Looking Back: Dr. Garn Christensen Reflects On A Career in Public Education
And the Mayor of East Wenatchee and Eastmont employees share their thoughts
Today marks the end of 38 years in public education, 15 of which were spent as the superintendent of the Eastmont School District, for Dr. Garn Christensen.
When he came to Eastmont, he was the fifth superintendent in eight years.
“I didn’t know if it was a position I would be successful in. I didn’t know if it was going to be the right fit,” Christensen said. “But fortunately for me and my family, it’s been a real good fit. There are a lot of good people here. It’s a beautiful area. It has been an honor to work in this community.”
As for the legacy of leadership he leaves behind, he said being a good administrator means listening to people and supporting them, but also holding them accountable.
He said he hopes his influence has positively impacted the culture of Eastmont schools.
“They say culture is what you protect and promote, and I think that’s really important in organizations, school districts, and even families,” he said. “You know, what do we promote as a family? What do we protect as a family, and how do we spend our time?”
He said the information we gain today makes us better tomorrow, and he believes the best conversations are those that change your opinion or add to your opinion. And there’s potential for that to happen every day in public schools.
“I think public education in our country is one of the foundation pillars of our community, and I think that the whole democratic process is one where we share different opinions, and that happens every day in schools,” he said. “It forces individuals from all different backgrounds to come together, in kindergarten classrooms and graduation stages, on teams on plays and it makes us understand and appreciate those differences.”
The fact that students get second and third chances to write their futures, rather than being stuck into track early on, is one of the things he admires most about the American education system.
Jerrilea Crawford, the Mayor of East Wenatchee, said she will miss Garn’s leadership in the community. Before serving as mayor, Crawford worked for the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce and facilitated the Community Leadership class.
She regularly invited Christensen to speak to her students and at Chamber events.
“What I appreciated about Garn’s leadership was he wasn’t just involved in school activities, he wanted to participate on the business side. He attended business after hours. He showed up at business discussions because that was relevant to education. No other superintendent in the valley has done that as consistently,” Crawford said.
As mayor, she said she’s grateful for Christensen’s strong leadership and his willingness to talk about issues across the board. She said working with him on getting a school resource officer, or SRO, in Eastmont schools would not have been possible without his leadership and attention to detail.
“The relationship between the city and the school district is really important because it’s like a community inside our community, so getting an SRO into the schools, he was passionate about his beliefs on that,” she said. “We aligned really well that it needed to be the right person for the right reasons and I think we accomplished that together. We wouldn’t have been able to do that without him.”
As far as advice for parents, Christensen said he thinks it’s never been more challenging to be a parent. Children's access to information and exposure to society through technology has never been greater.
And the expectations placed on young people have never been greater.
“But I think the basic ingredient that parents still provide is that daily connection with their child,” he said. “Daily touch, daily listening, being present – we all need to realize that we only get to do that parenting job once. There aren’t chances to rewrite that script. Stay connected with your kids.”
Eastmont employees recently shared their well-wishes and parting thoughts with Dr. Christensen in a video my company produced for the Eastmont School District.
You can watch that right here:
This piece was originally written for the Eastmont School District’s May 2022 newsletter and is being republished with permission.