There are a lot of new faces around the Umatilla, Hermiston, Stanfield and Echo School Districts this time of year. However many are not starting the new school year as students.

In Hermiston, the nine new staff members join the district’s eight schools; four new teachers are starting in the Umatilla School District, and Stanfield and Echo welcome one each.

Hermiston School District

Jennifer Cox

Jennifer Cox joins the staff at Armand Larive Middle School, after teaching fourth and sixth grade math at Windy River Elementary School and other schools in the Morrow County School District for 10 years.

“I wanted to teach math at the seventh and eighth grade level, and Morrow didn’t have any (open) positions,” Cox said.

Cox brings a wealth of experience teaching mathematics and is looking forward to the challenge of working with middle school students.

Haley Kostrba

Haley Kostrba joins Cox at Armand Larive as a first year math teacher, having graduated from Western Oregon?University in Monmouth with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“I knew I wanted to teach middle school math, and the timing just aligned right,” Kostrba said. “I haven’t felt like the new kid on the block for very long.”

Kostrba said she’s looking forward to school starting Tuesday so she can get into the full swing of things and “dive right into math.”

Jonathan Boysen

Jonathan Boysen brings 11 years of experience teaching band and choir from Chugiak High School in Chugiak, Alaska to Sandstone Middle School.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know the students and providing the best quality experience for them that I can,” Boysen said.

Boysen said he initially wanted to move to the area to be closer to family.

Chelsea Gill

Math teacher Chelsea Gill is also joining Sandstone, as a first-year math teacher, but she is no stranger to the district.

“I graduated from Armand Larive Middle School in 1999 and Hermiston High School in 2003,” Gill said.

While finishing her master’s degree, Gill worked as a loan officer at U.S. Bank in Hermiston. She hopes to bring that experience into the classroom and relate it to the math she’ll teach eighth graders.

“I want to make it more fun and exciting for them and show how it relates to the real world,” she said.

Jill Miller

Jill Miller returns to the district after a short absence as a part-time special education teacher at Desert View Elementary School.

Miller had previously been a faculty member for six years at Hermiston High School, Armand Larive Middle School and West Park Elementary School.

Pat Birkby

Pat Birkby returns to Hermiston High School’s math department and football coaching staff after a one year absence having taught in Caldwell, Idaho for a year.

“I realized what I missed here; the people and the community support the schools. That makes Hermiston what it is,” Birkby said.

Cathy Duffy

17-year Hermiston?School District veteran, Cathy Duffy, also returns after five years having taught special education at both Rocky Heights Elementary School and Hermiston High School.

Duffy said there was a combination of reasons for her return, including the economy and to show support for the school’s special education department.

Delta Colbray

Delta Colbray is also returning as an English Language Learners teacher at Rocky Heights after pursuing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Oregon?State University.

Annie Hindman

Annie Hindman enters her first year as Sunset Elementary School’s new counselor. The former juvenile probation officer and new parent, said finding a job at a school was one of her goals and is happy to join the Sunset’s staff.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how excited the kids are to be in school. It should be a good change of pace,” Hindman said.

Echo School?District

Mike Heriza

Echo School District English teacher Mike Heriza was hired over the summer, after teaching part-time in the Pendleton School District.

Heriza said he was attracted to the position partly because of budget constraints in Pendleton that would not have allowed him to teach full-time.

“I’m also getting expanded experience teaching both seventh and eighth grade English and social studies,” Heriza said.

Heriza will also coach the school’s basketball teams.

Stanfield School District

Kirsten Taylor

This is the first teaching job for Kirsten Taylor, who hails from the Seattle, Wash. area. She received her master’s in counseling from Lewis and Clark in Portland.

Taylor is excited about being at Stanfield Secondary School. Although she will be wearing a number of hats in her job as counselor, she is looking forward to the challenge. She said the school is wonderful place to work.

“A wonderful staff and a great group of kids,” she said.

Taylor is looking forward to more sunny days in eastern Oregon, compared to the grey skies of Seattle.

“I like it,” Taylor said of the climate. “More sunshine.”

Umatilla School District

Michelle Baulig

Michelle Baulig is a veteran teacher with 30 years of experience in education. She was the assistant principal at both Armand Larive and Sandstone middle schools.

Baulig will be working with students at Clara Brownell Middle School who are almost at the state benchmark for certain subjects like reading or math. She said she is looking forward to this year, “delivering a program that helps kids be successful.”

Kaira Rysdam

A new teacher and soon to be a mom to her second child, Kaira Rysdam graduated from Eastern Oregon University this year. She is looking forward to being in the new classrooms at McNary Elementary. The district added 16 modular classrooms to the school, and Rysdam anxious to get started helping students learn.

“McNary is an awesome school,” Rysdam said. “I did my student teaching here.”

Len Morales

Len Morales graduated from Eastern Oregon University, and the kindergarten position will be her first year teaching. She said she is happy with her new surroundings.

“I am excited about meeting the needs of the students, and working with the excellent staff,” Morales said.

Tammy Fisher

Tammy Fisher, a newlywed, is a 2007 graduate of Eastern Oregon University. She taught fifth grade in the David Douglas School District in Portland and then worked as a substitute in Pilot Rock and Pendleton last year.

She is looking forward to making the switch from upper elementary to lower elementary students, although it will be a challenge.

Fisher, too, will be in the new modular classrooms at McNary and is as excited as her fellow new teachers to be able to have a brand new classroom.