Jul. 20—Meet the new face of the Lewiston School District: Superintendent Tim Sperber.
Well, his face isn’t exactly “new” to the Lewiston area. In the past 19 years, Sperber has held administrative posts at Tammany High, Whitman Elementary, Sacajawea Middle and Lewiston High schools. So, his face is more recognizable than most.
“Not everybody can say they’ve been an administrator of preschool through 12th grade, but I can, and it’s shaped me into being a leader of a district … and it’s awesome,” said Sperber, 59, who loves bumping into people whose lives he has touched over two decades. “My grown children refuse to go to Costco with me because it takes two and a half hours.”
Sperber took the top administrative job July 1, replacing Lance Hansen, who left to be Kennewick School District superintendent. In the past two months, the district has also filled 10 other leadership roles, which includes hiring Angela Baldus as assistant superintendent.
Actually, having a recognizable face is a lifelong characteristic for Sperber.
When Sperber’s face really was “new,” folks in the Coeur d’Alene area recognized him as the Ivory Snow baby. You can find Sperber’s strapping young father, Steve, a “rough hands” logger, extolling just how soft Ivory Snow detergent made an adorably smiling Baby Tim’s diapers on YouTube: bit.ly/3TOsy0Y.
“It’s really corny, but yeah, it was really cool because it was filmed in Coeur d’Alene,” Sperber said. The commercial included footage of both of his grandfathers loading a log truck.
Sperber graduated from Coeur d’Alene in 1983, and played football as a tight end at the University of Western Montana in Dillon, Mont. He transferred to the University of Idaho and earned an education degree, as an English teacher. He also has a master’s degree in education administration from Washington State University. He married Michelle, a fellow teacher, in 1989. She is retired and works as a substitute teacher. They have a granddaughter.
Sperber coached football for 30 years — from Colton to Genesee to Lapwai, and beyond — retiring his coach’s whistle in 2020. He and Michelle are in the middle of moving from Genesee to Lewiston.
Over the years, Sperber learned valuable political skills serving as Genesee mayor from 2000 to 2006 and again in an interim capacity in 2016.
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“I learned so much from that job because I was so young and I hadn’t learned to shut my mouth, you know?”
He gained knowledge about how expensive services like sewer and water systems are and how those public services get funded. He also learned to talk with folks who disagree with him and how to create a team “that looked to the future.”
In his first days as superintendent, his immediate goals are simple: keep doing what works.
“I want to be around the kids and see what’s really going on. The kids will tell you what you need to do.”
Sperber is entering the job at a time when the Idaho Legislature has bitten into public education dollars by giving $50 million to kids who go to private and religious schools. Last week, the Trump administration froze $33 million in funds for Idaho schools. And school leaders have been warned to expect 5% cutbacks at the state level next year.
Such daunting politics are not so daunting to Sperber.
“It can be a scary time,” Sperber said. “But it goes back to, is your glass half full or half empty? Mine’s always half-full or overflowing. I always look for the positives, right?”
Sperber will spend a few days in Boise this month working with other school superintendents planning how to be effective advocates for schools during the 2026 legislative session.
If his history is any kind of predictor, Sperber won’t be a new face to policymakers and fellow superintendents for very long.
Ferguson can be reached at dferguson@lmtribune.com.