The Upper Columbia Conference executive committee voted to invite Becky Barts to serve as associate superintendent of education. Barts, who is currently a teacher at the Spokane Valley (Wash.) Adventist School, has accepted the invitation and will begin her new responsibilities this summer. She will replace longtime associate superintendent Sharon Searson, who is retiring at the end of the school year.
Barts has more than 30 years teaching experience in grades K–9, which includes 20 years of Adventist church school instruction, seven years of public school and special education teaching, a year as a principal and two years as a parent educator. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics education and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich. She has also taken graduate work in special education and supervision of teachers.
"We feel very blessed that Becky has agreed to fill this position," says Larry Marsh, Upper Columbia Conference vice president for education. "We have spent a lot of time searching for the right person to fill this vital position. Sharon Searson will be greatly missed for her faithfulness and dedication to the teachers and students of this conference after she retires, but we believe that the Lord has led us to the right person to take her place."
Barts says her passion for education has three facets: "teaching service to others, connecting children with Jesus and making sure that every student masters basic skills and loves to learn."
Barts and her husband, Dennis, live in the Spokane Valley where Dennis is the CEO of Valley Hospital and Medical Center. When not teaching, she enjoys scrapbooking, reading, walking, snowshoeing and quiet-water kayaking.
Becky Barts accepts the invitation to serve as Upper Columbia Conference associate superintendent of education.
