Career switch

Jerry Mayes is starting his third month as title programs director in the La Grande School District. Mayes took the position after teaching middle school and high school science in the district for 20 years. DICK MASON / The Observer

Longtime science teacher at La Grande School District takes administrative post

Pick a science class, any science course taught at La Grande Middle School or La Grande High School in the past 20 years.

Odds are that Jerry Mayes once was its teacher.

?I?ve taught just about every science class imaginable,?? Mayes said, citing courses ranging from chemistry to environmental science and physics.

Mayes no longer can be found in a science classroom, however. For the first time in three decades a periodic table of elements chart is not on the wall where Mayes works.

He is making a career switch, moving from the classroom to an administrative position in the La Grande School District. Mayes is beginning his third month as the new title programs director for the district. The title programs director is in charge of the teachers and teacher aides in the district paid for with Title I federal funds. Title I teachers serve students who need extra help but do not qualify for special education programs.

Mayes is also in charge of district staff development programs paid for with federal funds.

The educator said his first two months at his new job have been hectic. Still the added stress is not costing him his trademark self-effacing wit.

?I?m waiting for a 25-hour day to be created so I can get everything done that I?m supposed to in eight hours,?? Mayes said.

?At the end of the day I always have something left to do.??

Mayes is actually getting up to speed quickly and doing a good job, said Larry Glaze, superintendent.

?He hit the deck running,?? Glaze said.

The superintendent said the extensive classroom experience Mayes has is serving him well since it provides him a good understanding of what teachers need. Glaze particularly likes Mayes? extensive background as a middle school teacher. This provides him an important perspective, Glaze said, noting that relatively few administrators in the district have middle school teaching backgrounds.

Mayes has taught at the middle school level for portions of the past 25 years. He began his education career in the Union School District where he taught middle and high school science and math for 11 years. He joined the La Grande School District in 1991.

Mayes said he will miss teaching but is welcoming the added perspective his new job provides. He enjoys having the chance to see the district from a wider point of view.

?I did not see the big picture and all of the intricacies before,?? Mayes said.

He explained that teachers often get so focused on their students that they often lose sight of the big district picture.

He jokes that he was delightfully unaware of many things before taking his new job.

?I was just a happy ostrich with my head in the sand.??

Mayes is succeeding Martha Frasier as title programs director. Frasier moved from the position to become the district?s special education director.

Mayes, the first in his family to graduate from college, spent a portion of his childhood in the south where his father was a tobacco plantation worker. He later moved to Southern California before coming to La Grande in the 1970s to enroll at EOU where he earned a science education degree. He is now completing the work needed to earn his administrative credentials from Lewis and Clark College.

Mayes and his wife, Suzy, have two grown sons, Eli, who is a La Grande dentist, and Joshua, who is an orthopedic surgeon physicians assistant in Olympia, Wash.

Whether with his family or at work, Jerry Mayes,said he always strives to have a glass-is-half-full perspective.

?Life is too short. It is so easy to get caught up in negativity ... I try to instill a positive attitude in every circumstance I can.??

?

Source: http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/News/Local-News/Career-switch

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