Moscow superintendent ready to take the helm

MOSCOW — The next superintendent for the Moscow School District said he is excited to be leading a place that he likened to “a big ship that’s generally headed in the right direction and good things are happening.”

Shawn Tiegs, the superintendent at Nezperce School District, will replace retiring Moscow superintendent Greg Bailey this summer.

Tiegs said he was drawn to Moscow because of its well-educated community that supports public education.

“When you come into a place like Moscow where there’s good people, a caring community, I strongly believe it’ll be a very successful match for all of us,” he said.

Tiegs said his sentiments about the community and the district were confirmed when he made a daylong visit to Moscow last week to talk to staff, students, community members and the district board of trustees. After visiting every school in the district, Tiegs was left with a positive impression.

“Honestly, walking into any one of those buildings that I walked into, you could see there were a lot of good competent people working with kids, that cared a lot about kids,” he said.

Most of those buildings could contain more students than the entire 170-student population at Nezperce, but Tiegs said he is ready to lead a larger district. Ken Faunce, chairperson of the Moscow School District Board of Trustees, agrees.

Faunce said a superintendent at a small district with fewer staff members has to know how every facet of the district works, meaning someone like Tiegs “has to do everything in a way.”

Faunce also said that Tiegs has developed a good relationship with Idaho legislators such as Rep. Lori McCann, and has experience testifying before the Legislature.

“These days that’s a real big plus,” he said.

Beyond that, Faunce called Tiegs “personable” and said he impressed everybody with his communication skills during the Moscow visit last week.

When district employees and parents completed a survey several months ago about what qualities they wanted to see in the next superintendent, “communication skills” was near the top of the list.

Faunce said the feedback the district received from that survey, and from the people who attended Tiegs’ visit to Moscow, were valuable to the school board when it made its decision.

Faunce said Tiegs had another quality that was even more important than communication or connections to legislators.

“He really cared about kids,” Faunce said. “I think that came across pretty strongly.”

Tiegs was a Moscow School District student for a short time in his youth. Tiegs attended Lena Whitmore Elementary from kindergarten through third grade while his father earned a second degree in elementary education at the University of Idaho

His family moved to Nezperce in 1989. Tiegs first started teaching at Highland High School in Craigmont for six years before landing at Nezperce School District in 2012. He has served as superintendent there for the past five years.

Tiegs felt bittersweet emotions after finding out he was selected for the Moscow job. The father of seven said he will miss Nezperce and the people he works with, but is excited for the transition to Moscow.

“Very thrilled to be in a place with, to me, so much rich potential,” he said. “Just really fertile grounds for public education and possibilities.”

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.