This is the fourth in a series of profiles on the seven members of the Clackamas ESD Board of Directors. Our elected board governs the ESD, setting policy, and hiring and managing the superintendent. Board members represent the geographic diversity of Clackamas County, and bring a range of life experiences to their ESD work. They are a vital part of our team, and we want you to know them better.
Longtime CESD board member Jon Eyman remembers the days when school districts in Clackamas County looked very different than they do today. Many of them, in fact, were composed of a single school.
Growing up on a farm halfway between Canby and Molalla, he attended Rural Dell Elementary School – one of many grade schools with a student population too small to feed into its own community high school. Students were funneled to so-called “union high schools,” which were fed by multiple elementary schools in small rural districts.
He thought he might have left all of that behind when he went off to college at Oregon State University, earned a degree in agricultural engineering, and returned home to Clackamas County, eventually joining – and running – the agricultural equipment business started by his grandfather. But life takes some interesting twists – especially when you have a persuasive spouse.
It wasn’t Jon’s idea to run for the Canby Grade School Board. His wife, Jeanne, was an active PTA member when their two daughters were young, and when no one filed for two open positions on the grade school board, several community members encouraged her to run. Instead, she convinced her husband.
“I think she had the idea I would have the right temperament to serve on a school board,” Jon recalls. “So I launched a write-in campaign, and I was one of two new board members elected.”
Jon took to his new role immediately, relishing the opportunity to learn the details of managing a small school district, and benefitting from insightful training offered by the Oregon School Boards Association. His local board service eventually ended when the smallest school districts around the state were consolidated, and single-school boards ceased to exist.
Fast forward to 2004. A friend and neighbor of Jon’s who served on the Clackamas ESD board died suddenly, leaving a board vacancy. The relatively new CESD superintendent at the time was someone Jon had worked with during his earlier board tenure in Canby. Once again, Jeanne encouraged Jon to pursue the open position. He was appointed, and has been re-elected multiple times, most recently in May 2021.
In his nearly two decades of service, he’s seen multiple changes at CESD, and he led the board as chair from 2019-21 during a particularly challenging period that encompassed both the COVID-19 pandemic and a superintendent transition. But he notes there also has been constancy.
“Not many people understand what an ESD does, and it keeps changing,” Jon says. “But we’ve always been very focused on how well we are serving students. We’re here to meet students’ specific needs, from LEEP [a special education program] to technology to pre-K programs, which is an important option most people don’t realize ESDs offer.”
He shares an anecdotal example of the constant need for continuous improvement in ESD service delivery.
“In my first year on the board, I went to a conference just after our board had visited a LEEP classroom in Oregon City to see how non-verbal students were using computers to help them communicate,” he recalls. “At one of the conference sessions, I saw a demonstration of an iPad doing everything and more we were doing on the computer. The iPads were $700. The computers were $7,000. As soon as that session was finished, I knew we were going to be into iPads.”
During his time on the CESD board, he has zeroed in on what our organization can do to improve the overall health of our districts.
“The art show is a great example,” Jon says of the annual event CESD coordinates with all 10 Clackamas County school districts. “It really has an impact on the students involved, helping them showcase their talent.”
Perhaps most important, in his multiple decades of local and regional board service, he’s honed his ability to reflect and reconsider.
“Being able to listen and hear what’s in people’s hearts is really important,” Jon says. “I’ve learned over the years you have to modify expectations and be flexible. Sometimes when you study an issue, you come to a different conclusion about what needs to be done.”
Jon pegs his interest in retiring at about zero. He readily recalls an anecdote from the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, when his OSU Beavers routed Notre Dame. At the game, he ran into an OSU professor he’d kept in touch with for years. Jon asked him if he was thinking about retiring, and got this response: “Everybody I’ve watched retire went to sit in a rocking chair and a year later they were dead. I don’t want to vegetate.”
Jon clearly has that mindset to continue to use his time constructively – “I’m slowing down, but not retiring,” he says. He and his sister, who inherited their father’s farm, are getting into the hazelnut-growing business. He continues to play tennis with his grandchildren on Saturdays. And his wife is urging him to travel to Italy while their youngest granddaughter is there on an OSU exchange program. Will Jon make the trip? Bet on the “persuasive spouse” coming through again.
Jon Eyman fast facts:
- CESD board member since 2004
- Owner of Eyman Equipment, Inc., which specializes in agricultural site grading
- Husband, father of two daughters and grandfather of five, all Canby High School graduates
- Previously served on Canby Grade School board before small school districts without high schools were consolidated
- Quote: “You have to be able to listen and hear what’s in people’s hearts. Sometimes when you study an issue, you come to a different conclusion about what needs to be done.”