The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg School Board announced the selection of Garrison Middle Assistant School Principal Mark Pickel as the new District superintendent and elementary school principal on May 1. Pickel has accepted the position and will assume duties July 1, pending successful contract negotiations.

The District held preliminary interviews with four applicants and narrowed the field to two finalist, Pickel and Guy Strot of Kalama, Wash. Each candidate spent a day in the District, meeting with district staff, community members, students and board members, prior to the selection.

School board chair Ross Hamann said Pickel had the full support of the board.

"I'm very proud of the hard work the board put in to the selection process.  I believe the community would be impressed with the level of examination and care the board members used to arrive at a decision.   After all of the interviews, face-to-face meetings, and review of staff, student, and community input, the board did reach consensus that Mark Pickel was the best choice for our new Superintendent and gained the full support of the board.  The final candidates both provided strong validation as a potential selection, but in the end Mr. Pickel stood out due to his research and understanding of the district challenges and the community makeup," Hamann said.

Pickel said he already considers Waitsburg home. He and his wife of 25 years, Kathy, make their home on Lewis Peak, outside Waitsburg. Mark is active in the Waitsburg Lions Club and the couple attends St. Mark's Parish in Waitsburg. Both were active in the Waitsburg Commercial until meetings were moved to the evenings and they were unable to attend.

The couple has two sons. The oldest attends Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont. and the youngest is a senior at Wa-Hi and attends Running Start. Kathy teaches 7th grade science at John Sager Middle School in College Place, Wash.

Pickel assumed his current position as assistant principal at Garrison Middle School in Walla Walla in 2015. He served as assistant principal/activities director at Walla Walla High School from 2011-2015, was interim CTE director of Walla Walla Public Schools in 2013-14 and was assistant principal/activities director at Kamiakin High School in Kennewick from 2004-2011.

Pickel was born and raised in Kennewick where he graduated from high school in 1980. He attended Spokane Community College before transferring to Dana College in Blaire, Neb. track scholarship.

He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and General Science but said he didn't really have a direction upon graduation and came into education "through the back door." He was approached by the Director of Admission who offered him the position of Admissions Counselor at the college, which he took for one year.

"That's how I fell into education; because we made a lot of home visits . . . It was through that work that I was inspired to go into education because of the connections I was making with families and students. Knowing that I was helping a student with a choice to further their career after high school was fun, exciting, energetic – I liked it and it felt comfortable," Pickel said.

Pickel returned to Dana College where he completed his teacher certification in 1988. He would later receive a Master of Science in Environmental Science from WSU in 2000, and complete his principal certification coursework through Heritage University in Toppenish, Wash. in 2003.

After earning his teaching credentials, he returned to Kennewick High School, his alma mater, where he taught high school math for 14 years.

Pickel said he and Kathy both love small towns and they decided, as a family that he should pursue a position at Walla Walla High School when it opened up.

"Every time we drove through Waitsburg it felt magical. When we found this house on Lewis Peak, we didn't realize our physical address would be Waitsburg . . . We fell in love with the view, the house, and living in the country. Seven years later, we're still there and I still love it. It's still surreal every time I drive home," he said.

Aside for his love of the community of Waitsburg, Pickel said he applied for the position as District superintendent because he felt the role of superintendent is an excellent way to have maximum positive impact.

"When you teach, there is something that gets under your skin that you want kids to succeed and you want to impact their lives. But as an administrator, you not only impact the lives of students, you really hope and aspire to support the teachers that are working with the kids, so you take it up one more level," he said.

Pickel said he always knew he wanted to be a superintendent or building principal in a smaller district.

"My heart and my soul are in the small town. There's something about a small town and being able to have an impact on not only the kids, the staff and the building , but to have a positive impact on the community because the school system is the life blood of the community in a small town. They're our future, they're our legacy," he said.

"The people that are in small towns believe in their communities, they love their community, warts and all. They are salt-of-the-earth people and we feel very at-home," he added.

Pickel said he is most looking forward to working with Waitsburg staff, students and families to help Waitsburg move kids in a positive direction, helping students grow academically, socially and emotionally.

He describes his leadership style as "collaborative" and said he plans to sit down with the school board and staff to find out where the District is, what they want to do, and plan out how they will get there.

"I believe in the power of getting the people that need to be at the table, at the table, and coming up with a plan together. There are going to be decisions that will have to be made that we may not be able to collaborate on, but I'm big on no surprises. I want to be as transparent as possible," he said.

Pickel said that recent legislation negatively affecting the budget, along with declining enrollment are top concerns for the District.

"It's going to mean brainstorming. We've got to figure out something. And we are not alone in this. It's heartbreaking is what it is," he said.

Pickel said that during his conversations with the students, they repeatedly brought up concerns about the Dayton-Waitsburg athletic combine. He said that students involved in sports overwhelmingly agreed that both the Dayton and Waitsburg students liked the combine.

"It comes down to this - they just want to be able to participate. They want to be able to play. We need to figure this out and give them the opportunity to play," he said.

Pickel will officially assume superintendent duties on July 1 but hasn't hesitated to jump right in. He manned a booth at last Friday's Home and School Association Carnival and has plans to sit in on meetings with the school board and superintendent Mishra regarding funding and budget.

Current Waitsburg School District Superintendent Dr. Jon Mishra has accepted a position with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Olympia as Director of Title I and Learning Assistance Program.