Seven years nearly to the day since he took the helm at the Thompson School District, Superintendent Marc Schaffer will depart his position, after taking a new job at Community High School District 128, which serves the communities of Libertyville and Vernon Hills in suburban Chicago.

Schaffer still has work ahead of him. His new contract doesn’t start until July 1, so the remainder of this school year will be spent in TSD, helping to oversee the upcoming year’s budget, assisting with a potential bond issue, pending the school board’s decision on whether to pursue one, and assembling a transition plan to help ease his replacement into the role.

Schaffer’s tenure fell during one of the most fraught times for school’s in recent memory, the COVID-19 pandemic being the primary reason.

“COVID tops the list, for sure,” Schaffer said. “I’m fortunate that COVID happened during my third year, I think if it had happened during my first or second year you and I might not be talking. It was really challenging and complex. It really challenged all of us, in terms of leadership, in terms of providing support, trying to balance needs of the community, trying to deliver on the needs of our students. There was no playbook for that period. We’re now beyond it, but it’s something that persists. It’s always there.”

The expected smoothness of Schaffer’s transition is perhaps a testament to his efforts.

Stu Boyd, vice president of the Thompson School Board, met with officials from the Colorado Association of School Boards after first learning of Schaffer’s departure, he said during a special meeting Wednesday. According to those officials, the search for a new superintendent for Thompson was anticipated to proceed smoothly. Many districts looking to replace superintendents are doing so because the superintendent left suddenly, either because of a firing or a sudden resignation, which is not the case for TSD.

That’s not to say it was easy. Topics like the appropriate response to the pandemic and debates over diversity initiatives saw nationwide focus on school boards and their operations, a phenomenon that Schaffer said has intensified since he first entered education 30 years ago.

“People have opinions and views,” Schaffer said.

“The ability to engage in respectful discourse is really important. We’re not always going to agree on things, especially in education when you’re dealing with our most precious commodity, our kids. We have strong opinions. Parents have very strong views of right and wrong. I think it’s incumbent on us as leaders to allow that to take place, to provide a forum for those conversations. And as leaders we have to be open to those perspectives.”

Unique to his time in Thompson is the fact that it’s the only time that his own child attended the school district that he was overseeing.

Prior to coming to TSD, Schaffer worked as an assistant superintendent in the Boulder Valley School District, but his family lived in Longmont, where his daughter attended school. Only since coming to Thompson was he both a parent and a superintendent in the same school district.

“It’s truly humbling,” Schaffer said. “When I show up in a building, I show up as a superintendent. But when I show up at my daughters’ school, I’m also a parent, and I have a lot of those vulnerabilities that parents often feel.”

This feeling was particularly stark during the pandemic.

“It hit home,” he said of COVID-19. “We knew it was a very tough time, and it was not only a tough time for the nearly 15,000 students, but for the Schaffer household as well. We were experiencing a lot of the same issues that other students were experiencing. That made it real.”