New head of Tri-Cities largest school district sizes up its challenges, possibilities
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- New Kennewick superintendent Lance Hansen begins 2025-26 school year transition.
- District tackles funding gaps, achievement disparities, and staff turnover issues.
- Hansen emphasizes outreach, site visits, and collaborative school leadership model.
Lance Hansen holds a big presence on the Kennewick School District campus.
As teachers and parents filed in and out of the building on a busy Wednesday afternoon for registration and training, Hansen sports a smile while holding doors and making small talk. Colleagues also greet him in the hall.
When students in Kennewick return to class Wednesday, Aug. 27, for the start of the 2025-26 school year, they’ll have a new superintendent at the helm: Hansen, the 56-year-old former Lewiston Independent School District leader named Idaho’s 2025 Superintendent of the Year.
He’s been the district’s top educator for less than two months when the Herald sat down with him for a one-on-one interview. But he says the Tri-Cities is already feeling like home.
“The job’s great,” he said, thanking former Superintendent Traci Pierce and other leaders for the smooth transition. “Everyone’s been extremely kind, helpful in the transition — and that’s all staff.”
Pierce retired at the end of June, capping a five-year tenure in Kennewick and a three-decade career in public education.
The Kennewick School Board hired Hansen in February to lead the Tri-Cities’ largest school district, which has more than 19,000 students. Its 3,500 teachers and employees work across more than 30 schools, funded by a nearly $340 million operating budget.
So far, he’s visited summer schools, local youth programs, met with staff and teachers, and hosted two school board meetings. He’s also met with leaders at Columbia Basin College and WSU Tri-Cities, as well as nearly all local Rotary Clubs.
Hansen gave an early outsider’s perspective: Kennewick schools are running like a “well-oiled machine,” its levels of student support “very grounded and very solid.”
But the district this school year also will be tasked with closing achievement gaps at one of its worst-performing schools and renewing a critical tax to adequately fund schools.
He also admits he’s still getting the lay of the land — “determining the current reality” of the foundation that’s been built — and said he won’t plan on making big pivots anytime soon.
Hansen plans to visit all buildings by the end of the first few weeks of class.
“It’s important to me because I want to see the kids,” he said. “I get an opportunity to hear from the students, I get an opportunity to see class sizes, I get to see the teachers, I get to see the staff — and they get to see me, and they’ll understand the things that I value by being present in the schools.”
‘Positive vibe’ in Kennewick schools
School board President Gabe Galbraith says Hansen has been doing a “fantastic” job so far. The Gem State transplant is very approachable and has brought good ideas to the table.
“There’s a real positive vibe in the district and people are excited to get started,” Galbraith told the Herald. “I definitely feel 100% confident we made the right choice with Lance, and he’s going to do exciting things for our district, and we’re excited to see those results.”
Hansen’s classroom knowledge and experience with professional learning communities made him stand out among the applicants.
He served Lewiston in several roles over the previous 18 years, including as superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal and assistant principal in secondary schools. His early career includes teaching math and Spanish in high schools in Moscow and Emmett, both in Idaho. He’s also coached.
Hansen is an avid golfer, a sport he picked up during COVID, and played basketball four days a week prior to his move to Kennewick. It’s therapeutic and an opportunity to “disengage” from the demanding beat of life.
But the new Tri-Cities leader also holds his love for his family on his sleeve. Listening in on a professional development session, one person posed the question: If you could go anywhere, without a worry for money, where would you go? Hansen answered to the Herald that he would be with his six grandkids, most of whom live in Arizona.
“I was raised in a fairly musical family. My mother’s very musical, played the piano,” he said, noting that he picked up guitar from his uncle and that his daughter is a Boise-based musician.
His rotation of music is eclectic: George Strait, the Eagles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Carrie Underwood or even Norah Jones.
“I feel like I’m really drawn to people who are good at what they do, no matter what they do,” he said, and that extends to the arts, sports and teaching. “That’s the things that you connect to, that kind of formulate your foundation that you just kind of enhance and grow.”
Tri-Cities schools to pursues levy renewal
Hansen told the Herald he’s built teams throughout his entire career, from coaching to leading schools and organizations.
“I know that in order to do the important work, it’s a collective effort — and everyone plays a role in that and everyone has value,” he said. “And that includes our night custodians, our front office staff, our receptionists, our school nurses, our teachers, our principals, our bus drivers, our food servicers — everyone.”
Hansen comes to the Tri-Cities at a relatively stable yet transitory time for the Kennewick School District.
Some of its top talent has retired, leaving the school district with the best financial outlook in the greater Mid-Columbia region — a tough lift after Kennewick went without local levy collection in the 2023 calendar year and utilized one-time federal COVID dollars to fill the gap.
In just a few months, Kennewick — alongside Richland and the Pasco school districts — will also have to go back out to voters to re-secure those vital levy dollars at a time when homeowners are scoffing at their tax bills and at the high cost of goods.
Shortfalls at Amistad Elementary
Kennewick has also been flagged to close achievement gaps in Amistad Elementary, among the “persistently lowest-achieving schools” in Washington and the Tri-Cities.
The district applied for $600,000 in additional funds from the state to help improve reading and math scores at the school of 690 students, but was awarded just $150,000.
It matched that with $51,000 in local money to hire a specialized elementary assistant principal position and to pay for other supports, officials said.
“Amistad has an amazing opportunity for growth. I love the energy that the leadership team is bringing to that. I have met with a few, not all, of their staff members. The population that that building serves, I’m just excited for their opportunities,” he said.
About 33% of Amistad students tested at or above grade-level knowledge in English and 36% in math, based on 2023-24 Smarter Balanced Assessment results.
Nearly 9 in 10 students are from low-income backgrounds, and half are English language learners. About 1 in 5 are children of migrant workers.
Hansen recognizes that a higher density of students may be coming to school with financial, social and familial burdens. At the same time, he said, it’s important to focus on what they can change.
“All of our children come with something,” Hansen said. “Our obligation is not to focus on what they bring, but what we have to provide them while they’re here.”
Student demographics are different between Lewiston and Kennewick schools. But Hansen said they worked with students, mostly white and Native American, who struggled with a lot of the same issues.
Hansen will make a salary similar to Pierce’s. He’ll earn a base annual pay of $188,300, but a 16% bonus and tens of thousands of dollars for additional achievements could see him max out at about $294,000.
Hansen said he’s already had lunch with Richland Superintendent Shelley Redinger and Pasco Superintendent Michelle Whitney. They’ve helped him tie together a picture of the greater Tri-Cities education community.
“I’m very fortunate to work with two outstanding superintendents who have a history of leading education in the Tri-Cities area,” he said.
Hansen looks forward to meeting with more students, teachers and community members. You can catch him at high school football games, meet-and-greets and regular school board meetings, held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month.
