In The News: Despite transition, NHS off to strong start

Efforts to unify the staff and work collaboratively in long-term planning have teachers and administrators in high spirits

Although it has been a year since Newberg High School began the transition away from small schools and toward a comprehensive format, the 2015-2016 school year still promises to be full of change.

The addition of assistant superintendent Dave Parker as interim principal could have been seen as a complication to the process of establishing school-wide systems to replace those used in small schools, but it seems the opposite had been the case so far.

Mirroring the success the Newberg Nation effort had in unifying the study body a year ago, there is a collaborative spirit amid the staff and administration, contributing to what Parker is characterizing as an excellent start to the school year.

“There’s a good vibe in the school with staff and the kids are doing a great job,” Parker said. “There are always a few people who are struggling, but by and large, it’s been a pretty positive opening, so I’m happy with our progress.”

Parker is working on the bones of a school improvement plan for the year, but said the most important work so far has been bringing teachers and administrators together for conversations about long-term planning.

“That’s really been our opening challenge, to do a lot of talking and a lot of listening,” Parker said. “It sounds like little small work, but it’s actually some of the most important work we’re doing right now. It’s coming along well and it should pay off well for us down the road.”

In a broader sense, he hopes to unify the staff under a common vision of what great instruction looks like.

To that end, Parker is reinstating a school-wide site council, the functions of which were handled at the small-school level previously, and organizing a leadership instruction team to implement the council’s initiatives.

Building off the cooperative spirit in which the last year’s union contracts were crafted, and which Parker played a big role, the staff has reacted positively to the approach.

Newberg Education Association president and NHS teacher Gail Grobey pointed to the meeting Parker held calling for teachers to participate in the site council and instructional leadership team as a great example, saying it was an excellent brainstorming session.

“It’s not being dictated from above,” Grobey said. “These are ideas that we are being invited into to contribute our understanding of what works best for the whole of the building. That’s totally new. Usually, you’re just told, ‘This is what it is.’ Now we’re being asked, ‘What should it be?’ That’s an incredibly empowering and positive conversation to have with your administration.”

Grobey added that teachers across the district are having a similar experience and that beginning on such a positive note will make the systems the school decides on and implements that much better.

“I believe we really have this different sense of community and we’re all in this together,” Grobey said. “That’s very positive and it’s going to go all year. We are planning on that.”

Activities director Mark Brown said that the new collaborative atmosphere that Parker has helped foster in the school has resulted in a greater sense of calm in the building and that, despite not understanding all of the organizational changes that are being made behind the scenes, students have picked up on that.

He has also been pleased to see the positive momentum of the Newberg Nation movement continue into this year.

Brown has added a few touches to the student experience at football games, including the team’s seniors carrying a huge Newberg Nation flag onto the field before the game and the student body forming a tunnel through which the players re-enter the field after halftime.

“It was a really cool scene, watching it all unfold,” Brown said. “At first, I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work, but it was awesome and I think people got excited by it.”

Brown lauded Superintendent Kym LeBlanc-Esparza for appointing Parker as interim principal, saying she couldn’t have made a better decision, in part, because he was already a Newberg face, so people were already familiar with him.

“He knows what we’ve been doing because he’s been at the very front end of all the changes and initiative,” Brown said. “Also, who he is as a person, people trust and respect him, so sending in someone the staff already had confidence in has been a huge factor. It’s definitely been a strong and positive move by the district.”

Assistant principal and athletic director Tim Burke says Parker has brought the same energy and enthusiasm to the administrative team, never making him feel as though he works for Parker, but rather with him.

He also noted that he hasn’t seen a single staff member who hasn’t handled all of the transitions so far this year with class, which has made it “fun to come to work.”

“They are positive and upbeat,” Burke said. “They usually are, but there’s just a positive flow going and that is Dave Parker. He kind of exudes that.”

Written by: Seth Gordon; Newberg Graphic