Jim had a long career in education.  I was hired by Jim in 1970 and don’t know much about his educational experiences prior to that year.  What I do know is that he had the courage to take on big challenges. Let me give you an idea of what he was willing to take on.

In 1970 a new high school was opened and the two existing high schools became junior highs. Jim and Ken Rauch agreed to take over as principals of these schools. From conversations I had with both these men I know that they knew exactly what they were getting into.  A situation I think many administrators would avoid.

For a while, the freshman class thought they were going to the new high school with two gyms, a cafeteria, lots of new equipment and all the amenities that go with it.  At some point they found out they were going to the old Hood River High and Wy’East High. Some freshman classes may be described as energetic or enthusiastic or at worst mischievous. This class could be described in general terms as hostile.

The staff Jim started out with had about nine teachers new to the district and at least four of those were first year teachers. I was one of those. The staff also include three or four high school teachers, at or near retirement.  These were successful teachers, but they had little experience with thirteen year old. They chose to stay in the old building rather than move into a new system of classroom management called the MOD System.  There was also a group of very capable, experienced, dedicated teachers that Jim had worked with at May Street School.  Teachers make mistakes (I won’t list all of mine here) and principals have to deal with them.  Our staff was probably in a position to create more than the average number of mistakes for Jim to deal with.

Logistics is another responsibility of the principal. Somehow the remodeling of the old high school was not started until shortly before school started. Jim knew it was going to be more of a construction site than a school.  He had to keep over 400 students learning in that construction site.  As there was not cafeteria, lunch was sent over from May Street and eaten in the auditorium which also served as the music room. This provided students with fun lunchtime activities such as seeing whose carton of milk would run the farthest down the sloping floor. During the remodeling of the top floor, there was a shortage of classrooms.  Two   Social Studies, one Math class and a Science class were held in the old gym. The electrical system we devised looked like a spider web and thank goodness the fire inspector never found us. The P.E. classes didn’t have gym. They swam in the outdoor pool across the street until it snowed.  Then it was games like “sit down soccer” played on locker room floors. There was lots of excitement too. Three Language Arts classes were held in the library. The jack hammers always seemed to be working away on the floor above. At one point a worker fell through the ceiling and landed on a table surrounded by students in the Library. Jim found ways to provide us with places and enough resources to teach.

Principals deal with conflicts.  Everyone will have their own perception of a problem and how it should be resolved.  My own theory is that an administrator can make the student happy, or the parents happy or the teacher happy.  Sometimes he or she can make all three happy. The alternative is that the administrator does what is best for his or herself. I can only think of one administrator that did that and Jim certainly wasn’t the one.  Jim did what he thought was best for everyone else. He tried to do what was best for each student each day.

Jim helped his staff become better teachers.  They were usually short quick lessons. For example, I was sitting down in class one day and he told me, “A teacher on his feet is worth two on his seat”. I admit it wasn’t the last time I sat down in class, but it was the last time he caught me. Thirty years later I would still think about it his words whenever I did sit in class. And I didn’t do it much because he was right.

Jim Mallon was not afraid to take on hard jobs. He did what needed to be done. He took on tasks others would avoid.