ENTERPRISE — A familiar face will take over as superintendent of the Wallowa County Education Service District as Landon Braden steps up from his role as assistant superintendent July 1.

Braden takes over for Rebecca Nordtvedt, who is vacating the post to become superintendent of the Enterprise School District.

“Mr. Braden is experienced with ESDs and has an understanding of the support role Wallowa County ESD plays with our local districts, which was very important to the board,” said Vearl Lewis, ESD board chair, in a press release. “We as a board felt Landon was a good fit because of his current role as assistant superintendent at the ESD. Besides his educational background, Landon also has a financial and business background that will benefit the ESD. Although the board is sad to see Rebecca Nordtvedt leave after seven years of dedicated service to the ESD, we are looking forward to a smooth transition when Landon begins his duties as ESD Superintendent on July 1.”

Educational service districts such as the one in Wallowa County provide regional services to the school districts they serve, particularly in areas that the school districts alone would not be able to adequately and equitably provide. The Wallowa County Education Service District serves four school districts with about 1,000 students.

Braden has experience in a variety of roles within education administration, starting with managing a regional program that facilitated a collaboration between the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Association of Education Service Districts in the InterMountain ESD’s region of service, which includes 26 school districts. Braden then went on to work for the La Grande School District as a dean of students and later became a district director.

A desire to return to Wallowa County landed him the position of interim administrator for Enterprise Elementary School and high school counselor, and later the assistant superintendent of the county ESD.

Before his school administrative career, he was a career and technical education teacher and a special education teacher.

Before working in education, he was in accounting and finance. Braden received his bachelor’s in business management from Eastern Oregon University.

“At that time, I thought I wanted to be a stockbroker, so I got my license with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” Braden said. “That lasted all of about a year before I figured out that job is really boring.”

He also earned a master’s of teaching and a master’s-track special education endorsement from EOU, as well as an educational specialist degree in district administration that included building-level and district-level licensure from Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. He also attended Walla Walla University and Walla Walla Community College.

The brother of former Joseph city administrator/recorder Larry Braden, Landon Braden and his wife, the former Vanessa Johnson, are both alumni of Joseph High School from the early 2000s. They have three children, he said during a September 2021 interview, and numerous family members in the area, including both sets of their parents.

“It’s great for our kids to grow up with cousins around and going to the same school,” he said. “My wife and I have never had the support of our family around. … It’s great — our kids having cousins in their classrooms, something they haven’t experienced before. We’re related to lots of folks. I’m finding new relatives all the time. It’s a great place to raise a family and a great community to be a part of.”

La Grande High School Principal Brett Baxter will step down at the end of June to become the assistant superintendent of the Wallowa County Education Service District.

Brett Baxter to step down as LHS principal to take position with the Wallowa County ESD