CRAIGMONT, Idaho — One day recently, superintendent Clair Garrick arrived at the Highland School District in Craigmont at 5:30 a.m. for a couple of early meetings.
At 11:30 a.m. he met with elementary principal Becky Heartburg to discuss a student disciplinary problem before heading off to his other job — at the Nezperce School District.
During the day he handled a variety of tasks, including an after-school class to teach students about astronomy with six new telescopes he purchased with a federal grant. Garrick had ordered pizzas for the astronomy class and then it was off to a school board meeting, which lasted until about 11 p.m.
Just another day for Garrick, 62, whose dual district juggling act keeps him going 10 to 12 hours a day, five days a week.
"No, it doesn't wear me out," Garrick said. "In fact, it keeps me young. I actually am quite active so I'm really thrilled by being able to do this. I'm the kind of person that if I don't have something to do I get bored pretty fast."
Garrick isn't the only superintendent in north-central Idaho balancing two districts.
Clark Adamson of Kendrick agreed to take over the part-time superintendent's job at Troy this year. He also typically starts his day around 5 a.m. and usually goes until late at night, depending on whether there are games, school board meetings or other business to attend to.
"It's working out fine," said Adamson, also 62. He noted that since July when he took over both districts he has already attended one full year's worth of school board meetings.
The biggest advantage to Highland/Nezperce and Troy/Kendrick is the financial savings, the superintendents said. Garrick's salary for the two districts is about $85,000 and Adamson's is $90,000, with each district kicking in about half.
Enrollment at Nezperce dropped to 160 students this year and when the school board took a look last spring at setting a budget for the current school year, it realized that in order to cope with the inevitable reduced state funding it would probably have to lay off a teacher or two.
Idaho reimburses school districts for maintenance and operations based on an average daily attendance formula and pays for teachers according to a student-to-teacher ratio, which varies slightly from district to district and from grade level to grade level. State funding makes up between 80 percent and 85 percent of most districts' budgets and the rest is paid for by local tax levies and federal dollars.
Nezperce and Highland school boards had been discussing the possibility of sharing superintendents for a few years and it seemed that the time was ripe to try it, Garrick said.
"I think the real issue going into this deal was the declining enrollment," he said. "We needed to do something to reduce the budget, and we were trying to keep qualified teachers in the classroom. My real belief is what's best for kids is to have teachers in the classroom," and so he agreed to take on the dual role.
Being superintendent of two districts isn't the only thing Garrick does. He also is the high school principal at Highland and the K-12 principal at Nezperce. At Highland he is the special education director, the athletic director and he sometimes even referees games for some of the school's teams.
"I don't drive the bus, though," he said.
Garrick, whose wife lives in Missoula, Mont., usually hits the road about 4 a.m. on Mondays in order to make it to his districts to start the week. He spends Mondays, Wednesdays and part of Fridays at Nezperce and the rest of the time at Highland, although the schedule varies according to business demands.
Adamson lives in Lewiston and had set up a "theoretical" schedule of working Mondays, Tuesdays and part of Fridays at Troy and the rest of the time at Kendrick.
"But I don't think, really, I've had one week with that theoretical schedule working in reality," Adamson said. "Because there's maybe special issues in one district or the other or special meetings."
One of the biggest issues Adamson has dealt with this year has been the sale of the old Troy High School to Rune Frossmo, a Seattle-area businessman, who bought the century-old building for $100,000. Adamson said he believes Frossmo plans to restore the high school and turn it into either a community center or use it for commercial offices.
Adamson said the Troy and Kendrick school boards intend to continue the arrangement for the long term. He has a one-year contract but said a verbal commitment was made to extend the position beyond that.
The Highland and Nezperce school boards have set up a committee to evaluate how their situation is going, Garrick said. The boards will decide sometime in January if they want to continue sharing a superintendent.
Both superintendents say the situation is working out well. The one area that suffers, however, is their ability to sit down with their principals and teachers to discuss issues and teaching strategies one-on-one.
But both remain enthusiastic about handling dual districts and say they have even figured out how to straddle the line when their districts compete against each other in athletic events.
"Well, I think the honest thing to do is sit half of the game on one side and the other half on the other," Garrick said. "On the other hand, maybe I should just play in the band."
"Well, since both schools in my case have orange as their color. I just wear orange when I go to activities," Adamson said.
He also split his time on either half of the field during football games but added, "during basketball they said I've got to stand right under the hoop."