This year at Salish School of Spokane, two new co-executive directors have stepped up to take on leadership roles at the school after longtime executive director LaRae Wiley (Sinixt) transitioned to a new part-time role as elder-linguist and to serve on the organization’s board of directors.
Brea Desautel (Colville Confederated Tribes) and Kim Richards, (Mescalero Apache) started a new chapter in the school’s leadership structure to guide the organization forward as they work closely with staff and handle day-to-day operations.
Both have already been working collaboratively as part of the administrative team for some time, particularly after Wiley experienced an injury in 2023 and they helped fill in while she was recovering.
Wearing many hats at Salish
When Desautel started at the school a couple years ago, she applied for a language trainee position and stepped into a role where she worked in administration, as an intensive language cohort and in the preschool. Essentially, she wore a lot of different hats and worked in several areas of the school…