Today, Adam serves as Assistant Superintendent at Eastern Hancock Schools, a district of approximately 1,200 students and 180 employees. In a smaller district, the role is broad and deeply operational — overseeing transportation, food service, facilities, IT, and finance — with a strong emphasis on leadership, people, and systems rather than day-to-day bookkeeping.
Adam’s perspective blends fiscal discipline from banking with a practical, mission-driven approach to education. He’s realistic about what a smaller district can and can’t afford, but equally clear-eyed about the advantages of agility — the ability to move quickly, pilot ideas, and innovate in ways larger systems often cannot.
Outside of school leadership, Adam’s life looks very different from a balance sheet. When he goes home, he puts on his boots and heads to the barn. His family is deeply involved in 4-H, raising livestock — including pigs, sheep, cattle, and bees. It’s not uncommon for Adam to end his day talking to a newborn lamb, a reminder that leadership, patience, and stewardship take many forms.
The responses below are written in Adam’s own voice and reflect his first-person perspective.
Coming from banking, the first thing I had to do was understand where the dollars were going. I spent the better part of two years learning school finance — how money flows, how we’re required to track it, and whether we’re truly being good stewards of public funds.
Early on, we were operating in a deficit, and I brought a very efficiency-focused mindset with me. In banking, margins are tight, and discipline matters. We worked hard to stabilize our finances, build efficiencies, and put ourselves in a good position.
Now that we’ve done that, my role has shifted. I’m less in the weeds and more focused on leadership -- thinking ahead about how we make Eastern Hancock a better place for kids and staff.
I don’t see finance as separate from transportation, food service, or facilities. We’re all here for the same reason -- to serve students and support staff.
From a budgetary perspective, our job is to reflect the district's priorities. What matters to the school board? To the superintendent? To principals and department leaders? Then we take the dollars we have and put them to work in the best way possible to support those priorities.
Finance isn’t about saying no. It’s about aligning resources so the district can be a place where people want to work and kids can thrive.
Clear workflows and communication. People need to know what they’re responsible for and feel confident that their work isn’t being duplicated or wasted.
I try to keep open lines of communication and have regular check-ins with the leaders who report to me. We talk about what’s going well, what systems are creating friction, and where we can make things easier or more efficient.
If we can align around systems that improve people’s jobs, efficiency follows naturally.
We’re very practical. We can’t afford to chase every new technology or idea, and we don’t want to complicate things just to say we tried something new.
That said, being a smaller district gives us an advantage. We like to say we’re a rowboat surrounded by cruise ships. We can pivot quickly, pilot ideas, and adjust course faster than larger districts.
When someone brings us an idea, we listen. We involve stakeholders early and ask, “What are we missing? How will this affect your job? Is the return worth the investment?” We want innovation, but it has to be thoughtful and serve most people well.
You can have all the right systems in place, but if you don’t have the right people, it doesn’t work. Trust, shared mission, and strong relationships matter.
And you can’t do this alone. School finance is too complex. Surround yourself with good partners — software providers, advisors, attorneys, peers, and state resources. Most of the time, someone else has already faced the challenge you’re dealing with.
Build a network you trust, ask questions early, and be willing to learn as you go.
Reliability and responsiveness matter. Partners need to understand school finance and school operations, but they also need to understand why we’re here — to serve kids and communities.
If someone is willing to come alongside us, support our mission, and stick with us when things get complicated, that's the partner we want for the long haul.
Our Micro School initiative is a great example of how a small district can innovate. We recognized a growing population of families who don’t feel fully served by traditional education or homeschooling and asked if there was a way to meet them in the middle.
We opened our first Micro School with 62 students and quickly built a waiting list of more than 70. The goal is individualized learning in a smaller environment, and demand has been incredible.
We moved fast -- from approval to opening in about 45 days -- and learned a lot along the way. It’s not without risk, but it’s exciting. It shows what’s possible when you’re willing to move like a small boat, adapt quickly, and stay focused on serving students in new ways.
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