EVERETT — Gary Cohn has settled in quietly to his new job running the Everett School District.
With students and teachers out on summer break, the new superintendent completed his first full week on the job. It started June 6 with figuring out how to use the district’s phone and e-mail systems in his new office and ended Friday at a Little League baseball game in Mill Creek.
In between, he learned about the district’s preliminary budget, attended his first school board meeting and spent time with school and business leaders. He also learned about staff training activities scheduled for August while gaining insight about how the district is earmarking federal stimulus education money.
“I had a great week,” he said. “As you might imagine, it has been nonstop.”
Much of the time was spent listening, learning and getting to know about the history of the district.
“Every district and every job are a little different and have a uniqueness to them,” he said.
Cohn took the reins of one of the state’s largest districts with 26 schools, about 18,500 students, a $188 million annual operations budget and close to 2,000 employees.
He had served as superintendent in Port Angeles since 2001. Before that, he was vice president at Lake Washington Technical College, a Lake Washington School District administrator and a business and marketing teacher in the Northshore School District.
These days, he and his wife, Sue, are living in a cabin on Camano Island with their two golden retrievers while they look at homes and apartments.
Cohn said he looks forward to learning more from employees in the weeks ahead while getting a better grasp of procedures, policies and finances.
With greater knowledge will come more tools to lead the district.
“It’s like grabbing onto a street car that’s already moving along,” he said. “You want to jump on at the right time.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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