Latest news with #LanceHansen
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lance Hansen preparing for next challenge
May 10—Outgoing Lewiston School District Superintendent Lance Hansen, 56, planned to retire next year. Instead, he'll take on an even bigger job. "I never say no to opportunities," Hansen explained. He wasn't looking for a new job, but the opening for Kennewick School District superintendent found him. So, on June 30, he'll leave the 5,000-student Lewiston school district for the 19,000-student district on the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers in Washington. The 18 years Hansen spent in Lewiston school leadership posts — four as superintendent, eight as assistant superintendent, and in principal and vice principal slots — created deep experience. That experience is symbolized in the shiny new Lewiston High School built in 2020 with a $62 million bond. School leaders since the 1990s tried to replace the old school, and it was finally backed by voters in 2017. Hansen was part of that long effort. He leaves as construction for the school's $9.2 million sports complex is about to begin. What matters to Hansen is the message the community gives whenever it directs school officials to undertake projects. "I would hope we mirrored the investment they have in our children," he said. That investment puts science as well as gifted and talented teachers in the district's elementary schools. It widens the range of middle school programming. It creates diverse high school musical performance options: choir, band, jazz band and orchestra. It has Lewiston ranked second in the state in third graders who can read. Hansen has intentionally involved the community in decision-making. The district enlists about 150 people a year into "workgroups" to guide decisions on issues ranging from cell phone policies to developing a strategic plan. Daily headlines, straight to your inboxRead it online first and stay up-to-date, delivered daily at 7 AM Hansen also has students give presentations monthly to the school board. That effort teaches the school board about student work. It prepares board members to answer community member questions about how their tax dollars are spent. He has a similar approach to legislators. He gives tours and engages with the area's two state senators and four state representatives. That way, when the fervor for reform rattles the Capitol's marble columns, he hopes lawmakers pause. "I want them to think of us," Hansen said. Hansen noted that legislators — whether thinking of local schools or not — left the district with an $800,000 blow to the budget by deciding not to fund operation cost increases this year. On the topic of state policy, Hansen noted this year's "school choice" law has major consequences for the district. That starts this year with a $50 million, first-ever subsidy for parents who use private and religious schools. "I want our school to be the 'choice,' " Hansen said. "Before 'school choice,' we were the only choice." He expects Lewiston's high standards and good results — as one of only four districts in the state to exceed pre-Covid academic levels — to compete well in the "school choice" battle. Hansen's Idaho career started as a 1992 University of Idaho graduate and included coaching and teaching in Troy, Emmett and Moscow schools. He is working with the next superintendent — Tim Sperber, Lewiston's Sacajawea Middle School principal — to help transition into the job. Ferguson can be reached at dferguson@
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Conservative rural Idaho doctor says WWAMI dissolution feels ‘political'
My WWAMI medical school and residency education gave me the ability to practice rural, full-spectrum family medicine, writes guest columnist Lance Hansen. (Getty Images) I am a fiscally and socially conservative family physician practicing at Franklin County Medical Center in Preston, Idaho. I was raised on a potato farm west of Blackfoot, and my family has been rooted in Idaho agriculture for generations. Growing up, my family physician was WWAMI graduate Dr. Kirt McKinlay. I'm writing because I am concerned that politics are clouding sound judgement when it comes to House Bill 176, a bill that would sever medical education ties with the University of Washington School of Medicine. With a proven track record of excellent medical education and a commitment to Idaho, why are we entertaining the notion of cutting ties of a 53-year-old partnership with the WWAMI program for a lot of uncertainty and unknown? Idaho doctor: WWAMI is 'vital' for state's students, residents and health care With the way that House Bill 176 is structured/worded, there are only a few possibilities and a lot of uncertainty. To me this feels very political rather than rational. As a graduate of the WWAMI program, I never participated in or felt pressured to learn anything about abortion or physician assisted suicide. The education at the University of Washington School of Medicine is outstanding; WWAMI is continually ranked as one of the top medical schools in the nation for primary care. When I went through medical school, there were only 18 WWAMI slots for Idaho medical students and today there are 40. I know, firsthand, that the mission of the University of Washington School of Medicine is to truly prepare physicians to serve the WWAMI region. Since 2012, I have volunteered thousands of hours teaching WWAMI medical students and serving on the Idaho WWAMI admissions committee where we selected applicants who were committed to rural Idaho and its health care needs. I have never been paid for any of this. I simply have a great appreciation for what the WWAMI program has accomplished and a strong confidence in what it will accomplish in the future. More than half of Idaho WWAMI medical students choose to practice here, which is better than the national average of 39-40%. When you include all WWAMI medical students, more than 70% end up in Idaho. Training in Idaho entices students from Alaska, Montana, Washington and Wyoming to stay here. My medical career started in Bear Lake County where I practiced for 11 years. It's difficult to find physicians who are comfortable with practicing in these truly rural environments without specialist support nearby. My WWAMI medical school and residency education gave me the ability to practice rural, full-spectrum family medicine – including obstetrics with C sections, colonoscopy/EGD, emergency medicine, intensive care, hospital medicine, clinic treatment and more. WWAMI provides the rural emphasis, exposure, opportunities, knowledge and confidence necessary for me, and other graduates, to serve people in rural areas. When I came to Franklin County Medical Center two years ago, it had been recruiting for more than four years. For smaller hospitals like ours, it is more cost effective to have broadly trained family physicians like those that come out of the WWAMI program with rural experience. Our family medicine training also means patients are likely to have better outcomes because they don't have to travel longer distances for medical care. One of my favorite parts of medicine is participating in the miracle of life when newborn babies come into this world. Most people I know love babies — so I ask that our state lawmakers not throw out the baby with the bathwater on this issue of medical education in Idaho. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
