Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic

Kyle Laier, Newberg High School's third lead principal in as many years, is focused on relationships in his first year

Forty-eight. That’s the percentage of Newberg High School students who responded that they felt somebody at the school cared about them in a survey conducted near the end of the 2015-2016 school year.

It’s the number that stuck out most when new principal Kyle Laier dug into all the data about NHS and was also firmly stuck in his mind as he drove from the district office to the school during one of the twice-weekly visits he made to Newberg after being hired last spring.

He was a bit taken aback to see it on the reader board in the main hallway when he entered the building, but that feeling quickly transformed into one of affirmation as he has made ensuring that all students have a positive relationship with an adult at the school the No. 1 priority in his first year on the job.

“I hadn’t talked to anybody about that data,” Laier said. “Tim Burke, our athletic director, was looking at the data, too, and that’s what struck a chord with him, so he just threw it up on the reader board. He didn’t tell anybody about it. It was at that point that I said that’s our focus for this next year. It hit me.”

If that’s the only thing you know about Laier it’s a pretty good start because he says believing in kids and getting the staff to work together are the two most important aspects of operating a successful school.

The number Laier wants to post on the reader board when the survey results come in next spring is also telling when it comes to Laier, as high expectations are baked into his personality and leadership style.

Admittedly, he says he was being cute when he first proposed 84 percent, but after superintendent Kym LeBlanc-Esparza suggested 90, Laier settled on 95.

“I want it to be 100, but in our first year we’re going to push for that big number,” Laier said.

Laier also believes “100 percent” that the staff cares for students, but clearly that hasn’t been getting through, so the plan is to work together to change practices so that it will.

“It’s not that people don’t care,” Laier said. “It’s that we’re not doing things that show kids that. There are some things missing that we’re all capable of. We just have to refocus.”

Despite the instability in leadership at NHS over the past three years, during which the school switched from the small-school model to a comprehensive format then had a new principal the past two school years, Laier is convinced Newberg can improve dramatically. That confidence is another aspect of Laier’s personality that students and staff are sure to become familiar with when school begins Sept. 6.

Based on his past experiences, Laier believes he has good reason to be confident.

After graduating from the University of Portland in 1999, the Longview, Wash., native taught economics and coached girls basketball at a startup high school in Desert Hot Springs, California.

He saw how high expectations were a key component in the leadership of his mentor, principal Dan Kenley, who built the town’s first-ever high school into a quick success, as it boasts an 86 percent graduation rate.

The experience was quite formative when it comes to Laier’s perspective on tackling some of the traditional obstacles in education, as the town struggled with a major crime problem at school and 86 percent of students were on free and reduced lunch.

Laier is honest and upfront and he knows some people may find his communication style abrupt or even blunt, but he admires and tries to emulate how Kenley approached each conversation “with a kind heart.”

“He worried more about the results with kids than he did about the adults,” Laier said. “We are the professionals, so at the end of the day, if there are truths that we need to talk about, then we need to talk about them. We do it kindly, we do it professionally and we do it collaboratively, but at the end of the day the most important thing is are we having the impact we need to have on those students? So you always knew that with him.”

Burke said Laier has a clear vision and is intent to implement it, but appreciates how he’s already demonstrated that he will take input first.

“I will never say I’m excited to have a new principal because we’ve done that way too many much, obviously, but I am excited this is the guy going forward,” Burke said. “It is a good fit. He’s energetic and he’s focused. He’s got a good sense of humor, which you’re going to need in this job.”

After four years in California, Laier moved to Oregon to become associate head coach of the women’s basketball team at Warner Pacific College. Six months later he was hired at Ogden Middle School in Oregon City.

He later decided to stop coaching and pursue a career as an administrator, attending a tailored 1-year master’s program at the University of Portland. Laier had been at Ogden for four and a half years when he was hired by the Oregon City as principal of King Elementary, which he helped achieve a ranking among the top 5 percent in the state before the school district reorganized and closed the school.

He has spent the past four years at the Clackamas Academy of Industrial Sciences (CAIS), a charter school that was founded two years before he arrived and partners with Clackamas Community College to focuses on career and technical education (CTE), especially in trades and manufacturing.

He believes that the school is a year or two away from reaching the level where it could become a national model, but he was ready for his next challenge, which he saw as replicating that success with CTE at a comprehensive high school.

Laier was drawn to Newberg because it already has begun putting resources into CTE and because of relationships with companies here, like A-dec Inc., that he developed while at CAIS.

He says NHS has many things working in its favor, including strong programs that are already in place and great community support, so it’s just a matter of getting the staff to work together.

“I really believe there is a critical mass of people that are ready to make this place an outstanding school,” Laier said. “We’re not right there right now, but I think we have a lot of the right people on the boat. We just need to empower them as a team to create those great things for our students and get focused back on the kids.”