MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake School District has hired people for two new administrative positions, including Yvonne Walker as the executive director of teaching and learning, and Scott West as the executive director of safety and wellbeing.

“I know that people are critical anytime we hire someone at the district level and they say, ‘we should be hiring people that directly impact kids.’ But what we need to remember is that all of the programs that are facilitated by those directors do directly impact kids and our principals and our schools and our departments,” MLSD Superintendent Carol Lewis said. “They need support administratively from the district level in order to make things happen and stay compliant with laws.”

Why?

The restructured positions will replace two old roles, including the executive director of secondary education and the executive director of elementary education. Both of the staff members, Triscia Hochstatter and Roberta Mason, who held these roles previously, are leaving the district.

Lewis said they began the process of restructuring in January of this year. Lewis said she worked with faculty across the district to see what needs each department had. After various conversations, she said they decided it would be best to shape the roles around the four pillars the district has been focusing on – teaching and learning, collaborating, investing in people and managing the whole.

“Well, the director of teaching and learning will obviously be focused on the teaching and learning category, which is using data to ensure standards are being met for students' learning,” Lewis said. “I, the superintendent, will focus on collaborating and building relationships with the community. Then we will have the human resources director step into the role of executive director of employee services because that next pillar is investing in people. Finally, the director of safety and wellbeing will be in charge of managing the whole. They will use resources and make sure our schools are safe for learning and work.”

The new executive director of teaching and learning, Walker, is responsible for the curriculum, resource adoptions and supporting students in their learning.

Lewis said Walker’s main goal will be to focus on what the district wants the students to learn and what resources are available to make that possible. She will also oversee analyzing data around students' success and making action plans, depending on what the information shows.

“Our staff are always asking the four questions of: what do we want students to learn? How are we going to know that they've learned it? What would we do if they didn't learn? And what would we do if they did learn?” Lewis said. “Those are part of the process that we've been really working hard on to get refocused in Moses Lake over the last few years, and so that'll be a big part of her position as well.”

Walker will also have two assistants to help her with this role.

West, the new executive director of safety and wellbeing, will be in charge of making sure all schools have procedures in place for safety, conducting threat assessments and overseeing intimidation and bullying procedures.

“He will also be overseeing our systems for student discipline, so making sure that we are stated and current on our laws and policies and procedures when it comes to student discipline. Those change often,” Lewis said. “Scott will be overseeing that aspect of our school district. He'll also be overseeing some of our classified departments, such as maintenance and we're still working out exactly which ones, but likely maintenance, because that has so much to do with the safety of our facilities.”

West will have one additional assistant to help him with his role.

Lewis explained that these roles are going to be funded via general apportionment from the state and federal categorical money. Last year the district received around $3 million from the state and $2 million from the federal government for all of the administration including secretarial support.

The roles, according to Lewis, are also being paid less than previous positions.

Hochstatter and Mason received an annual wage of $193,989 in 2024. However, new staff for Walker and West will be receiving a wage of $185,000 for the upcoming school year.

“The district will be saving money with this transition,” Lewis said. “We spent around $5 million last year, and we anticipate spending around $4 million this year.”

Lewis also wants to clarify that no funds from the levy are being used to fund these positions.

“I want to be very clear that we are making plans to fulfill every promise we made to the community with the levy funds that they have approved,” Lewis said. “We are not funding any of these positions out of levy dollars, and we are planning to do exactly what we said we would do with those levy dollars.”

According to Lewis, MLSD has less administrative staffing than other districts in Washington around their size.

Wenatchee School District, as of 2024, has 7,200 students in 15 schools and had ten district administrators.

Sunnyside School District, also as of 2024, had 6,200 students in eight schools and ten district administrators as well.

MLSD has around 8,400 students in 20 schools and eight school administrators.

“We have less,” Lewis said. “When you compare us to almost everybody else, we have less.”

Lewis said despite having less administrative staff than an average school district of this size, she is not concerned about it.

“I think that the concern is that everybody's going to have to work really, really hard,” Lewis said. “I think we've proven that in Moses Lake – we can do that. I think that we have had an opportunity throughout this time to restructure in a way that makes sense for the current situation in Moses Lake. I think that we have restructured in a way that's going to be efficient. While we may have a few less staff than some other places, we've staffed for efficiency.”

Lewis said she is feeling very optimistic about the upcoming school year with the new administrative team.

“We thought a little bit outside the box, and didn't just do what everybody does, but we looked at what Moses Lake needs, and then planned around that,” Lewis said. “I feel confident. I feel excited and optimistic that we're going to have a wonderful team that will have balanced support across our school district.”

Lewis said she is also happy that every role is defined with clear expectations and roles.

“It's not just a title that somebody has. I think that's really key, because to have a role that just says: assistant superintendent, or just as director, without a lot of clear definition about what that person is supposed to be doing – that's where you can get into maybe over staffing or not being as efficient as possible,” Lewis said. “I think that we have set ourselves up to be really efficient with the resources that we do have.”