First and foremost, Jim Lewis considers himself the 'ultimate instructional leader."
"If you don't walk the walk, people are not going to buy the talk," said Lewis, the Blaine County School District superintendent.
"I am very proud of our school system. But you cannot rest on your laurels. You have to keep moving. If you ever arrive you are in trouble."
Lewis arrived in Twin Falls, Idaho on November 1, 1946. He grew up in southern Idaho and attended high school at both Buhl and Castleford where he was a fixture on the football, basketball and track teams.
A guard in basketball, he said he was "a little better than average player" and was a good student. "B's or better," he remarked.
After graduating in 1965, Lewis attended Idaho State University in Idaho Falls and received his undergraduate degree in math, chemistry and education, and went on to attain a master's degree in educational administration.
"I wanted to be a coach and a teacher," he said.
His first job was at American Falls, where he was the head coach for boys' basketball and track and the offensive coordinator for the football team.
Lewis led the Beaver basketball team to state in 1975 and the squad also played for three district championships.
In 1977, Lewis moved to Skyline where he taught physics and math and created a very successful hoops program.
"We were fortunate to have great athletes," he said.
During Lewis' 13-year tenure, the Grizzlies appeared in eight state tournaments, won the title in 1989, placed second twice, and third once.
In 1990, Lewis' former principal at Skyline called and asked Lewis if he was interested in moving to Alaska.
"I always dreamed about going to Alaska," Lewis said. "Alaska and Hawaii gained statehood while I was growing up and I really wanted to go. Plus, I wanted the opportunity to be in administration in a small place."
The timing was right. Jim and wife, Joyce's, two children were in college and the couple was ready to embark on a new challenge.
Lewis was appointed principal of a school in Savoonga, Alaska and he headed up a staff of 12 teacher and 150 students. The town itself consisted of 600 Siberian Yupik Eskimo.
"It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life," Lewis recalled.
"The Eskimo kids were great but not necessarily motivated to do well in school. Which are some of the same challenges we face in our school district today.
"You have to find the best way to motivate them. One of the biggest lessons I learned is many kids will not be motivated unless the curriculum is relevant to their lives or can be applied to their future or life experience."
During the summers, Jim and Joyce attended the University of Nevada-Reno to finish their degrees and Lewis received his doctorate in educational leadership.
Three weeks after his dissertation, a job in the Blaine County School District opened up, and in 1995 he became the assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum.
"Phil and I had a lot of commonalties. We both had coaching backgrounds and liked to hunt and fish. I feel that Phil Homer has done a tremendous amount to stabilize this district and get it on track academically."
When Homer retired in 1999, Lewis assumed the position of superintendent.
"It's a mid-sized district. Large enough to matter and small enough to make quality adjustments," Lewis remarked.
Lewis and I sat down for a chat at his Hailey office in early January.
JZ: What do you think your greatest impact on the school district has been?
JL: I hope it has been on academics. I also believe I have worked consistently at expanding the arts and improving athletics. I believe in striving for excellence in the three A's -- academics, arts and athletics.
JZ: How do you motivate children to strive for excellence?
JL: I believe wholeheartedly in the whole child. You have to find something relevant which ignites the child's passion. Some kids play in the band and some play football. If we find one area that ignites a student's passion while there on that campus everyday, then they're hooked and will enjoy school and education. We must find a way to enrich that experience.
JZ: On November 8 you met with school officials and teachers about the state of athletics at the high school. What kinds of things were discussed at the meeting?
JL: Lots of things were covered. One of our concerns is that we did not have enough coaches on staff. The number of sports is tremendously greater that a number of years ago. Not as many coaches coach three different sports anymore. Now we have football, soccer, volleyball and cross country all going on in the fall. That definitely changes things. We're not so different that it is getting harder to find all your coaches from your teaching staff.
JZ: Is it hard to find good teachers who are also good coaching candidates?
JL: Teachers and coaches are more and more concerned that they cannot afford to come and live in our Valley. We seldom have the right positions open for the coach that is needed. You can't understand the frustrations unless you go and talk to these people. Outside of coaching one of the big concerns is affordable housing for teachers. We cannot continue to have 50 percent of our first choices turning contracts down.
JZ: How do you propose to attract both qualified coaches and teachers?
JL: A—Make sure coaching positions are advertised early and often. B—Look at every possibility of hiring people on staff. C—Do everything possible to make sure people not on our staff have the skills or get the skills to be successful coaches or assistant. D—What can we do to make all the programs successful?
JZ: What can you do to make all the programs successful?
JL: We have to work together as a vertical team. We have to coach all the way through. One of the reasons my basketball team was so successful was I knew the name of all the fourth graders in my program. It's the same thing with Sawtooth United and Little League here. They build the programs from the ground up.
JZ: Can you build from the ground up in all sports when there are so many to choose from here in the Valley?
JL: It's always going to be a struggle when you 800-900 students and you have strong soccer, cross country programs and kids training year-round for ski sports. You have to start early and teach and coach well. On a horizontal level, coaches have to share athletes. You have to let a kid play basketball during the season.
JZ: Could you, or did you consider petitioning down in some of the high school sports?
JL: Not when we are growing at 50 kids a year. It's hard to just jump up and play teams at those levels right from the start. In any program you need to gain confidence. You need to play schools that you are on par with. 4A is tougher. A lot of the schools we played in 3A are as good as the 4A schools, but the 4A schools are consistently tougher.
JZ: Can you sum up for me the meaning of the meeting?
JL: We saw it as an opportunity to do the same thing we've done in academics. Evaluate what is going well and what is not going so well. What needs more attention? Then put together the beginnings of a strategic plan that would get all the athletic programs on the road to excellence and many already are.
JZ: What are some of the things that are going well?
JL: We have a facility that will accommodate all sports in out environment. We have made huge improvements to the gym, track, fields and practice fields that will accommodate everyone. We would like to host state soccer.
We have an outstanding group of coaches overall. Lars Hovey, Fred Trenkle and their staffs, and look at Jim King and all the people in the middle school. We are very fortunate. We need to continually look at juggling coaching positions and teaching positions. As well as look to our community to find quality people to fill our positions.
JZ: What programs are struggling?
JL: Football has not been able to get off the ground. Because it's the first sport 'America's Sport' many schools are measured by the success of the football program. People should keep in mind that a year ago in 3A we had more teams attend a state tournament that any in the history of the school. We intend to eventually be that competitive in 4A. Any time a school moves up a level and the competition is harder it give you the opportunity to look at the program and gives kids the opportunity to be successful. We have to reexamine what we do to make these kids successful because the standards got raised. In the last 12 years we have not had a winning basketball tradition, but somehow, last year, Fred Trenkle took those kids to state.
JZ: What are you looking for in your next WRHS football coach?
JL: A good coach who is dedicated enough to build a high school program and work with everyone they have to in order to create and expand all those lower level programs. Each level needs to work at improving kids for the next level.
JZ: Which coach of yours do you remember?
JL: Jay Waite. He was an outstanding coach and teacher. He coached all sports. He enjoyed being with kids and made you aspire more than you could become by yourself. He set expectations for himself and his players. All his basketball players had to take typing because it was good for dexterity.
JZ: My son, who is in grade school, wanted me to ask you this: How do you decide when to close the schools?
JL: The Highway Department calls us at 6 a.m. We find out if they were able to clear the roads. It's always a tough decision. Two years ago, Kathy Zaccardi kept a record of five questionable days, where we went three. We had 31 calls against closing and 30 in favor of it. We can't win.
Jim Lewis
