DARRINGTON – Size is relative.
Just ask Larry Johnson, 53, the new superintendent of the Darrington School District.
With about 600 students from kindergarten through high school, Darrington is smaller than some Snohomish County elementary campuses. Yet it is more than twice the size of the Lopez School District, which he has led the past three years.
Johnson said he likes how small communities, such as Darrington, revolve around their schools.
“They are so strong with their activities,” he said. “They have been behind their schools. They have just had a real history of support.”
Johnson will take the helm July 1, replacing Randy Swenson, who is retiring. Johnson will receive a $105,000 annual salary.
The Darrington School Board selected Johnson late Friday night after paring the list of 16 candidates.
School board president Pete Selvig said the board was impressed with Johnson’s experience in Lopez and previously as a principal at Marysville Alternative High School, where enrollment and test scores rose during his tenure.
He is also personable, Selvig said.
“I think the community will be good to him,” the school board president said.
Johnson said he will work hard to develop relationships with teachers and other employees as well as district residents.
“The most important thing we have in our organization is people,” Johnson said. “Having a safe, secure and comfortable environment where they can take risks and challenge our students, that’s what’s important. Teachers … need to feel supported. They are the ones dealing with our kids.”
That’s a message Johnson could hear at home. His wife, Shelly, is a physical education teacher at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. A year ago, she coached the schools volleyball team to a second place finish in the state 4A tournament.
Larry Johnson’s father, Rudy, is a retired Everett School District superintendent.
Like the two previous Darrington superintendents, Johnson has run a school system above the Arctic Circle. He was principal at a middle and high school in Kotzebue, Alaska, in 1997, before taking over as the Marysville Alternative High School principal.
“I was looking for my first principal’s job at the time and there’s always been a little sense of adventure in me,” he said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
