Educational Service District 105 welcomes aboard Steve Myers as the new superintendent of our agency! The longtime area education advocate began his new duties at ESD 105 on July 1.
Before joining us, Steve served as the superintendent of the Toppenish School District from 2003 until this past June. He was with the Toppenish School District since 1983, initially teaching social studies until moving into administrative roles. He was the Toppenish High School assistant principal from 1984 to 1992, high school principal from 1992 to 2001, then the school district’s assistant superintendent from 2001 to 2003.
As Toppenish superintendent, Steve has facilitated the development of professional learning programs that have helped usher dramatic improvements in test scores and high school graduation rates at the 3,500-student district. He helped create an in-district preschool cooperative in partnership with EPIC, Yakama Nation Head Start, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also helped design and implement intervention processes for breakfast and homework clubs that have contributed to significant gains for students on state assessments.
During Steve’s seven years guiding the schools of Toppenish, the district has been honored by U.S. News and World Report as having one of the best high schools in the nation, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for having the first elementary schools in the state to accomplish the National U.S. Healthier You Challenge, by McGraw Hill/SRA for having one of four elementary schools in the nation receiving its Excellence in Reading Award, and by Family Friendly Schools for implementing measures to engage families in student learning. Toppenish schools were also selected by the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in recent years for its “Schools of Distinction” award.
In recent years, Steve has worked regionally with other school district superintendents within the ESD 105 area in helping improve instructional capacity programs at schools, and at the state level has served on OSPI’s Superintendents Advisory Committee.
Steve has a 39-year career in public education. He began serving students as a teacher at the Boone Grove School District in Boone Grove, Indiana, initially as a fifth and sixth grade teacher during 1971-72, then as a high school social studies teacher there during 1972-75. He then joined Cape Fear Academy in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he worked as an English teacher during 1976-82 then as an upper school director during 1982-83.
He obtained his B.A. degree in social studies in 1970 from Grace College in Indiana, and his master’s of science degree in education from Indiana University in 1974.
“I look forward to working with the ESD 105 staff, our 25 school districts, and our independent schools,” says the new superintendent. “I am excited about continuing the cutting-edge learning that the ESD has provided through resources and services that result in intentional outcomes for student success.”
