Sean C. Morgan
Andy Price is joining Sweet Home Junior High as vice principal this year.
Price, 31, grew up in the Mohawk Valley close to Marcola. He went to Mohawk Elementary School and graduated from Thurston High School.
He went to Lane Community College where he earned his associate’s degree and was elected to the student senate and served as state affairs director with the Oregon Student Association. He earned his bachelor’s degree in public policy and administration from Western Oregon University.
“I’m a first-generation college student,” Price said. His father retired in November after 40 years working for Weyerhaeuser in Springfield, formerly the International Paper Mill. His mother was an educational assistant for several years.
After graduation, he joined Americorps and worked for a year in Salem. He wanted to work in public health.
That’s when his career path took a turn.
“I was a youth education specialist,” he said. “I was teaching health curriculum to elementary school kids.”
He worked in 20 schools on a rotation, he said. “I saw a lot of kids that reminded me of myself at that age. I was a struggling learner. The reason I got into education was to impact kids like me.”
In public health, Price hoped to create policies that impact lives, but the classroom is more personal, he said. “I was good at it. Kids responded to me and could come to me. It just felt natural to me.”
He went to Willamette University to earn his master’s degree in teaching and his license, and he completed his student teaching in Salem.
He and his wife, Kelsey, graduated from WOU and Willamette, he said. “We said we’d go anywhere we could both get a job. It was 2010.”
Following the recession, there weren’t many teaching jobs, but they both found work in Springfield. He taught math and science at Agnes Stewart Middle School for five years.
“I did a lot for the district,” Price said. That included curriculum alignment for the new standards. He worked on science curriculum on a two-year grant, and last school year, he served as a behavior specialist, helping with student discipline and behavioral coaching.
“That was kind of my transition into administration,” Price said. He attended the University of Oregon to earn his administrator’s license.
“I loved my previous job, the staff and students,” he said. “I wasn’t just going to leave for a job.”
He wanted to come to Sweet Home, Price said. He wanted to go somewhere he would love to be, a school that has great relationships among the staff, students and community.
As a native of the Mohawk Valley and Marcola area, he was already familiar with Sweet Home. While growing up, his family would come to Sweet Home to eat at A&W and attend the Foster Mud Flat Races. He also has family in Brownsville.
“I think my skill set and my background fit with this community,” Price said. “The staff here was great. I could tell from the interview process they’re good people.”
They share his passion, he said.
“All students can learn. It’s a great school. What I hope to do is support the programs that are already in place, help support teachers any way I can, get to know the students and the families and help build. I’m learning a lot from the system that’s already in place.
“What I bring to the school is passion and a heart to help kids. That’s already here. That’s what drew me to this place. I like kids. I like working with them. I start with building a relationship with all students, knowing more than their first names, so my first conversation with them is not the first day they messed up.”
As vice principal, he deals with sports and discipline.
Concerning discipline, he wants to have a rapport in place so he can take advantage of teachable moments, and students can learn from it, he said, learning from their mistakes, understanding they’re free to choose what they do and understanding that those choices have consequences.
Price and his wife have three children, a 4-year-old daughter, a 2-year-old son and an 8-month-old.
They live on the east edge of Springfield, but long term, he said, they will probably move closer to Sweet Home.