Superintendent

Welcome to the Superintendent's Office Page

Welcome to the 2023-24 school year! We are so very excited to welcome you back this fall and embark on another amazing year of learning, skill development and growth! 

We are thrilled to begin this school year and are working hard to find ways to bring JOY back to school again! As we seek ways and opportunities to do this, we will be focusing our efforts around growth and flourishing. We define growth as “getting better or developing”. We define flourishing as “a state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good”. We will be working hard to build relationships of trust with your student. We know that the better we get to know your student, the better we will understand how to help them not only grow, but flourish in school. We want your student to have an amazing educational experience that gets them ready for their future.

We know for students to grow and flourish, we need to partner together, school and family. As we do this, I ask for your support and participation in this effort by:

• Sending your student to school every day, on time.

• Expecting your student to demonstrate kindness, respect, and being safe at all times.

• Monitoring your student’s academic progress via the online grading program each teacher uses.

• Encouraging your student to read at least 30 minutes every evening.

• Asking your student to share what they learned in each subject/class, each day. Don’t take “nothing” or “I don’t know” as an answer. Instead, try asking specific questions such as:

• • What did you read about today?

  • What games or activities did you do in PE or at recess?

  • What is something that you did today that made you proud?

  • What is something you wish you had done differently?

  • What made you laugh today?

We have great expectations for your student this year. It is also very important to us that EVERY student feels that they belong in our schools. We strongly believe that:

• EVERY student should feel welcome;

• EVERY student can and should grow;

• EVERY student has value;

• EVERY student has a bright future;

• EVERY student needs to give their best effort.

We look forward to continuing to be a district of excellence and supporting your student’s growth while helping them flourish. Together we can make this your student’s best year of school ever! Please join us in finding the JOY in school again for our students!

Lee W. Loving

Superintendent

Lee W. Loving - Superintendent

Phone: 503-769-6924

Email: lee.loving@nsantiam.k12.or.us

Mr. Loving became the NSSD superintendent in July 2022. He has nearly 24 years of educational experience in Oregon with 19 of those in administrative capacities. He was most recently the principal of Ridgeview High School in Redmond and in 2019, was named the Oregon Secondary Principal of the Year. Some of his other roles span from high school athletics coach, Social Studies teacher, President of the Oregon Assoc. of Secondary School Administrators, Coalition of Oregon School Administrators Board Member and member of the Oregon AVID Principal’s Collaborative Leadership Committee. 

Tonia Whisman - Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent and School Board

Phone: 503-769-4928

Email: tonia.whisman@nsantiam.k12.or.us

Tonia has worked for the North Santiam School District since September 2013. She worked as the Office Specialist at Stayton Intermediate School from 2013 - 2016 before transferring to the District Office.  Prior to coming to NSSD, she worked at All-Star Preschool in Stayton for six years. In addition, she has over 13 years experience in the financial industry, having worked for Heritage Grove Federal Credit Union (formerly Oregon Employees CU) and Marion and Polk Schools Credit Union. She held various supervisory roles in customer service and worked in lending and auditing.