Document text
Jackson ESD hires new chief Price will retire after 23 years The superintendent of a small, central Washington school district will take over as chief of the Jackson Education Service District, a program that reaches 52,000 students in five counties. Joe Crowder, 51, of Cashmere, Wash., will replace the ESD's longtime head, Shelby Price. Crowder will be paid $95,000 a year under a two-year contract. Price is retiring at the end of the school year, after 23 years as the Jackson ESD superintendent. Price says he and his wife have no grand retirement plans: "We'll kind of figure it out as we go along." Mostly, he says, he's looking forward to having the free time to spend at home in rural Talent. He'll be leaving a job that he still enjoys. "I love to go to work in the morning," Price says. Crowder, who has spent the last three years in central Washington, says he is looking forward to moving back into a larger school system. He came from a 15,000-student district in Oklahoma. He also says he and his wife are looking forward to the cultural opportunities in the region. Crowder says he was attracted to the Jackson ESD position primarily because of the district's efforts in special education and applying technology to the classroom. For instance, because of the ESD's leadership efforts, it has become the statewide hub for a new interactive video education project. Meanwhile, staff provide a variety of specialized services to students who have special educational needs, including students who are deaf, blind, autistic and severely physically impaired. The ESD screens and treats students for disabilities such as hearing impairments that can hinder learning. The district also provides training and continuing education programs for teachers. Crowder says he is looking forward to "continuing, maintaining and enhancing" those programs. He says he regrets moving into a position that will take him farther away from kids, but plans on making special efforts as he visits districts to check in with students as well. The ESD serves 13 school districts in Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake and Douglas counties. In each instance, Price says, the ESD provides the services local students need but the local school system cannot afford. Price has spent the better part of his career at the Jackson ESD, guiding the special district's growth and change since 1976. He began his career in 1958 teaching English science and math to seventh-graders. He later taught high school history. For the future, Price predicts a greater demand for teacher training, and sees much of the responsibility for schooling teachers falling to the state's ESDs. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA