Former principal returns to Jewell

Published 1:00 pm Monday, February 10, 2025

Jewell School’s new interim principal is a familiar face.

After a month marked by administrative turnover, the district has hired Mike Scott to serve as an administrator for the remainder of the school year.

Scott has decades of experience at schools across Montana, Oregon and Washington, including a three-year stint as the principal in Jewell from 2013 to 2016. He recently retired from a school in Raymond, Washington — but when he learned of Jewell’s search for an administrator, he quickly reached out to interim superintendent Cory Pederson to see how he could help.

“My heart is in Jewell,” he said. “I absolutely loved being there and the teachers and the kids, the parents.”

Scott is returning to the small rural school with a host of challenges in front of him. Over the past two decades, the district has struggled to maintain consistent leadership, cycling through well over a dozen administrators. In December, George Scott, the school’s former principal, resigned amid outcry from parents over an an alleged incident of sexual abuse that led to a teenage student being taken into custody by the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Department.

In addition to a criminal investigation, the school board has committed to a third-party investigation. The district has also set new safety policies, including requirements for hall passes, separate bathroom areas for different grade levels and locking the school’s main doors.

“The highest priority I have is safety, so keeping all of the enhanced procedures that were put in place after this incident happened is absolutely my number one priority, and being visible, just talking with kids, talking with teachers,” Scott said.

In addition to focusing on safety, Scott is helping choose a state-approved, scientifically proven reading series for the school’s literacy curriculum. He’s also working with staff on professional development around the district’s discipline system and its use of a schoolwide information system to address student behavior.

His goal is to identify individual student needs and work with staff to support those needs.

“It isn’t just about discipline as far as, you know, punishing kids for doing things that are against the rules, but how can we better support our kids and to understand what they’re going through and then come together as a staff to really staff them, the kids?” he said.

Pederson, the district’s interim superintendent, said the transition has been overwhelmingly positive so far.

“It’s been nothing but a source of wonder for everybody, a sense of positivity, good culture and climate around him,” he said.

Some aspects of the timeline for hiring a permanent principal are still in flux, Pederson said, but the hope is to begin the search process in March and hire someone by July. The search will include Pederson, Scott and members of the Jewell Education Association and Oregon School Employees Association.

Scott said consistent leadership is among the biggest challenges he sees for Jewell School. When he thinks about the ideal candidate for a permanent principal role, he said he envisions someone who’s committed to investing in the school and community.

In the meantime, he’s excited to help move things in the right direction.

“It is a challenge, but I am so vested in the school,” Scott said. “I mean, I just jumped to the chance to do it, knowing who our teachers are, knowing who our kids are, knowing their needs, and being able to be of assistance to Cory.”