ST. MARIES - When Joe Kren looked at the St. Maries school superintendent's job, he saw a natural progression for he and his family.

Kren, who has been the superintendent at Potlatch for the past five years, was recently named the superintendent at St. Maries.

On July 1, Kren will replace the retiring Dave Cox, who has been at St. Maries for 29 years, including 19 as superintendent.

"It provides different challenges and an opportunity to work for a bigger school district," Kren said of his decision.

Potlatch has about 450 students, while St. Maries has about 1,100.

"Potlatch is an amazing community and district, but at the same time I'm excited about working with the patrons and school board in St. Maries," Kren said. "We wanted to stay in North Idaho, so the proximity is great and St. Maries has everything we enjoy doing."

Cox said his final days at St. Maries have been bittersweet.

"It is difficult thinking about leaving our wonderful staff and students," he said.

Kren said he has big shoes to fill.

"Dave has pulled that community together," Kren said. "It's a very tight working group of people, and I look forward to being a part of that."

Prior to his stint at Potlatch, Kren, 48, was the superintendent and K-12 principal for three years at the North Gem School District, which has about 220 students in southeast Idaho near Soda Springs. He also served in a variety of positions for the Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind in Gooding for 17 years.

Kren said he's most proud of the improving reading and math scores at Potlatch, which increased from 75 percent proficiency to more than 90 percent during the time he was there.

Kren said the biggest challenge at St. Maries will be implementing new education reform laws.

"I'll have to make some very difficult decisions, but those will come on the heels of input by all," he said. "I'll work hard to gather people's input and make informed decisions as much as possible."