In The News: Parker named interim principal at NHS

Assistant superintendent will lead high school while district searches for a permanent hire

Having left a few administrative positions unfilled at various times and for various lengths of the past decade, the staff at the Newberg School District has plenty of experience scrambling to manage extra roles and responsibilities.

For example, the district did not have an assistant superintendent from 2009 until 2013, when it hired Dave Parker.

Likewise, the district did not have an administrator dedicated to professional development or teaching and learning until promoting former Newberg High School Yellow School principal Stafford Boyd to that role last year.

With the sudden retirement last week of NHS lead principal Mark Risen due to health issues, the district and high school offices are again in scramble mode, as Parker has been tabbed to lead the high school for the next year while the district searches for a permanent replacement.

“I am committed to strong leadership to continue moving forward to address student success,” Superintendent Kym LeBlanc-Esparza said in a release. “We are sending our best to Newberg High School.”

Parker spent 26 years as a teacher, principal and district administrator, most recently in the Hillsboro School District, prior to joining Newberg two years ago.

He served as principal at Evergreen, Thomas and South Meadow middle schools before rising to director of secondary education for his final two years in Hillsboro.

After spending the past four years in central administration, Parker said he is excited to interact more directly and regularly with students and teachers.

“I’m in every school every two weeks, but it’s not quite the same as actually being in the school, being with the staff, being with students,” Parker said. “It’s a different energy, a different vibe, and I really enjoy being part of the building.”

Risen was one year into his tenure at NHS and had been tasked with leading its transition from a small school model to a comprehensive structure. Parker stressed that he will not settle for the status quo during the next year but rather push for continued growth.

“I don’t feel like we’re going to spin our wheels,” he said. “There are certain things that we need to accomplish and get to.”

Parker added that many of the decisions that have guided that process have already been made and won’t necessarily be revisited. The way in which the school is governed, however, is still changing, he said, and that he plans to facilitate the discussions that will guide that transition moving forward.

He said Risen and the NHS staff’s work in reviving school spirit was excellent and that he and the next long-term leader of the school will be tasked with continuing its growth.

“I’m doing a lot of listening right now,” Parker said. “Everybody else around me knows how the school works and how it goes, so I’m really just trying to catch up on systems.”

Parker will retain some of his assistant superintendent duties, namely in the high-level human resources area, including a continued commitment to build a collaborative relationship with the teachers union, but most of his operational duties will be covered by LeBlanc-Esparza, Boyd and director of assessment and data services Don Staples.

Parker will also receive extra help at the high school, as the district is in the process of hiring an extra assistant principal on a temporary one-year contract.

“The real thing that I want folks to know is that this high school is my priority right now,” Parker said. “Yes, I’m assistant superintendent, but I’ll be there every day. I’ll be walking in classrooms, I’ll be walking the halls and doing supervision. Right now my focus is all on trying to be an effective leader of Newberg High School.”

Written by Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic