in the Burlington-Edison School District.

Woodward has a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University; a master of education from City University of Seattle; principal certification from Seattle Pacific University; and superintendent certification from Western Washington University.

During his tenure at Lake Pend Oreille, which has an enrollment of just under 4,000, Woodward established the Homeschool Academy, a program that provides supplemental education for home-school students in grades K-8.

The other finalists were Deer Park Superintendent Travis Hanson and former Lake Washington Superintendent Traci Pierce.