Ends 14 years at Rosalia: Supt. Crowley’s retirement

Dr. Thomas Crowley’s retirement from his post as superintendent of Rosalia School District has the St. John and Endicott Districts searching for a new principal.

Crowley will leave Rosalia at the end of the school year. He will be replaced by Bill Thurston, current superintendent at Ritzville. Thurston will be replaced by Rob Roettger, principal of St. John and Endicott.

And St. John/Endicott will next week interview candidates for the principal’s job.

“Yeah, I kind of started a game of musical chairs there, didn’t I?” Crowley said to the Gazette Tuesday.

Crowley will end 39 years in education this June, with the last 14 serving as Rosalia superintendent.

He plans to retire with his wife, Paulette, to Post Falls, where he can spend some time with his “lonely” fishing pole.

“It’s very lonely. It needs me,” he said.

Crowley’s retirement provided the Rosalia school board the chance to trim its budget. Thurston was hired as a half-time superintendent, the same hours he worked this year at Ritzville.

“We’re very happy, very happy with how it worked out,” said Tricia Hereford, a member of the Rosalia school board.

Hereford said Thurston was chosen from three final candidates.

Thurston said Rosalia’s decision to cut the superintendent to a half-time position matched his experience. Thurston retired as a full time superintendent when he left the Freeman school in 2006.

“Their enrollment keeps going down, and they decided to go with a half-time superintendent. That’s what I’ve been doing at Ritzville, so it was a great fit,” said Thurston.

Thurston was superintendent at Garfield/Palouse from 1987 to 1998. He still maintains a home near Freeman with his wife, Rita.

“I’m excited to be down in Rosalia. It’s a great place,” said Thurston.

Roettger, who has been principal at St. John for the past four years and for both St. John and Endicott this year, was hired as the part time superintendent for both Ritzville and Lind. Over the next year, the two schools are consolidating their districts into one, a process Roettger is excited to oversee.

“This year, I’ve been principal in St. John and Endicott, so it will be very similar,” he said. “We’ve been at this co-op for 20-some plus years and there’s still things that crop up.”

While working at St. John and Endicott, Roettger earned his administration certification from Washington State University. He finished that training in April.

Roettger and his wife, Esther, have five children.

“We’re sad to leave St. John and Endicott, but we’re real excited about the opportunities at Lind and Ritzville,” he said.

SJE Supt. Rick Winters said his school is accepting applications for the principal post through this week with interviews scheduled for next week.

Winters hopes the board will make a hiring decision the following week.