Laramie High School AD Takes Transportation Position

In a strange twist of events, as of Wednesday, Laramie High School no longer has a full-time Athletic Director. Former LHS AD Jeff Lewis was asked and has accepted a move to be the Albany County School District Director of Transportation. The move was made at the request of Superintendent Dr. Brian Recht. Lewis began his new position Wednesday, while current Laramie High School Principal Kim Sorenson takes over as the "acting" Athletic Director.

The Transportation position has been open for about two months after Brad Holmes retired earlier this year. The district administration felt there was a need to fill that spot at this time.

Sorenson told Townsquare Media in an interview Wednesday afternoon, it is extremely rare for someone to transfer from one administrative position to another, but it happens. Sorenson said, "In fact, the last person to do that was 18 years ago, and it was me. I was the AD here, and I took over under some incredible circumstances as the principal at Linford Elementary."

According to Sorenson, thanks to Lewis' hard work, not much needs to be done at present time. How well things are already scheduled out and ready to go is a credit to Jeff Lewis and our staff. Sorenson even stated that a lot of next school year is already laid out.

"It's definitely a change of pace for me," said Lewis. The big thing was the call from the Superintendent. "Dr. Recht called me in his office and laid out that they really needed somebody to step in to that position, take a leadership role, and to try to get things going. It's kind of hard to say no to the Superintendent, when the district needs you in a certain position, and you go for it."

As for the timing, Lewis knows it's strange, but admitted that's just the weird world of education, where certain positions open and are critical for the district, and there's really no timeline for something like this. Lewis said, "Dr. Recht thought that was a position that would best serve the district, and he feels pretty confident Kim (Sorenson) can really get stuff done over at the high school."

"It probably does look strange from the outside," said Sorenson. "I can absolutely tell you it's not a demotion. I've heard that already, and in my mind, that's a ridiculous idea because probably half of our kids are transported through bus transportation. It's an incredible amount of money, a lot of requirements from the federal and state governments and I think there are 60-80 people that work in that area. Clearly all the activities and athletics are involved. This is somebody that can schedule, that has leadership skills, somebody that is smart and somebody that is technical. Jeff's the guy that can do that."

Sorenson also mentioned that this is not a shutdown of the "AD position," and the district will open the position up to applicants when they feel it's the best time.

Sorenson has been meeting with staff and coaches over the past few days, so that everyone is on the same page and nothing slips by them. This will also allow them to take a look at possibly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the position in the future.