Dear Beverly Cleary community, 

I am pleased to announce that Rebecca Presley will be the new principal at Beverly Cleary K-8. Principal Presley comes to PPS from Glendale, Arizona, where she served first as the assistant principal and then principal at William C. Jack Elementary School. Under her leadership, Rebecca helped implement guiding coalition meetings to focus on strategic goals, hired and retained diverse staff to foster an inclusive and welcoming community, and developed multi-tiered systems of support across grade levels and programs.

Dear Colleagues, 

I am pleased to announce that Dr. James Crawford will serve as the new Interim Senior Director of High School Core Academics. Dr. Crawford is replacing Aurora Hymel, who is transitioning to the newly designed role, Director of Career and Technical Education (CTE), Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB).

Dr. Crawford comes to PPS from Federal Way Public Schools, where he served as the Chief Academic Officer and Assistant Superintendent. Under Dr. Crawford’s leadership Federal Way Public Schools developed an extensive list of new innovative programming, including K-12 Math and English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum guides, Bright Futures Early Learning Program, and a Pre-Apprentice Program.

Dear PPS Community, 

I am delighted to announce Dawn Gillis as the new Director of Professional Learning and Leadership Programs in Portland Public Schools. Dawn relocated to Portland from Alabama where she served in various roles for 26 years. While in Alabama, Ms. Gillis promoted the critical role of data-driven instructional leadership in radically improving educational outcomes for all children. Ms. Gillis inspired educational leadership reform by partnering with the South Alabama Regional Inservice Center and the University of South Alabama College of Education and Professional Studies to offer an ongoing professional study to build the South Alabama Instructional Leadership System (SAILS). This collaborative effort was designed to cultivate instructional leadership capacity across South Alabama through leadership development opportunities for aspiring leaders, assistant principals, principals, directors, and superintendents.

Dear PPS Community,                                                        

I am pleased to announce Christyn McCloskey as the new Secondary Schools Area Senior Director with a focus on Middle Schools and Dual Language Immersion programs.  Christyn returns to Portland from the Houston Independent School District in Texas where she was Principal of Stevenson Middle School serving historically underserved student populations.  While there, Ms. McCloskey prioritized the social and emotional learning of all students while continuing to drive student results through engaging, data-informed, and culturally-affirming instruction. Ms. McCloskey supported the growth of her staff through leadership development programs, building strong systems that encourage employee retention, and creating learning and development programs for all campus personnel.