Familiar face tapped as new McCall-Donnelly chief

The McCall-Donnelly School District has a new superintendent.  

Last week the M-D Board of Trustees approved hiring current McCall-Donnelly High School Principal Tim Thomas to lead the district, which includes five schools, 101 teachers, and a total enrollment of 1,397 students.

Thomas has served as interim superintendent since former superintendent Eric Pingrey resigned in September. 

Laurie Erekson, who chairs the district board, told Valley Lookout the board is “extremely pleased” Thomas accepted the offer. 

“Throughout his term as Interim Superintendent we have been impressed with his leadership, grasp of the administrative needs of the district and his commitment to work towards what is best for kids,” Erekson said. 

Two outside candidates applied for the position, but they were not interviewed by the board because they “did not possess the qualifications to lead our district,” she said. 

Thomas will finish the current school year as principal and interim superintendent before signing a new contract as superintendent this summer. The salary for his new position is to be determined. He currently earns $121,110 per year as principal. 

The school district will immediately begin searching for a new high school principal, who would start at the beginning of next school year. Thomas will be involved in that process. 

“We have people here that are qualified to operate it,” he said, referencing the potential for an in-house replacement to be hired. 

Two decades at MDHS

Thomas, 56, told Valley Lookout he never sought to become superintendent after arriving in McCall in 2004 to be the principal at the high school. 

“It was an opportunity for me to help the community and help the school district and give me some new challenges, which is fun, too,” he said. 

As superintendent, Thomas’ day-to-day duties will shift from administering the operations of the high school to that of all five schools in the district. That includes Donnelly Elementary School, Barbara Morgan Elementary School, Payette Lakes Middle School, and Heartland High School. 

He will also be responsible for recommending district-wide policy to be adopted by trustees, including annual budgets and planning efforts. 

Middle school expansion a priority

Priorities for Thomas include completing an expansion of Payette Lakes Middle School, which is currently at about 90% of capacity. 

A bond issue that included $7.5 million for the expansion was approved by McCall voters in 2021, but the project stalled after the City of McCall approved the expansion plans with a requirement for 70 feet of the middle school property to be dedicated for a future extension of Deinhard Lane. 

“We asked the community for a bond that said, ‘we needed to do this,’” Thomas said. “It’s our responsibility to deliver on that.”

Thomas also wants to complete long-range planning efforts for the rest of the district so that it is prepared for growth that currently stands at about 2% to 3% each year. That process will include significant public involvement, Thomas said. 

“That’s not my decision, it’s the community’s decision,” he said. “It’s my job to facilitate those discussions.”

Montana to Las Vegas to McCall

Thomas began his career in education in Las Vegas as a math teacher after graduating from Carroll College in Helena, Montana, where he was raised. 

“I knew when I went to college that I wanted to be a teacher and a coach,” he said. “I come from a family of educators.”

Thomas spent 13 years as a teacher and administrator in Las Vegas before being hired in 2004 as the M-D high school principal. 

Landing in McCall was the result of a geographic compromise between Thomas and his wife, who have family in Montana and eastern Washington. 

“I was looking for a better place to raise my family,” he said. “We picked McCall because it was halfway between.”

Thomas said he is most proud of all the students who have graduated and gone on to succeed in life during his 21-year tenure as M-D principal. 

“I’m proud of what the kids have done. They’ve taken their education here and done great things in the world,” he said. “I see some of them come back and now are teachers for me.”