If the fractured Marysville School District was to heal, it needed a leader skilled in the art of building relationships, someone with extraordinary vision, energy and patience.
If it was to move beyond healing and toward serious academic improvement, it needed a leader skilled in the art of community relations, someone with the ability to listen, explain and inspire.
Marysville found that rare leader two years ago in Superintendent Larry Nyland. His success in launching the district’s remarkable turnaround received well-deserved recognition Friday when he was named the state’s superintendent of the year by the Washington Association of School Administrators.
Nyland entered a situation few would envy. The district had been through a bitter, 49-day teachers strike. The school board, a majority having been ousted by voters, gave the former superintendent a controversial $340,000 buyout as its parting gesture. Bond issues for needed new construction had been failing for years. Resentment among some educators and parents had spiraled toward blind rage, with children caught in the crossfire.
Nyland led by example from the start, sitting down and really listening to the concerns of educators, students, parents and community members. He built strong working relationships with teachers and administrators, diving right into the middle of labor relations and improved student learning.
He was his own public relations department, spending countless hours meeting with community groups large and small about the dire need to ease overcrowding by building new schools. His tireless planning and explaining paid off when voters approved a $120 million bond issue to build a new high school and a new elementary, the first such success in 15 years.
As an education leader, Nyland can frequently be found on school campuses, observing in classrooms, consulting with teachers and principals, encouraging and supporting instruction that leads to successful learning. Literacy improvements have already been impressive, thanks in no small part to Nyland’s push for innovative forms of professional development. He is one of the state’s leading minds in new approaches to literacy education, and that know-how is making a difference in Marysville.
A district that so recently was torn by anger now boasts the state’s superintendent of the year and an enviable sense of teamwork. With that kind of progress behind it, it’s hard not to expect even bigger achievements to come.
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