WASHOUGAL — Whether it’s living in Germany as an exchange student, or taking over a school district heading into a summer of intense negotiations and a teacher strike, Mary Templeton takes the same approach.
“You’re always looking for ways to connect authentically,” she said.
As an exchange student, Templeton used her singing to feel at home, eventually becoming the lead singer in a German blues band called Ronnie Repro and the Rapid Access Band. She sang in English and German performing Eric Clapton covers to traditional German folk songs.
When Templeton took over as superintendent of the Washougal School District in July, she walked into a situation with a fractured relationship between the district and teachers union, and that’s before negotiations for new contracts led to a six-day strike.
“There was a lot of mistrust on both sides before Mary showed up,” said Eric Engebretson, president of the Washougal Association of Educators. “Communication was horrible. Tension was running high.”
In 2017, the district and teachers were bargaining for a new contract. They reached an agreement, but the union membership voted against ratifying it. They reached a new deal a few weeks later. In January 2018, then-Superintendent Mike Stromme announced he was leaving Washougal after that school year to return to Vancouver Public Schools as the district’s associate superintendent for administrative services. In June, days before Stromme’s exit from the district, the teachers union announced 94 percent of members had passed a “vote of no confidence” on Stromme. The letter from the union said morale in the district was too low.
Nine months into her tenure, Templeton is a hit in Washougal, partly for embracing her role as face of the district and partly for her singing.
Leading with heart
This is Templeton’s first time as a superintendent. She previously worked as a teacher for 15 years and an administrator in Spokane for the last 11. One thing she took from other administrators she’s worked with is to be accessible. Templeton said a person’s experience and knowledge don’t matter if they’re not accessible.
“If you’re not listening to people, if you’re not present, you don’t have the same capacity to impact success, future or change because you just don’t know it the way you do when you’re there in person,” she said.
One of her first challenges came before school even started, when she addressed 400 staff members who were coming back to work, even as teacher contract negotiations continued. Given the tense situation, she didn’t know if anyone would even show up. But as employees filled into Washougal High School’s auditorium, Templeton walked over and doled handshakes and high-fives while introducing herself. Then she gave a speech about why education is important to her.
“My message was not something that was a PowerPoint,” she said. “It was not something that was a presentation. It was just from the heart.”
She walked away feeling positive about the day and her future in the district, but knew she still had to show the teachers she valued them. The new contracts — which provided teachers with an 18 percent increase in total compensation this year and another roughly 5 percent raise next year — would help do that, but Templeton said money isn’t the only way to show value. Once the year started, she wanted to show that value and her enthusiasm by showing up to school events.
“It started right away with her coming to cross country meets,” Washougal High School Principal Aaron Hansen said. “She’s been present ever since. It’s more than just a cameo.”
On Wednesday, Templeton attended the Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge at Washougal High School, in which elementary school students are paired with high schoolers in a cooking competition. She asked the elementary school students how they created their recipes, while asking the high school students if they want to pursue a culinary career. When some said they didn’t, Templeton asked them how they think the skills they’re leaning in cooking classes can translate to other fields.
“Kids have noted that she has been seen regularly attending sports, music and drama events across all grade levels,” said Scott Rainey, a history teacher at Jemtegaard Middle School. “A superintendent who is a regular sight, so much that even kids notice, is someone who is willing both to talk the talk and walk the walk.”
For Templeton, getting out in public is also a way for her to learn about her new community. She grew up outside of Portland, graduated from Aloha High School and spent some time in Hillsboro, Ore. She graduated from University of Oregon, lived in California for a bit and then moved to Spokane.
When she visited Washougal during the interview process, she felt an instant connection to the community, she said. She believes it is important to live in the city.
“My dentist is in Washougal,” she said. “My church is in Washougal. I shop at the Safeway in Washougal.”
She said it resonates with people that they can see her around town, and not just at school events. Early on, Templeton said going to those school events showed her how active the community can be surrounding schools, especially as she tried to attend every winter concert.
“This community supports schools like I’ve never seen a community support schools before,” she said. “I know that because I could never find a darn seat. You’re looking around at the crowd, and it’s grandma and grandpa and uncle and great uncle and half-cousin and fifth cousin once-removed and neighbor Joe. They’re all there to support the kids. That is a strength of this district, but I wouldn’t really know that unless I was there and had to jostle for seats 15 times in a row.”
Arts background
Templeton originally planned on majoring in theater at Oregon, but ended up with more German credits. She performed in the jazz group, women’s choir and musicals at school. She ended up moving away from performing because she wanted to do something less self-focused. While working as a German teacher, she dipped back into her time as a performer for inspiration.
“I realized, ‘this is the off-, off-, off-Broadway show of Frau Templeton every day in the classroom,'” she said. “I played a role. I only spoke German.”
That meant only German in the hallways and when she ran into students at the grocery store.
“Kids thought I didn’t speak English for the longest time,” she said. “I wanted to create this environment where it was authentic.”
Templeton said the arts are important to developing a well-rounded person. It’s what she wants to show students as Washougal works to teach them 21st century skills, which she said are “the ability to critically think, to collaborate, to find solutions when solutions are not readily available to you.” She said the district wants to use arts to show students how to be in an ensemble.
She said that Washougal has the ability to be a top-performing district in the state. To do that, it doesn’t mean just excelling in academics, athletics or arts. It’s all of those things working together.
“We already have fantastic, dedicated teachers and support staff, and a community that is squarely in our court,” said Rainey, who has taught in the district for more than 20 years. “I believe that Mary is the right person at the right time to lead us on to greatness.”
Templeton also thinks it’s good for the district to have a superintendent out in public a lot. She already said she plans on “dominating” the Washougal School Foundation’s Stride for Education run in May.
“I’m looking for authentic ways for me to participate in ways I would in any other community,” she said. “It just happens to be that I’m your superintendent. Every time I learn something about the community or see positive things, it’s helpful for me as I figure out how to lead us forward and lead us upward.”
It also allows Templeton to show the community different sides of herself, like she did in February when she uploaded a video of her singing to announce a snow day. Staffers and parents loved it, but now the pressure is on for Templeton to make it bigger in year two.
“I’ll be in the studio this summer working on that,” she said. “There might be some choreography. Maybe some costumes. Maybe a wind machine.”
