Wrapping up a purpose-driven career

When Sharon Throop saw the help wanted ad from the Cheney School District in a local newspaper, she thought such a position might carry something unique from other administrative posts.

"Working for a school district felt like a purpose of some kind," Throop said recently.

So she applied, interviewed and was hired to be the assistant to the superintendent. That was March, 1984.

Today, Throop is scheduled to enter retirement on Aug. 31 - 34 years and nine superintendents later.

"The district has been my "home" for over half of my life, and there could not have been a more amazing place to spend my days," she wrote in her April 11 letter announcing her decision.

Throop's original "home" was on property at 16th Avenue and Bowdish Road in Spokane Valley. She graduated from University High School and spent a year at Washington State University "not knowing exactly what I wanted to do."

Returning to Spokane, Throop took a legal secretarial course at Spokane Community College and eventually found work in that field. She and her husband moved to their current home on Plymouth Road off the Cheney-Spokane Road in 1978 because there was "land that we could have horses," one of her passions.

Eventually work took her to a position as a public stenographer with A1 Secretarial and Artcraft Printing in Spokane, and then to the Cheney School District. Throop recalled her first time in the district's administrative offices at the former Fisher Building, walking to her interview and thinking "what a beautiful building. I want to work here."

She got her wish, sliding into the assistant to the superintendent's desk for then-superintendent Gale Marrs. Throop's challenge was that her predecessor only stuck around for a couple of days, leaving her with some unanswered questions.

"I didn't know anything about the lingo," Throop said of the jargon education encases itself in just as heavily as the military.

She learned, making herself a cheat sheet of acronyms, lingo and jargon commonly used by educators. One of her talents that came in handy was shorthand - a practice that even then was being phased out by schools as being irrelevant to the business world.

For Throop, learning those short forms for common words typically used in speech proved to be invaluable.

"I had to (use it) when I was a public secretary because you're paid by the hour," she said. "My business teacher said I would always be thankful for learning it though. It's like learning English, which has a lot of idiosyncrasies."

Now, when taking school board minutes and other notes, Throop said she just types.

"I've always been a good typist," she added.

Throop's position is more than just taking minutes and notes. The assistant to the superintendent is also responsible for compiling and writing new releases, meeting agendas and working with the superintendent to create newsletters, brochures and other forms of district communications.

The district's current superintendent, Rob Roettger, added the position also is on the front lines in fielding phone calls from parents and community members. He said Throop's approach to her work could be summed up in three words: kind, helpful and professional.

"It's a very important position," Roettger said. "Over 34 years, she (Throop) knows what needs to happen. That's a lot of history we're going to miss here in our district."

Marrs retired after Throop's first year. The next superintendent, Jim Jungers, helped her fulfill a life-long dream when he approved a three-month leave of absence so she could travel to Florida to work at the Dolphin Research Center.

"Dolphins have a special place (with me)," Throop said. "When I met my first dolphin, my heart came home."

Throop also spoke highly of former superintendent, the late Dr. Phil Snowdon, who led Cheney for over 10 years. Throop said he had a "wonderful sense of humor," and share that with the staff and public.

"He was always uplifting," she added.

The man who followed Snowdon, current Education Service District 101 Superintendent Mike Dunn, said he was "very fortunate" to have Throop during his five years as Cheney's superintendent, especially when it came to knowing the district and how it relates to its schools.

As an example, Dunn said during one levy campaign he had the idea to replace the district's usual sign graphic of a student sitting at a desk, along with its typical color scheme, with something more along with lines of what other districts were using in their campaigns.

Throop took him aside, Dunn said, and explained to him why it was important to stay with the original artwork.

"She was confident in herself and cared about the future of the district," he said. "It's people like Sharon who make this district work."

Throop also figures she's served 15 different school board directors during her time at CSD. Board director is a volunteer position she said requires time, attention to details and the ability to do research and learn new things quickly.

"The bottom line is their commitment to kids," she said. "I just think they're amazing people to donate their time like that."

Throop said she's not sure what she will do in retirement just yet, but plans to finish reading some books she's put aside, get some yardwork done and take part more in her grandchildren's activities. But, she'll still be in the Cheney School District, in more ways then physical.

"The people," she said of what she'll miss most. "Mostly the people and the sense of purpose of doing something for the community and for the children."

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].