GRANITE FALLS -- With a subtle lift of her index finger, Karen Koschak can make teenage girls end their hallway piggyback ride in midstride.
After 37 years in education, the new Granite Falls School District superintendent also can make herself quite at home mingling with students in a crowded lunchroom.
Koschak filled in for the Granite Falls High School principal and his administrative team the other day, instead of bringing in a substitute.
"This is good for me," she said. "It gives me a chance to meet the kids and interact with the staff a little bit more."
Koschak said she is excited about working in a small district where leaders take on a variety of responsibilities.
Granite Falls, for instance, doesn't have a curriculum director, leaving Koschak to fill that role. Her background is in curriculum and instruction, so it is a duty she takes on with great enthusiasm.
These days, she is working with a team on improving the math program and identifying ways for students who might be behind to get extra help so they can catch up quickly.
"It's just so personal in a small district," she said. "It's very hands-on. I really like to get into the inner workings of what goes on in a school."
The new perspective is becoming evident. Koschak has asked teachers to write a learning objective on their classroom whiteboards each day to remind students what the goal is for each day. In the longer term, she will guide the district through a new five-year strategic plan.
Koschak, who was superintendent of the Aberdeen School District from 1994 to 2001, replaced Granite Falls Superintendent Joel Thaut, who retired from the district of 2,300 students. Though Koschak retired from the Aberdeen post seven years ago, she didn't leave education.
Wanting to help people in poverty, Koschak learned Spanish and moved with her husband to a small impoverished community with unpaved roads and no electricity on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. For several years she helped teach from eight to a dozen children in kindergarten through fourth grade. All were from ranches, and many would stay in homes near the school during the week.
Before taking the Granite Falls post, Koschak was a literacy coach with the Seattle School District, where she trained teachers to help students -- particularly those well behind their grade level -- improve their reading and writing.
Koschak is no stranger to Snohomish County. She taught in the Marysville School District from 1971 to 1987 and was a principal and worked in the central office in the Edmonds School District until 1993.
She has liked what she has seen so far in Granite Falls.
"I have a strong administrative team that is champing at the bit, ready to go," she said. "I think this is the strongest team that I have ever worked with, and they are determined to move our students along and determined to make sure kids are successful."
