Mark Anderson dedicated more than 50 years to public education, but when asked to explain what a school administrator really does, he doesn't mention budgets, buildings, labor contracts, school boards, or bond issues.

He talks about ministry.

“To administer,” Anderson says, “is to serve others like a minister.”

Not in a clerical sense, he went on, but in the older meaning as in tending to the needs of others. 

That sentiment, more than anything else, speaks of Anderson's values and his devotion to serving students, teachers, parents, staff, taxpayers, and the Spokane community at large.

Since retiring as an associate superintendent for Spokane Public Schools in 2021, Anderson has continued to serve as a senior adviser to the superintendent’s leadership team. On top of that, he works with ThoughtExchange, an organization that helps school administrators across the United States and Canada better engage with their respective communities. 

“Retirement for me is continuing to serve,” Anderson says. “I’ve always been wired more toward living to work than working to live.” 

Anderson originally studied music at Seattle Pacific University with the hopes of becoming a professional musician. That is, until he realized most of the musicians he knew were broke or working odd jobs just to get by. Teaching, he decided, might be a better choice.

His first job was teaching third grade in Lake Chelan. That early classroom experience put him face-to-face with children, parents, staff, and the community. It taught him the practical realities of those affected by education policy.

From there, he moved through a variety of leadership positions before eventually becoming an associate superintendent for Spokane Public Schools.

With each step, Anderson refined an approach to leadership that seems deceptively simple: listen carefully, understand what matters to people, and look for common interests.  

Over time, he developed the unique ability to bridge gaps between groups that can easily find themselves at odds: school administrators and city officials, public agencies and private partners, administrators and teachers, contractors and taxpayers, business organizations and neighborhood associations.

When asked how he learned to speak all those different "languages," Anderson went back to his years as chief negotiator for Spokane Public Schools.

To negotiate successfully, he learned to get beyond surface-level issues and to focus on what’s important. 

What does a person, organization, or municipality want to achieve? What concerns them? What are they afraid of? What is getting in the way? What outcome serves not only their interests, but the broader community? 

The real work, he says, “is learning those interests and then searching for practical solutions to address them.” 

“If you present yourself in a position of authority, or the first word out of your mouth is no, then you’re not going to get anywhere,” Anderson says.

But if people genuinely believe you are interested in what’s happening in their classroom, their building, their lives, or their community, they begin to open up.

Anderson is not nonchalant about conflict. In many ways, it’s been the center of his professional life. He has worked through budget cuts, labor negotiations, school boundary disputes, pandemic closures, controversial faculty decisions, and bond measures.

Helping competing factions find common ground is a rare skill. Doing it repeatedly, over decades, borders on an art form.

In getting there, Anderson learned that even his natural, warm demeanor sometimes needs adjusting. 

Early in his career, while he was observing a budget-cut interview with the media, a communications staffer suggested he might want to smile less when talking to the press about cuts. 

Anderson took the advice. 

“The right demeanor matters,” he says.  

In 2018, Spokane Public Schools and the City of Spokane collaborated on a library initiative that enabled public entities to share land, coordinate projects, and avoid asking taxpayers to effectively pay for the same type of asset twice.

As a result, schools and libraries were built together. Students gained access, the public got a new library, politicians acquiesced, and taxpayers saved a lot of money. 

For Anderson, cooperation is not complicated. It’s how you get things done — a lot of things.

The public responds well when government entities work together and achieve more through cooperation than any single interest could do alone.

He describes a similar approach through the Together Spokane initiative, which involves Spokane Public Schools and city parks. 

By coordinating projects, maintenance, scheduling, and shared community use, Anderson says they were able to complete 30 more projects — yes, 30 — than they could have completed separately for the same cost.

But Anderson's point is not merely financial. 

Facilities that are used more often, by more people, for more hours each day can strengthen a community. Gyms, fields, libraries, and stadiums can pull people out of their houses and away from their screens. Children, families, and seniors can enjoy quality time together. 

A public building can become more than a building. It can become a place where communities gather, and people come together.

That philosophy also helped shape ONE Spokane Stadium, a project Anderson calls one of the most controversial of his career.

The stadium, as Anderson explains it, was about practicality.

The stadium could serve as a central location to serve students from all five high schools. Partnering with the Public Facilities District meant experts in large-event operations could run the venue. Over time, the district could save substantial operating costs, allowing more money to remain available for student programs. 

At the same time, the stadium could host professional sports, concerts, and community events while supporting restaurants and other downtown businesses.

To skeptics, Anderson's answer today is simple: “The proof's in the results.”

Attendance is up. Student bodies are benefiting from ticket sales. The district is saving money. And, the facility is being used in ways the old model could not support.

The point was not to win an argument. The point was to serve students, taxpayers, and the community while addressing the competing interests around the table.

When asked about his legacy, Anderson says others may think of him as “the bond guy” — the administrator who helped pass bond measures and bring major improvements to Spokane Public Schools.

That’s good. But, he hopes they remember his passion for public schools. Then he went a little deeper, saying his real legacy is relationships. Relationships with the Education Association, the school boards, administrators, public partners, business leaders, and the broader community. Relationships that made the improbable achievable. Relationships that, he hopes, others will emulate and carry forward.

Near the end of our conversation, I asked what one lesson readers should take from his life.

“Think of others before you think of yourself,” Anderson says. “Serving others is more important than trying to get ahead for yourself.”

It is an old truth. The kind parents try to instill in their children. The kind good organizations are built upon. The kind strong communities depend on.

The buildings will stand. The stadium will host games. The libraries will welcome students. The fields and gyms will fill with children and families. But behind all of that is something less visible and more important: a man who understood administration as ministry, leadership as listening, and public work as being present and giving back.

Kevin Spafford, CFP, is a partner adviser with Allworth Financial in Spokane. He is available at the office: (509) 624-5929; by cell: (530) 966-5560; or by email: [email protected].