By Kristine Thomas
Dandy Parsons is looking forward to working with middle school students again.
“My first four years of teaching was in middle school,” Parsons said. “They have tremendous enthusiasm and the emotional and social development at this point in their lives is really amazing.”
Parsons was chosen as the new principal for Mark Twain Middle School. She begins on July 1, replacing Les Keele who is retiring.
Parsons is excited to work with Mark Twain’s staff, which she described as having “a lot of passion for their school and students.”
Silver Falls School District Superintendent Andy Bellando said 41 people applied for the job.
“Dandy brings extensive experiences to this position, especially in the area of school improvement,” Bellando said, adding Parsons is a member of the Willamette Curriculum Coalition and is sought after on regional and state levels for her expertise in curriculum and instruction.
Parsons has been an assistant principal at Silverton High School since 2004. Prior to that she was an administrator for the Salem-Keizer School District, a high school teacher in the Gervais School District and a middle school teacher in Guam and Honduras.
After seven years as a vice principal at Silverton High, Parsons said she felt it was a natural step to move into a principal position.
“I have worked in curriculum for five years and feel like we have really taken some innovative steps regarding student achievement and meeting new graduation requirements,” Parson said. “My curriculum experience will be helpful at Mark Twain as well as the knowledge regarding what skill sets students will need in order to be successful at the high school level.”
Bellando said he and Silverton High Principal Mark Hannan will be responsible for hiring a new vice principal responsible for the curriculum.
Parsons said there never is a perfect time to leave one job for another.
“I think a good administrator is always seeking to improve upon the systems in place in order to provide students with the best educational opportunities,” said. “I could always say ‘I don’t want to leave now because I want to see how it turns out.’ And so while we have created some new programs and approaches, I don’t necessarily have to be in the building for those to continue.”
Parsons said the majority of Mark Twain’s students are making consistent and measurable gains each year for the federal benchmarks.
“The staff has really worked hard this year and are holding high academic standards for all the students,” Parsons said. “I enjoy working with the experts on staff to address our educational strengths and weaknesses and at the same time, I also stress to students that they must be active in their education. I know the direction the district is going and have already established a lot of relationships with staff so I think that will make the transition a little easier.”
“Hopefully what I am able to help facilitate at the middle school level will have a positive impact on the high school,” she added.
