“Whities,” “Brownies,” and an $8 Million Deficit: Investigation Reveals Troubling Leadership at Newberg Schools

“However, after an extensive investigation, I found that systems to monitor the district’s finances were either non-existent or were unsophisticated and ineffective in achieving the desired outcome.” Independent Investigator Dave Novotney, Ph.D.

A damning 56-page investigation report was obtained by Newberg Neighbors and reveals that former Newberg School District Superintendent Dr. Steve Phillips failed to monitor the budget, resulting in an $8 million deficit. He also used racist language and misrepresented the district’s compliance with state standards. The report, prepared by independent investigator Dave Novotney, Ph.D., substantiates four of seven allegations against Phillips during his tenure leading a district beset by years of controversy.

Dr. Novotney was also briefly the interim superintendent prior to Dr. Phillips, when then-board chair Dave Brown and three other board members fired Dr. Joe Morelock with no plan for a replacement. At the time, Novotney provided his services for free as the superintendent of the Willamette Educational School District, of which Newberg is a part. Upon his retirement, he became an independent investigator.

The investigation, which included interviews with 27 district employees and administrators, paints a picture of a superintendent who held informal “pop-in” meetings instead of implementing proper financial oversight, referred to students and staff using racist terms in private conversations, and told staff to report compliance with state standards even when programs fell short – because “nobody actually reports out of compliance.”

We are expecting further information from our records request. This report, which is redacted to protect the identities of those who were interviewed over the course of the investigation, is the first.

Link to the complete report: Report_-_S_Phillips_Newberg-Dundee_SD_Investigation__Final__Redacted__1_.pdf

Newberg Neighbors has taken the liberty of creating a Cliff’s Notes version for public consumption.

Allegation 1: Did Dr. Phillips fail to provide adequate oversight of the budget?

The allegation was substantiated, with 4 specific duties contained within school board policies CB and CBA were cited that demonstrated Dr. Phillips’ culpability for the devastating budget fiasco. Furthermore, as Dr. Novotney is a former superintendent himself, he had specific knowledge of the responsibilities of a superintendent and the budgeting process and found Phillips to be lacking in his fiduciary responsibilities.

Specifically, the district lacked basic systems with which to monitor the budget, did not implement a practice known as “budget blocking” in the district’s finance software that would have prevented the overspending responsible for the budget deficit, and did not grant administrators access to monitor or view their departments’ budgets. Despite Dr. Phillips’ claims that he isn’t responsible for the mess made of the district’s budget, Board Policy very clearly states that, while the superintendent can delegate tasks to others, they are not relieved from the responsibility of actions taken under delegation.

Allegation 2: Did Dr. Phillips use racist and discriminatory language during private meetings?

The allegation was substantiated, with two standards in the employee handbook and two standards in NDPS board policy CBA cited to have been violated. Dr. Phillips referred to Caucasian kids as “whities,” Hispanic students as “brownies” and LGBTQ students as “gays and weirdos” in multiple instances with two separate people, one of whom Dr. Phillips assumed would be friendly to his views. In Dr. Phillips’ interview, he expressed frustration at a perceived lack of loyalty among administration ranks, seemingly expecting to be protected at all costs by the principals who worked beneath him. Dr. Phillips also claimed ODE wanted students to be referred to as white kids and brown kids. This item is potentially reportable to TSPC.

Allegation 3: Did Dr. Phillips mislead ODE, the NDPS Board of Directors, and the community at large about the district’s full compliance with Division 22 standards in fall of 2023?

The allegation was substantiated. NDPS board policies CM and CBA were cited to have been violated, as well as two standards in the employee handbook. This item is potentially reportable to TSPC.

Allegation 4: Did Dr. Phillips fail to adhere to board policy regarding Reductions in Force (RIFs) in June of 2024?

This allegation was unsubstantiated, with specific board policy cited that demonstrated why this was an unfounded claim. Specifically, the June RIFs were for classified and non-represented staff, two populations who don’t require Board of Directors action before the RIF process can begin.

Allegation 5: Did Dr. Phillips fail to properly implement administrator evaluations consistent with TSPC standards and Board Policy CCG?

This allegation was substantiated and was fairly cut-and-dried. However, Dr. Phillips claimed administrators in Newberg had never been evaluated by TSPC standards, which was easily found to be untrue as TSPC standards were used in the 2021-22 school year by Karen Pugsley, who was Admin on Special Assignment at the time. The evaluation created by Dr. Phillips was merely a self-reflection.

Allegation 6: Did Dr. Phillips attempt to negatively impact the employment of Gregg Koskela?

This allegation was unsubstantiated, as the other superintendent in this equation seemed to understand the communication from Dr. Phillips to be a concern about whether Mr. Koskela was writing and posting on his blog during company time. It should be noted, however, that Dr. Novotney believes Dr. Phillips did make a significant error in judgment in contacting Mr. Koskela’s new boss.

Allegation 7 was specific to Dr. Phillips’ time in Jewell and the civil rights lawsuit filed last spring.

As the litigation is ongoing, a proper investigation was unable to be completed. However, Dr. Novotney noted in his report that Dr. Phillips promptly reported an inappropriate letter discovered in the classroom of the sex offender to the proper authorities.

We recommend reading the full report in its entirety. In early 2022, we had a superintendent candidate with the knowledge, experience, and reputation to lead a district of this size; yet the conservative school board majority chose a superintendent on administrative leave and under investigation at his then-current job, who was also forced out of his previous job due to the expression of racist views via the reposting of anti-undocumented immigrant sentiment on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Thus, none of what’s contained within the pages of the report should be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to school district business over the last four years.

It is clear Dr. Phillips was not hired because he was the best man for the job; rather, he was hired despite being unqualified for the job. His sole qualification was his political views, which closely matched those of the conservative board majority. Don’t take our word for it: one of the people interviewed stated Dr. Phillips referred to people unaligned with his political views as “commies.” This cronyism directly led to chaos, destruction, and heartbreak for our district and community which will take years to fully recover from.

It is our hope the community will remember this saga when it’s time for school board elections in May. Our next school board will be responsible for hiring a permanent superintendent for our district. It is imperative we continue the healing process by electing people with integrity who are committed to the non-partisan nature of the school board, so that a superintendent of good character who will lead this district with competence, professionalism, virtue, and accountability may be hired.

February 22, 2025

In The Midst of Silence, We Need Your Voice: SIGN THE PETITION!

In January 2023, the Newberg-Dundee School Board couldn’t believe their good fortune–and they let their constituents know. According to comments made at that meeting, their specially-picked superintendent, Stephen Phillips, had hired all the best people, who were saving the district scads of money, communicating with astounding transparency, and transforming the way finances operated in the district, since–according to members of the board–the previous administration wasn’t up to the job.

At least that’s what they said. Here’s a sampling of their comments from the January 2023 board meeting:

I really appreciate the communication that you’re doing with all the staff and everybody. I think that’s just great, having that open communication. So, thank you for all your work. (Director Renee Powell, expressing her gratitude to Heather Bixby)

And, you know, that’s always hard when you haven’t been held accountable, or haven’t been held to a high— higher standard and processes — those best-known methods. And she’s doing that and it’s being received well. And it’s going to make — well, I mean, we’re going to have an excess, it sounds like, going into next year. And I — and I just applaud you, Heather, for the great work that you’re doing. And–and, keep up the good work. Yeah. (Director Trevor DeHard, expressing his gratitude to Heather Bixby)

Well, Dr. Phillips just hired a lot of good people. But he probably didn’t do any better than he did with Heather. So we just — we’ll leave it at that. So, thank you very much for the great work. (Board Chair Dave Brown, expressing his gratitude to Heather Bixby)

By now, we all know that these accolades were premature. Not even sixteen months later, we’ve learned that our district is facing a catastrophic budget crisis, including a $14 million deficit heading into next year, on top of a $1.5 million deficit this year, one that needs to be covered before June ends.

Rather than being transparent about the budget, communicating with stakeholders, or using best practices, Phillips and his crew are walking into the district’s darkness without a plan, continuing to use the same tactics that got us here in the first place: seemingly putting his own interests ahead of the community and its children.

(And that great hire, Heather Bixby? She’s not been to any of the budget meetings since May 21, and no one in administration has said what happened to her. It’s like Bixby has vanished, but not without a trace: after all, it’s her problematic accounting, her inability to track hiring, and her unwillingness to use proven software that helped carry Newberg-Dundee schools into its current mess.)

Although Phillips has (somewhat) owned his role in this colossal failure, he continues to operate as he had before the discovery of the budget shortfall, making it even more difficult to trust that he can lead us back to financial solvency. Specifically, Phillips lacks

Transparency: At recent budget meetings, Phillips has not clearly articulated his plan for leading the school through this difficult time. For example, he mentioned an idea about consolidating elementary schools, but he hasn’t explained his justification for doing so. Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that Phillips is providing tours of Joan Austen Elementary to representatives from several local entities interested in using the building for childcare. Is this true? How will this help with the budget shortfall? How will this impact teachers, students, other stakeholders? A leader would explain his actions, talk with his board about his thinking, and be transparent about his decision-making. Phillips is not being transparent.

Communication: Similarly, Phillips is not communicating clearly with teachers, parents, or community members about why the district got into this mess, what specifically happened to the millions now missing, or what he will specifically do going forward. In fact, rather than communicating clearly, the communications position at the district has been slashed to .5 FTE. Statements put out by Phillips and his district office reflect a lack of attention to this crucial element of leadership: they are unclear, poorly written, and without the specificity needed at this moment. Phillips is not communicating clearly.

Empathy: People in our community are fearful of what the future holds for their children. Teachers are fearful about their jobs. Employees of the district are fearful about whether they will get paid this year, and whether they should be looking for a job next. The school board is facing a daunting task. At this moment, we need an empathetic leader, one who can face constituents with honesty about what has happened; an acknowledgement of how his actions have damaged the district; and the compassion to express that people are afraid. Phillips’ astounding lack of empathy was on clear display at the last budget meeting (May 30), when his snarky response to Directors Jeremy Hayden and Sol Allen served to diminish them and their concerns, attempting to make them look stupid (even though their questions reflected Phillip’s lack of communication and transparency). Phillips lacks the empathy needed at this moment.

Accountability: One of our main concerns over the last two years is that the previous school board, and Superintendent Phillips, were not being held accountable for any decisions they have made: There were no formal leadership evaluations. No audits of the budget. And a sweetheart contract that had no mechanism for holding Phillips accountable: indeed, the old board awarded him (and his deputy superintendent) contracts that included lucrative payouts if he was fired, making that even losing his job would mean that Phillips won. Although the May 2023 election was one way the community held directors accountable, Phillips has continued to make decisions about the budget without consulting the board, as if he alone can fix a district he has dismantled. Phillips operates without fear of accountability.

QUESTIONS WE ALL SHOULD BE ASKING:

Do we really want Phillips to be creating a plan for the district?
Do we really feel like he is capable of formulating a systematic plan by creating a lens for decision making, reaching out to stakeholders and then implementing the plan?
Don’t we really need an experienced interim to come in and do a thorough analysis before any cuts like an elementary school are put on the table?

Phillips’ actions, his inaction, his hubris, his unwillingness to listen to constituents will continue to mire our district in a financial collapse he enabled, along with the “best people” he hired. (And maybe fired? We don’t know, as he won’t say.) The pressure on him should be mounting, especially given recent press coverage like this story on KGW.

Help us continue to push Phillips toward resigning without a payout he is rumored to be seeking. You can sign a petition demanding he resign. You can show up to the board meeting tonight (June 3) that will start after the 5:00 pm executive session. You can insist that Phillips start working on behalf of the community and its children, rather than his own professional livelihood.

Together, we can start rebuilding Newberg-Dundee schools with the kind of leadership our children deserve, and that we all need.

June 3, 2024

Help Save Our Schools: Several Actions To Take Now

After Tuesday night’s Newberg School District Budget Meeting, we know the financial state of our district is even more dire than we thought. And yet, at the meeting, the school leadership refused to answer questions that might clarify what was done to get the district into a financial mess; and also, what can be done to assure that the school district doesn’t make similar errors going forward.

Instead, as has often been the case, school leadership deflected, blamed others, and repeated “I don’t know” and “I don’t have an answer for that,” even though people in their position should know, and should have answers, given the leadership roles they currently hold.

Something needs to change before Newberg Schools plummet into a financial hole that might shape education in our community for the next generation, at least. Here are two specific ways you can help, right now, to assure a better future for our community’s children:

Write the school board and let them know that we need change in our school’s leadership. Ask them to encourage the resignations of Superintendent Stephen Phillips, Deputy Superintendent Scott Lindenberger, and Director of Finance Heather Bixby. You can write the entire board at boardmembers@newberg.k12.or.us.
Sign this petition, which reflects the concerns of your Newberg neighbors, and demands that Phillips, Lindenberger, and Bixby resign. We are hoping that a groundswell of support might make a difference in changing the leadership of our district.

If you need talking points, please consider this public statement, made Tuesday (5/21) by Newberg School Board Chair Nancy Woodward, one which reflects the deep concerns of this board, and the difficult road ahead for Newberg schools. We need someone in leadership who can help the schools navigate this road with care, transparency, and competence.

From Nancy Woodward, Chair of the Newberg School District:

The Newberg-Dundee School Board received news last night that the school district is over $3.7 million dollars in debt for this current school year. This stunning disclosure is as much a shock to members of the School Board as it is to you.

Despite frequent inquiries of the superintendent on the status of the district budget, the school board was regularly assured that any potential budget shortfall would be managed through savings from staff retirement and resignations. Last week at the May 14th board meeting, the board was told there were new concerns about the current year and proposed 2024-25 budget.

Here is the current status:

The school district just paid $1.1 million dollars to the Oregon Department of Education for overpayment of revenue. According to a recent independent budget review, the district is short over $10.7 million dollars to balance the 2024-25 school budget. The school board must legally adopt a budget for 2024-25 school year by the end of June.

Our next step is to fully understand the magnitude of this budget crisis and exactly what led the district to this point— and to share this information with you.

As a locally elected board, the Newberg-Dundee School Board has a fiduciary responsibility to the citizens of this community. We have a duty to protect the school district’s assets, provide transparency, accountability and promote a high level of professionalism from the organization’s leadership. We take that responsibility seriously.

Newberg students deserve our best, even under the most difficult of times. The School Board is committed to providing ongoing, transparent communication and working with the the community and skilled professionals to resolve this crisis. You are encouraged to direct your questions, comments and ideas to the entire board at boardmembers@newberg.k12.or.us

May 22, 2024

The Real Costs of Toxic Positivity

zThe Newberg Public School District is facing a dire reckoning. One need only look at the calendar of school board events planned for May–a series of budget meetings and special sessions–to see that all is not right with the district. Budget shortfalls, announced at last week’s board meeting, come on top of the recently-publicized lawsuit against Superintendent Stephen Phillips, who failed to protect a child from a predatory teacher while Phillips was leading the Jewell School District.

Phillips’ long-time principle of toxic positivity turns out to mostly just be toxic, especially when his administration assured the board and constituents that he had turned around a financially failing district. (The district was not financially failing when Philips was hired. He did not turn the district around.)

In fact, at a January 2023 Newberg school district board meeting, board directors fawned about how far Phillips and his CFO, Heather Bixby, had resurrected the district budget, especially when other nearby districts were failing. Some examples:

Director Shelby Kolb: I couldn’t believe what you’ve had to do and what–what you (Bixby) have done, and how far you’ve brought us. And so, much thanks.

Director Trevor DeHart: [It’s] always hard when you haven’t been held accountable, or haven’t been held to a high— higher standard and processes — those best-known methods. And she’s doing that and it’s being received well. And it’s going to make — well, I mean, we’re going to have an excess, it sounds like, going into next year. And I — and I just applaud you, Heather, for the great work that you’re doing. And–and, keep up the good work.

Board President Dave Brown: Well, Dr. Phillips just hired a lot of good people. But he probably didn’t do any better than he did with Heather. So we just — we’ll leave it at that. So, thank you very much for the great work.

CFO Heather Bixby: I think that the current administration has been phenomenal to guide in prudent public spending. And so, instead of being careless in how money is spent and just thinking that it is an open door to spend all the money that we get, people have adjusted really well to me telling people, “No.” They’ve adjusted well to me implementing policies on what is acceptable for certain grants or student body funds. I mean, there’s–there’s a whole gamut of things that I have to oversee to make sure that we’re being fiscally responsible.

And a bit later: …when people understand those guidelines are out there for us, those rules are out there for us, they appreciate having a little guidance and so we, current administration, myself included, don’t have any problem guiding them to be more fiscally responsible.

However, the Newberg District Office has not been forthcoming with the public about what’s really happening with the budget. The current administration has not been prudent, has not been phenomenal, has not been fiscally conservative: all those values that Bixby et al. continued to tout up to, and beyond, the changed board last May.

The budget meeting on May 7 gives us a good sense of the questions we need to be asking this board, and in particular the Newberg Public Schools District Office leadership. At that meeting, several budget committee members drew attention to these problematic accounting issues:

Phillips proposed using some of the district’s remaining bond money for operational expenses. At the meeting, he was told this use of bond funds is not possible, which seemed to be a surprise to him. He admits that they “planned differently” for use of those funds. (Someone running such a large district, and with a lucrative contract, would know better about how those funds should be used.)
The district has a significant budgeting shortfall, given falling enrollments and projections that were aspirational. As a result, they will have to give $1.2 million back to the state, money that will not be used for instruction, hiring and retaining staff (at least the ones who are still here after the mass exodus of 2022), or curriculum. Although Bixby said there will not be a significant number of RIFs (Reduction in Force) word on the street is different, and teachers have been told that RIFs are coming. Once again, the students lose.
Several years ago, former Superintendent Joe Morelock had set aside $700,000 to cover an anticipated increase in PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) over the next few years. Bixby et al. took the PERS money meant for the increase and put it back into the general budget. It appears the money Morelock saved to build an ending fund balance and start planning for the future has been spent, and the district will need to find money to cover the PERS fund going forward.
May saw the district owing the state more money than the state monthly payment for the district. This is a big accounting mistake, and there’s no way they didn’t know they were going to have to pay the money back, yet never said anything about this at the last budget meeting when income for the remainder of the year was talked about.
A committee member pointed out that there was $100,000 missing from the budget, needed for professional development and legally part of the NEA contract. Even though the NEA is currently under contract negotiations at present, the district office forgot to include this money in the budget. Bixby’s response was that “It’s hard to catch all these things,” though this is quite literally part of her job.
Substantial violations in the district’s nutrition department last year (thanks, in large part, to Phillips’ hiring of nutrition director Bryan Quinn) have resulted in what we think is multiple fines. The district seems to be doing everything they can to NOT share information about these fines, so we are unclear as to the total number of fines and total amount. We are fairly certain there was a fine of over $100,000 resulting from Quinn not properly reporting potential allergens in school food. At the May 7 board meeting, after much prodding, Bixby admitted there was a $35,000 fine stemming from last summers’ food program. What other fines has our district incurred?
The lucrative administrative contracts themselves, especially those for Phillips and Deputy Superintendent Scott Lindenberger, add almost half a million dollars to the budget, and questions remain about whether those contracts should have been awarded to people who are struggling to keep a district afloat; who are the subject of multiple complaints; and who are under investigation in other districts.

Because of these and other budget problems, Newberg’s Chief Financial Officer, Heather Bixby, has asked the Oregon Association of School Board Officials to come in and go over Newberg’s financial books. The person who once bragged about being more fiscally responsible than the prior administration (who managed to significantly increase our ending fund balance AND put away a good chunk of money for the looming PERS increase) needs OASBO to come in and “fix” our books and tell us how much money we really have. We should have the report tonight.

Hopefully, the OASBO official will bring to light the significant issues that are currently being papered over with toxic positivity, and the board can hire a new administration that doesn’t come with so much baggage, and with so little ability to run a district well.

Tonight’s budget meeting is open to the public, although there will be no public comments. Keeping our officials accountable can be one way to assure that Newberg’s children have the education they deserve.

May 20, 2024

Bringing a Contract Into the Light

“We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Next Tuesday Newberg Public Schools will turn the page on its history. Five recently-elected directors will be sworn in, joining Renee Powell and Trevor DeHart on a newly constituted school board. As we noted after the May 16 election, a different narrative can now be written about the Newberg School District, one that will hopefully keep Newberg schools out of the national news for all the wrong reasons, and will make safe spaces for children and families, especially those who haven’t had their needs met the last few years.

Still, the out-going board made sure to add one final chapter to their work, using a June meeting consent agenda to pass a sweetheart of a contract for Superintendent Steve Phillips. The contract was not made available until the board approved it, and there was no time for public comment about the substantial raise and increase in benefits Phillips will receive. Having it be public only after it was approved is hypocritical and very concerning.

It could be that Phillips has saved our district from ruin, and deserves a raise. It could be, as multiple people said at the June 13 meeting, that Phillips is a God-ordained addition to Newberg, like the prophet Esther, raised up “for such a time as this.” (Never mind the problem of using Christian language in a secular school board meeting, nor its misapplication of the prophet’s story in this instance.)

It could be, but thanks to a lack of accountability and transparency, we don’t know the entire story. The public doesn’t know how the board assessed Phillips’ work, nor do we know the metrics by which his work was judged.

His evaluation was also done under cover of executive session, with Chair Dave Brown emerging from that short meeting to proclaim that Phillips was doing a tremendous job.

We just needed to believe Brown about that, because we have no other basis for understanding how Phillips landed such a lucrative contract. (If only performance reviews for teachers and paraeducators could be so quick, so painless, and result in so much money and so many benefits.)

If we understand correctly, though, passing Phillips’ contract in the consent agenda was illegal. (Please, if we’re wrong, feel free to provide specific evidence showing that this maneuver was completely legal and above board.) In the least, this process feels immoral, another time when the board worked without transparency and accountability, and without consideration of the stakeholders: educators, parents, and most certainly, children in the district.

We are also not clear if Phillips’ contract was poorly written, and the additions to his salary are a result of this lack of clarity. This is actually a better scenario than the alternative: that the board and Phillips knowingly created a contract with enough extras added to make him one of the highest paid superintendents in the state.

The pay and the “fringe benefits” seem excessive in multiple ways.

If we are doing the math correctly, the travel expenses line could add almost $80K to Phillips’ total package, an increase of eight times. According to the contract, “The District agrees to pay the Superintendent 3% of the base yearly salary per month.” This would amount to $6,450 per month for travel: more than most starting teachers will receive as salary for their efforts.

Philips’ vacation days went from 21 to 30 days with a new payout for unused days. It looks like previously unused vacation rolled over, but were not eligible for payout. That could potentially add another month’s salary to his pay, as he can cash out on June 30 with whatever days he hasn’t used.

Phillips will receive a cell phone plan of $4300/year as part of his benefits. The most expensive cell phone plan we could find was $2,380/year. Most plans are between $780 – $1,800/year, so we question this exorbitant increase.

Phillips and the old board seem to be adding language that will protect him financially, even if he’s fired. There’s a $30,000 bonus for three years of service, with the added caveat that, “Should the Board decide to terminate the Employment contract within the first three (3) years of the contract, the lump sum of $30,000 shall be awarded to the Superintendent on said separation date.” Imagine having that kind of rider in your contract, giving you a nice bonus even if you do a deplorable job and get fired. (We’re not saying that Phillips is doing a deplorable job. We have no idea what kind of job he’s doing, because the board wasn’t transparent about how he was evaluated.)

Philips’ overall pay will be $215,000, quite an increase from former contracts, and more than superintendents are making in comparable districts. Several years ago, the board’s personnel committee did a survey of surrounding districts, and discovered that Newberg was at the bottom of the pay scale for superintendents. But even the committee’s request to raise former Superintendent Joe Morelock’s pay to $175,000 (from $170,000) was met with resistance from Director Brian Shannon, who couldn’t see spending the extra $5k. It could be his fiscal conservatism is situational, since Shannon apparently had no qualms about increasing Phillips’ pay so dramatically.

A provision in the contract reduced the amount of time Phillips has to warn the board of its departure by two months. You might remember that Phillips was not willing to release teachers’ contracts last year, making it harder for them to begin employment in another district. Yet he seems unwilling to hold himself to the same standard.

All told, these extras will give Phillips a contract that amounts to almost $300,000, a nice payout for a superintendent who was released from two previous districts: one for posting anti-immigration sentiments online, and another for reasons that remain unclear.

The former school board and its supporters have argued for the last two years that Newberg lost its direction, that we need to put children first, rather than politics (whatever that means). It’s hard to see a “children first” agenda anywhere in Phillips’ three-year contract, given how much money Phillips’ contract will be siphoning from classrooms and from children. In an era when Newberg teachers are having to buy supplies for their own classrooms, out of their own pockets, it feels especially egregious that their leader is receiving such lucrative pay.

The new board definitely has their work cut out for them. We are hoping with more transparency and more accountability, Newberg really has put its bleakest days behind it, and can emerge into the light of a new era. We remember something a former, less-paid superintendent said in this regard when he was fired without cause less than two years ago: “From the darkest dark comes the brightest light.” Though there’s work yet to be done, we are looking forward to the light.

Edited for 2024:

If you want your thoughts made public about Dr. Phillips’ contract, consider making a public comment at the next school board meeting, which is February 13. School board meetings usually start at 6:00 p.m. You can also submit a comment online at publiccomment@newberg.k12.or.us by February 12, no later than 4:00 p.m. Board members can be emailed individually or collectively. The email for the entire group is: boardmembers@newberg.k12.or.us.

July 8, 2023