A rare leadership transition is underway at St. Croix River Education District (SCRED). On Nov. 30 Chris McHugh will retire as the director at with Kim Gibbons assuming that position on Dec. 1. The SCRED Governing Board and Superintendents Operating Committee have been working on this transition for a year. In the last 36 years there have only been four directors at SCRED and its organizational predecessors.

Chris McHugh has worked with area schools in several capacities for 32 years. He started his career as the school psychologist for all of Pine County at a time when there were several additional school sites including schools at Beroun, Sturgeon Lake, Friesland, Askov, Bruno, and Kerrick. During his career he was part of several new initiatives including the development of one of the first Child Protection Teams in Minnesota, the schools' first chemical health policy, the development of the first programs for emotionally disturbed students (called social behavior programs). During this time the Pine County Cooperative under the leadership of former SCRED director Gary Germann developed the first data based decision-making special education system in the country.

In 1990 McHugh worked at North Branch on special assignment as the on site administrator of the Chisago Pine Education District. He assisted Gary Germann with the design and founding of SCRED in 1991 where he served as Unique Learners Manager until assuming the director's role in 1999. His tenure has been marked by the emergence of SCRED as a model demonstration site for best practices in reading and Response to Intervention (RTI). During this time SCRED has received $3.7 million in state legislative appropriations and Minnesota Department of Education grants to provide statewide training through the SCRED hosted Minnesota Reading Center and Minnesota RTI Center. Other new programs started during his time include SCRED's Outcome service, the coordination of the two county collaboratives and most recently SCRED involvement with curriculum review.

Kim Gibbons first came to SCRED 12 years ago as a school psychologist out of the University of Oregon. Her training program was one of the first in the nation to train psychologists on RTI methods. Gibbons was selected to run SCRED's Project IMPACT, a master's degree collaboration with the University of Minnesota. In 1999 she became the special education director for SCRED and during this time she lead SCRED in becoming the first group of schools in Minnesota to use RTI for special education eligibility. Gibbons is the convener of the state RTI delegation to the national RTI Innovations Conference and is considered a national leader in the implementation of RTI. Gibbon's training emphasized instruction and curriculum work.

The SCRED administrative team is rounded out by Jeff Menigo, Unique Learners Manager who works primarily with Pine County schools and Dr. Holly Windram who is assuming Gibbon's role in working with Chisago Lakes and Rush City and in providing overall direction of special education programs.

Following his retirement McHugh will continue on as chairman of Therapeutic Services Agency, Inc. and will be doing volunteer work with the SCRED state-wide RTI Advisory Board, the Minnesota Reading Corps as well as community activities.