Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sobotta leads amid Covid regulations
Eric Sobotta officially began his new job as Reardan-Edwall superintendent on July 1.
REARDAN-Eric Sobotta wasn't expecting to have to deal with nationwide school shutdowns amidst a global pandemic when he was named the new superintendent of the Reardan-Edwall School District in March. But since starting his new gig on July 1, he's had to learn on the fly while figuring out a safe re-opening process for the 2020-21 school year.
"It's been a whirlwind," Sobotta said.
Originally from Cheney, Sobotta started teaching in Tenino and Stanwood, WA before starting an alternative middle school and online school in Richland. Then, he got his principal credential and started a school called HomeLink.
He grew HomeLink to 400 students in seven years before moving to Vista Hermosa, an apple orchard community between Burbank and Prescott, where he spent the previous five years before coming to Reardan.
Sobotta was one of six candidates to replace former superintendent Marcus Morgan in Reardan. He took his wife and three children to visit for the first time in December 2019.
"We (thought), yeah, this might be a community where we want to raise our kids," Sobotta said. "It was a good fit, the whole welcoming vibe."
Sobotta interviewed and got the job right before schools shut down in March, then officially replaced Morgan on July 1. superintendents for Gov. Jay Inslee concerning safety measures surrounding potential re-opening processes for the fall.
Since then, Sobotta and school district staff, administration and teachers have taken on the monumental and unenviable task of figuring out a re-opening strategy while taking safety measures and community desires into consideration.
"Tackling this project of re-opening schools, as you can imagine, is huge," Sobotta said. "So what we've decided to do is allow all of the staff ... to engage in the process if they want to."
During the week of July 7, Sobotta held two town hall meetings with the public in the district. Sobotta said he plans to conduct two more town halls at the end of the month. He said the turnout at the previous meetings was "really good."
After figuring out which staff members wanted to be part of the re-opening project, Sobotta and his team helped form seven committees responsible for creating the plan, separated into various tasks.
"You've got transportation and facilities, safety, technology, nutrition, etc.." Sobotta said. "The staff selected three that they'd be interested and we placed them into these committees."
Sobotta said the broad consensus from surveying the public and parents is that a return to in-person learning is desired.
"They want to know if we're going to be able to come back," Sobotta said. "I assured them that that would be the case."
"We have mapped out every square foot of our facilities," he continued. "Now it's just a matter of scheduling."
Sobotta said parents have also been inquiring about safety, sports and alternative learning options.
"If (parents) don't feel comfortable having their student back, we're going to have an online learning option, and we're also going to have a remote learning option," Sobotta said. "We want every kid within this school district to be connected to the school district."
An official re-opening plan is tentatively expected August 10.
Right now, Sobotta's main goal is to develop a "face-to-face model that's as safe as we can possibly make it."
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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