Recently, the Granite Falls School District has welcomed a lot of new staff, but perhaps the most notable staff change is the arrival of our new superintendent, Mrs. Dana Geaslen. Mrs. Geaslen is excited to hear from all of the students in the school district about what they like, dislike, want to change, and more. She has already started implementing policies to better our district, and is committed to making Granite the best environment possible for our students.
Mrs. Geaslen comes to us from just about an hour away in the Edmonds school district. Home to places like Mountlake Terrace High School, Cascadia Art Museum, and more, Mrs. Geaslen loved it, but longed for the feel of a small town like the one she grew up in (Junction City, Oregon). She explained that, “…there’s so many things going, and so many amazing people, and there’s such good things happening both in the schools and in the community,” Granite felt like the place for her. “The way the community wraps around kids and around their community members is so special.”
One thing Mrs. Geaslen looks forward to most is implementing changes to make our students as happy and safe as possible. “We want to find out what’s working, what’s not working, and then go from there. And in a smaller systems like Granite, you can initiate change quicker and see outcomes quicker than in a larger system,” Geaslen said. One thing Mrs. Geaslen changed over the summer was putting the early learning school (the preschool) in the bottom floor of the district office, in order to create more space at Monte Cristo Elementary. “…I saw that that was a need, and I asked if we could make it happen.” We like a superintendent that gets things done!
When asked what she thought Granite’s biggest challenge was, and how she would go about dealing with that, she took a moment to think, and described it: “…it’s that we’re going to grow, and we’re going to need space, so we’re going to have to look at creative ways to do that initially, and then look at a long term plan for what needs to be done next. We’ll never apologize for quality buildings and spaces for our kids to learn, because we want to be able to accommodate and have great facilities for you all.”
Within those great facilities that Mrs. Geaslen spoke of, there will of course be students and school supplies. Many of us color code our school supplies (for example, science is green, math is blue, and english is red, etc), and it has become a well-known topic of debate over which color belongs to which subject. Well, our new superintendent added to the debate, stating that “math feels more like red. Somehow in my head I just think blue is more ELA than anything else.” But outside of her superintendent duties, Mrs. Geaslen loves to bake. She frequently shares her homemade treats, and her favorite thing to bake is cookies. “I’m really picky about cookies, and so I love finding great cookie recipes and trying those out,” she told us.
Throughout this interview, Mrs. Geaslen made it clear that she highly values the opinions and voices of the students in the district. She recently celebrated her granddaughter’s second birthday, and often her perspective on issues within the district is, “is this what I would want for my kids? Is this what I would want for my grandchildren?” In order to really hear what students think, she will be introducing a new thing called Tiger Cabinet. Tiger Cabinet will be a meeting of representatives from grades 3-12 who will meet and discuss the district and the goings-on at the various schools, how to improve things, projects to expand on, and more. If you’re interested in being a representative for your grade in Tiger Cabinet, keep an eye out for signup forms coming out soon!
From all of us here at Granite Falls School District, welcome Mrs. Geaslen! We’re glad to have you with us.
