Earlier this month, Superintendent Tim Mills announced that he will retire at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. As he prepares for his last school year as an educator, Mills spoke to the Reporter about his successes, challenges and final plans for the Bellevue School District.

Bellevue Reporter: What’s behind your decision to leave?

Tim Mills: A year from now, I’ll be 65. It is retirement age, although I envisioned maybe going beyond that. But, looking at the fact that we have four little grandchildren and a fifth on the way … My wife and I have reached that point in our lives where it seems like it’s time to step back and put a little more time into family. I’ve been blessed with a good career, a long career and the opportunity to work with lots of people, and I feel very positive about the direction of our district.

BR: Going in, it seems like you had a focus on increasing diversity training and a focus on diversity within the district, as well as flexibility in programming. How do you think you have done with that?

TM: I think we’ve made some great strides. We have really focused on this area of equity across the district. Recognizing that we continue to see our demographics change, which is a very great thing to see — we really are becoming an international school district. All of our leaders have been through very extensive training around equity, especially racial equity, which is really important because people from different races, people from different cultural groups approach things differently. As school leaders, we really need to have an awareness and recognize that it takes different strategies to connect these families from all of the different parts of the world and all of these different backgrounds into the work of helping their children to be as successful as they can be. But, this is one of those areas where we’ll never really be finished.

BR: What is some of the work you might consider your successes?

TM: I think one of the biggest ones is our work building relationships with our employees. We have brought into the district a process called “internet-based strategies.” We’ve used this process not only in bargaining, but also problem-solving and committee work we do across the district… The end of my first year here, it was the first time in many years that we broke for the summer break with a ratified contract. And we just did that again. That was a big achievement.

When I came into the district, there was also a lot of conversation around the country about STEM. I really believed coming in that we needed to begin that work at the elementary level… Oftentimes, particularly girls and certain racial groups may choose not to pursue math or science or technology when they become electives, because they believe they can’t do it or it hasn’t been appealing. To have a strong elementary program helps with that… Just seeing how it’s been embraced across the district has been very exciting for me.

Another thing I’m pleased with — and we still have a lot to do — is the instructional initiatives [Academic achievement, college and career readiness, and a positive and productive life] The board asked me to develop a five-year plan when I started. Going to our team, I said, “Let’s set audacious goals.”

BR: What do you think are some of the challenges that you’ve faced?

TM: I think one of the big ones that has come forward is how we’re connecting with families. We have children in our district who come from 117 different birth countries, so that in itself is a bit of a challenge. We’re growing at about 600 students per year. It’s pushed our buildings to capacity …. But, you can only build school buildings so fast, and you have to have the funding source for that.

BR: Education funding has been an issue, and with the McCleary situation and the Dorn lawsuit, there’s some uncertainty about Bellevue’s financial future. How do you tackle that?

TM: There is this uncertainty. The structure and ability to use levy dollars the way that this district has used them for years certainly could change. I think sometimes it gets characterized that we’re the only district, or one of few, that use levy dollars to try and go above and beyond. But, it’s not uncommon in the state.

BR: How are you feeling about leaving with this financial uncertainty?

TM: Obviously, it’s a concern. But I’m not sure it’s something that’s going to be solved next year, or in two years or three years. There will always be something that you’d like to stay on and see through.

BR: The district has announced that it won’t continue their appealing the Bellevue football sanctions. You’ve stated that you’re going to be looking at policies regarding athletics. How are you planning on setting up a good foundation before you leave so that this issues is resolved?

TM: I think that one of the things that people may not be aware of is that two years ago, we made a district-level position to oversee athletics and activities. While we had coordination, it wasn’t the same as somebody who’s job is to look at policies, their implementation, training the coaches, how are we making sure we have the appropriate oversight? We had started that work, but then we had the situation that developed, which has been very painful for the community … What we have to do is, ‘What do we learn from that experience?’ That’s what we’re trying to understand. Where we need to improve or adapt or adjust our policies to be more clear, to make sure that we’re doing the appropriate training, that’s the work that will be going on this year … I think there are a lot of lessons we can learn from the past.

BR: Are there any goals that you have for your remaining nine months as superintendent?

TM: The board recogngizes that it’s time for us to look at the strategic direction of the district. I’m not going to lead that, it wouldn’t be appropriate since I’m going to be leaving. Anything that we can do to help that transition be smooth, that will be a big part of my focus. I really want to see that we get good traction on this idea of truly becoming an inclusive school district.

BR: What advice would you give to your successor?

TM: I believe that the first thing you have to do is build relationships. It’s taking time to be visible in the community, be in the schools. For me, that first year is about making those types of connections. It’s hard to know how you implement a plan if you don’t know who you’re working with and the talents and skills.

Note: Mills’ answers have been edited for length and clarity.