Dick Mason

The Observer

Ed Sherman, principal of Pilot Rock High School, says it would be a snap decision, one he’d be delighted to make.

Sherman was asked Wednesday if he is upset about losing his vice principal, Kristen Graber, to Stella Mayfield School in Elgin.

"I’m not happy to see her go. I would hire her back in a heartbeat,” Sherman said.

Graber has been named the new principal of Stella Mayfield School. She succeeds Michael Hyder, who served as principal for five years. Hyder recently left to become principal of Ensworth Elementary in the Bend-LaPine School District.

Graber will oversee 295 students in kindergarten through eighth grade in her new position.

"I’m very excited about it,” she said. "It is a new school and a new community. I can’t wait for the challenge.”

Graber worked at Pilot Rock for six years as a counselor the first three and a counselor and vice principal the last three.

"She is a quick learner, bright, well-educated and works well with kids kids gravitate to her,” Sherman said.

Graber joined the Pilot Rock School District after working for the Homestead Youth Lodge in Pendleton for six years. Homestead is a treatment center for youths who are in the custody of the state. Its staff provides treatment for youths with drug and alcohol problems, sex offenders, those with anger management difficulties and more. Many of Homestead’s residents later moved into the Pendleton School District, a transition Graber oversaw.

Working at Homestead honed Graber’s skills as an educator and her understanding of the challenges youths from broken homes face.

"It gave me a wider perspective of what kids deal with day to day,” Graber said, noting that many youths at Homestead are from dysfunctional families.

She also said the experience improved her ability to discipline fairly.

Graber is a 1986 graduate of Pendleton High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree from EOU in psychology and a master’s in school counseling from Walla Walla College in College Place, Wash. Graber earned her administrative credentials from Lewis and Clark College in Portland.

One reason Graber applied for the Stella Mayfield position is that the Elgin School District is similar in size to Pilot Rock’s. The Elgin district has about 425 students. Pilot Rock has 400.

"I like small schools,” Graber said.

She believes it is easier for students to make connections with teachers and staff at small schools. "This is why small schools are so successful,” she said.

The educator likes being able to walk down the hall of a school and know something about every student.

"I want to know if they are successful or happy or have problems I can help them with,” she said.

Graber and her husband, Mike, who works at the Riverbend Youth Correctional Facility, have two daughters. The oldest is entering the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing at EOU, and the youngest will be a first-grader at Stella Mayfield this fall.