Barringer expected to depart Libby

Libby Superintendent Craig Barringer was expected to formally announce his departure from the district to the school board on Feb. 10.

Barringer, who took the top job at the Libby School District in 2014, recently accepted a superintendent position in Sweetwater County, Wyo. In an undated press release, officials with Sweetwater County School District No. 2 said they were “excited to be moving forward with such a dynamic leader.”

The Wyoming school district’s current superintendent is expected to keep his job until July 1, when Barringer will take over.

Barringer could not be reached for comment, but he is listed on the school board’s Feb. 10 agenda under the item “resignation/retirement/non-renewal.” The school district also is advertising his job on its website. It was not immediately known when Barringer would depart Libby.

Barringer came to the city after spending 16 years as an educator in Conrad. He expected a bit of a culture shock taking the reins in northwest Montana.

“Figuring out what Libby wants will take some time,” he said in 2014. “The school plays an important [role in] the community.”

At the time, Libby School Board Chair Ellen Johnston said Barringer stood out from the pack immediately.

“He is the kind of guy who you meet, and just like,” she told The Western News.

During his tenure in Libby, Barringer oversaw the adoption of a new curriculum aimed at improving students’ “fluency” in mathematics, jump-started a preschool program and persuaded voters to back a roughly $4.1 million mill levy for district-wide maintenance and renovation work.

Barringer also led the district during an investigation into a school shooting threat in 2018 and saw a push for a school resource officer defeated at the ballot box in 2019.