Barringer prepares to take helm of school district

For incoming Superintendent Craig Barringer, the best part about being in education is seeing the kids cross the graduation stage to collect their diploma.

“Some of these kids are facing huge challenges,” Barringer, 50, said during a Tuesday visit to Libby, ahead of taking over the Central School office next week. Having teachers step into his own education when he needed them while growing up in Darby inspired Barringer to go into education later in his own life, he said.

“As principal and teacher you have more (immediate) influence on these students,” Barringer said, as his 16 years in Conrad Public Schools – the last two as superintendent, and before this as principal  – comes to an end, and his new role as superintendent in Libby begins. “As superintendent it’s making sure that the atmosphere is right for learning; that there are good teachers and the buildings are free of distractions.”

Barringer said one of the attractions of the Libby position, was that it was a larger enrolment than where he had been – Conrad had an enrolment of 528 to Libby area’s 1100-plus – as well as the challenge of a school system that had endured significant downsizing in the last decade.

“Kirby (Maki) went from five elementary  (schools) down to two buildings,” Barringer said of Libby’s retiring superintendent, who is packing up his office this week. He was aware that Maki was handing over a long list of projects that had been started, and added: “Kirby’s done a lot of heavy lifting here already.”

Another pull  was that Libby was reminiscent of the town of Darby that Barringer remembers from his childhood.

“Libby reminds me of how Darby used to be,” Barringer said. As a hiker and fisherman, he also found Lincoln County to have the mountains he was looking for. “Several kids I went to college with live here and I have a daughter going to school in Spokane (another daughter also lives in Spokane and a third daughter lives in Darby). I have always wanted to get back to the northwest part of Montana.”

After graduating from Darby High School, Barringer got his bachelors of science in elementary education and teaching from Western Montana College. In 1998 he obtained his master’s from the University of Montana in educational leadership and administration and moved to Conrad to take up the position as principal. Barringer became principal of Conrad Public Schools in 2012.

Barringer said that Conrad, like Libby, had had a declining enrolment. However, Libby did not have the oil and gas money that Conrad had benefited from.

“Culturally, Libby is also different,” Barringer said, when asked about the difference between the school district he had just come from and the district he was coming into. “Figuring out what Libby wants will take some time. The school plays an important part of the community.”

Maki had done a good job making the school accessible to the community, Barringer added.

Libby Schools Board chair Ellen Johnston said that from the beginning Barringer was the board’s first choice.

“He had a really good resume and came with wonderful letters of recommendation,” Johnston said. “You just knew that there was a lot of respect from that community.

“He is the kind of guy who you meet, and just like,” she continued. “I think he will be a good fit.”

Conrad School  District Board chairperson Joe Russell said Barringer’s strengths included being a people person and being involved in the community outside of school hours.

“He did his growing up here,” Russell said, of Barringer’s time as a principal and then superintendent. “He saw the job in Libby as an opportunity. He gave us direction and had grown to where he was capable of doing it all pretty much on his own.

“The morale is up,” Russell said, of Barringer’s contributions to the school. “He’s been a good part of the community and he will be missed.”