New Peninsula School District superintendent brings experience, enthusiasm

While summer is a time for rest and relaxation for the students of the Peninsula School District, it marks an even busier period for school administrators gearing up for the upcoming school year.

This summer is especially busy for new PSD Superintendent Robert Manahan, who officially starts in his new role on Friday (July 1).

“I’m excited to get started,” Manahan, 55, said. “Gig Harbor is a good place, not just because it’s beautiful but also because of the people.”

Manahan was hired by the PSD Board of Directors after a lengthy, nationwide search that spanned much of the previous school year. Coming from the position of superintendent for the Lake Chelan School District, Manahan not only has experience in a similar role but also has previous experience in the Peninsula School District.

With teaching experience at Kopachuck Middle School, he was a member of the planning team for Harbor Ridge Middle School in 1991, where he also started his administrative career as an administrative intern from 1992 to 1993.

Manahan earned his undergraduate degree in elementary education from Washington State University, his master’s in school administration from Western Washington University and his educational doctorate from the University of Washington.

Manahan’s starting salary for the superintendent position is $187,500.

Rand Wilhelmsen, PSD Board of Directors president, said that Manahan was the obvious choice for the superintendent position both because of his experience in management and as an instructional leader and also for his perspectives on education.

“He knew our community. That’s pretty rare that you can find a candidate who knows our two peninsulas,” Wilhelmsen said. “I think he’s doing a fantastic job working hard to get assimilated and out into our community.”

Moving back to Gig Harbor with his wife, Gail, Manahan has family living in the Gig Harbor area, including his daughter-in-law, who is a teacher in the Vaughn Elementary Options Program.

Though he doesn’t officially start as superintendent until Friday, Manahan has been working hard to meet community members and refamiliarize himself with the area.

“Just about everybody I could meet with, I’ve met with,” he said.

Kathy Weymiller, the district’s director of community outreach, said that Manahan has been working hard to learn the district landscape and has been quick on learning names.

“I think we’re really fortunate with Rob because he has a history here,” Weymiller said. “I feel he comes to us with a unique understanding of how (our district works).”

Manahan is set to begin his new role with a clear idea of some of the main challenges the district faces — the first being the condition of the district’s aging facilities.

“Architecture becomes part of the learning environment now,” Manahan said. “The learning environment and what it looks like and feels like to a kid plays a big part in how they feel about their education.”

And the influence of their learning environment, whether positive or negative, is not lost on students.

“When you’re in a fresh, sparkly building, you feel respected and valued, and in response you give more respect and value to your learning,” he said. “It’s pretty clear that something needs to be done about the facilities, and as a community we need to decide what that looks like.”

The next challenge Manahan has identified is the support surrounding teachers in their classrooms and empowering them as professionals. His goal is to have the central office take some of the burden off teachers by removing extra tasks to lighten their workload and allow them to focus more on teaching and their students.

“Sometimes these great ideas that we have are causing more barriers and stress,” he said.

Another way to help empower teachers is to recognize their experience and expertise in their classrooms and communities.

“We can have a broad concept ... and I can trust (the teachers) to know the best way to engage (their) students and community,” Manahan said.

Community and communication is another goal for Manahan, which includes his plans to increase communication between the district and the community.

“We need to do a better job of this two-way communication,” he said. “We’re all responsible for the care of our kids, whether they be public or private school kids ... We all have to better our community for our kids.”

And the students themselves remain a constant focus for Manahan.

“We really have to make sure that no child is left behind,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s one kid, 10 kids or 100 kids, we need to personalize that learning.”

He emphasized that public education has always focused on educating the entire spectrum, from special education programs to highly gifted classes to extracurricular activities that engage students.

“We are educating a different clientele than we did 20 years ago,” he said. “I don’t think we can forget about the whole life part of preparing our kids when they leave High School.”

Part of Manahan’s plans for increased communication not only involves accessibility to both Manahan and to information, but also in engaging the community to emphasize the important role that schools play in a community and to remind community members of the volue of a well educated community.

“There’s a lot of positives that come from education,” he said. “We’re good character teachers. Our responsibility is to create an education system to be more tolerant, more empathetic (and) be more understanding of the different belief systems out there.”

As Manahan prepares to step into his new role, current Superintendent Chuck Cuzzetto plans quietly for retirement beginning Thursday (June 30).

“It’s a exciting time for the district,” Weymiller said. “We’re really fortunate that we get to keep Chuck Cuzetto in our community.”

Cuzzetto has been the superintendent since 2012 and has worked with the district in a variety of roles since November 1999.

“I think we’ve been really, really fortunate. We’ve had some outstanding leaders at the top,” Weymiller said. “Chuck was an outstanding boss, he was really great at understanding the big picture and treated everyone with respect and dignity. And he’s being followed up by someone I think will also be a good leader. It’s hard to find good school administrators these days and I think we’ve been really fortunate to find so many in a row.”

Manahan remains motivated and excited for his new role within PSD and the greater Gig Harbor community, including working in partnership with the School Board of Directors.

“I am excited to work with this board,” he said. “I really feel they take their roles and responsibilities very seriously.”

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 10:07 AM with the headline "New Peninsula School District superintendent brings experience, enthusiasm."