Lakeland Interim Superintendent Jake Massey signed a three-year contract last week to continue in the interim role.
The $152,000-per-year contract was issued on June 23 without a public vote by the board of trustees, according to board minutes. But it appears Massey will eventually assume the position permanently; it’s just unclear when. A line in his contract indicates Massey will transition to the permanent role “upon the fulfillment of agreed-upon conditions and prior commitments.”
Board chair Michelle Thompson did not return phone calls or respond to a detailed list of questions from EdNews.
Massey has served as interim superintendent since March, when then-superintendent Rusty Taylor was placed on paid administrative leave. Both Massey and Taylor were new to their roles at the start of the 2026 school year.
Trustees have remained mum on their reasons for placing Taylor on leave, other than Thompson told EdNews “it was a bad fit.” The board intends to pay out about $200,000 to cover the rest of Taylor’s contract, while simultaneously paying Massey.
The 35-year-old assumes the top job in Lakeland after a string of superintendent departures dating back to 2020, along with two failed supplemental levies and a failed plant facility levy in May. Community members have blamed the district’s issues on the school board, with dozens of patrons asking trustees to resign this spring and a group collecting signatures for a recall as of late June.
Massey summed up his goals for next year in one word during an interview with EdNews this week: “Stability.”
Contract offered without a vote
Trustees did not open a search for a district’s leader after Taylor’s departure in March.
Then last week, Massey announced in an email to district staff that he had signed a contract to stay on as interim superintendent for another three years.
EdNews obtained Massey’s offer letter and contract through a public records request. The offer letter, dated June 22, shows the board intends to eventually offer Massey the permanent superintendent role. Massey declined to say what the timeline for that transition is, referring questions to Thompson.
Trustees “communicated confidence in my leadership and want me to stick around,” Massey said.
He admits staying on as interim for three years is an odd place to be and has “maybe never happened before.”
“I’m grateful to be able to tell people in Lakeland that there’s a plan for next year,” Massey said.
Massey’s 2026-2029 contract was signed on June 23. The contract includes a $30,000 raise from Massey’s assistant superintendent’s salary to $152,000 per year. The figure is $4,000 less than Taylor’s annual salary.
The district is also paying the entirety of Massey’s family premium for dental and medical insurance, according to the contract.
Board agendas and meeting minutes do not show trustees voting to offer Massey a contract at any of their June meetings.
Massey said he was under the impression the board intended to vote on the contract following an executive session on June 17, but he did not stay until the end of the meeting.
The June 17 regular board meeting agenda shows an “interim superintendent check-in” in executive session along with a board clerk check-in and a meeting with legal counsel. There are no action items listed to occur during the open meeting.
A superintendent hiring and all taxpayer financial obligations are entrusted to the board of trustees, which is comprised of elected officials.
EdNews filed a complaint with the Kootenai County Prosecutor Attorney Stanley Mortensen, alleging violations of Idaho’s open meetings law. The interim superintendent’s pay is a taxpayer obligation and the decision to enter into the contract does not appear on board agendas or minutes.
‘Stability is the number one thing’
Massey grew up in North Idaho, bouncing around Kootenai County. He graduated from North Idaho Christian School before heading to the University of Idaho, where he earned a degree in education and met his wife, Kaylee.
The couple moved to the Bonneville School District in Idaho Falls, where Massey taught fifth grade for three years and earned his master’s degree from Idaho State University, shortly followed by his education specialist degree from Boise State University and his superintendent certification.
He was then hired on as the vice principal at Kimberly Elementary. The nearly 1,000-student elementary school split into two smaller schools. Massey was chosen as the founding principal for Strickler Elementary.
In early 2020, Massey saw a principal job opening at Garwood Elementary in Rathdrum. The couple, who by then had two children, wanted to be closer to family, so Massey applied and was hired during COVID-19 pandemic closures.
He was principal at Garwood Elementary for five years before being promoted to assistant superintendent last fall. Massey decided to apply for the job after both the superintendent and assistant superintendent announced their departures in hopes of creating continuity for his fellow educators.
“It was the direction that I wanted to go with my career,” Massey said, noting the move came quicker than he expected. “I love Lakeland and I absolutely love working at Lakeland.”
He said he largely tried to stay out of any issues between Taylor and trustees.
“Out of respect for Mr. Taylor, he was my boss, and that’s not something that I needed to be a part of at all,” Massey said.
When he was appointed to the interim role, Massey jumped in to run a plant facility levy campaign and take care of day-to-day tasks that were out of the scope of his previous role.
“Ultimately, the hats that I wore as assistant superintendent got set to the side,” Massey said.
The district plans to hire a curriculum director to take over Massey’s former duties.
“Stability is the number one thing,” Massey said of his goals for next year.
Massey’s immediate plans are to reach out to the community, largely through taking over the long-range facility planning and strategic planning committees, to set future goals for the district.
Through those committees, Massey hopes to consider new programs to appeal to families exercising school choice.
He also acknowledges the district’s tight budget. Increasing enrollment or asking for more money next fall, when the district runs its next supplemental levy, are really the only two ways to raise revenue, he said.
What to put on the ballot is a question that necessitates community feedback, Massey said.
“We can no longer have the mindset of continuing to operate in-house the way we see best,” Massey said.
When it comes to a host of issues the district faces, Massey returns to the same core questions: What are the community’s values? And how can the school district reflect those?
Massey sees the district trustees as an extension of the community’s values because that’s who voters elected.
“I’ve had the value for a long time that public schools are the reflection of the community that I serve,” Massey said. “I really view it as my role to work with them and be the best possible translator that I can be so that they really understand what’s going on in the district.”
