When Aaron Downs was playing basketball while attending George Fox University, he figured he’d go on to coach at a small college.
However, fate had other plans, and before long Downs found himself teaching and was eventually drawn into the administrative side of academia.
Last month, Downs officially took over as superintendent of the Sherwood School District, replacing Jeremy Lyon who led the district for two years.
Downs came from the Canby School District where he served three years as superintendent. However, it’s obvious that he learned as both teacher and coach have never left him.
Hitting the ground running
During a recent tour of the Sherwood School District’s administration office in the former Hopkins Elementary School, Downs pointed out the old gymnasium as the kind of place he’s comfortable in, having coached West Linn High School boys basketball for a decade and also serving as varsity girls tennis coach at that school as well.
“I think the ability to have your district office in one central location is key and paramount to giving the buildings the support that they need. I have been completely impressed by our team and by the quality educators and all the folks that work and are staffed up here. It’s been an incredible start,” he said during the Aug. 20 tour.
A former social studies and Advanced Placement economics high school teacher, Downs would later serve as assistant principal, and then principal, at Wilsonville High School. He also spent seven years as an assistant superintendent in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District.
Downs said that while he loved making the daily connections with students and staff, he also loves seeing things from a bigger perspective, “and so I think at every juncture in my career that I've had that opportunity.”
“I've enjoyed that next challenge and the next leadership challenge, and I love supporting the global runnings of a school because I think it makes a difference for kids … But man, I love teaching and I miss it. I miss being in that classroom as well,” he said.
Additions to the team
In Sherwood, Downs will oversee roughly 650 certified and classified staff as well as about 4,700 students.
So far he said he’s found a staff with a “shared commitment to excellence here and their commitment to growth, and that’s exciting for me.”
This year, the district welcomes three new principals — Andy Van Fleet at Sherwood Middle School; Sarah Woofter at Archer Glen Elementary School; and Natasha Edinger at Middleton Elementary School.
Over the years, Downs said he’s worked closely with the principals under his watch.
“I get really excited to just see them thrive and love what they're doing. They get to know their communities quickly. They get to know kids,” he said.
A new plan, thanks to a new levy
New this year will be the district launching into a five-year strategic plan.
Regarding the budget, Downs said the district is extremely appreciative that the community passed its first-ever local option levy in May 2023 , “which helped us to maintain our class sizes and co-curricular activities, and that brings in an estimated $6 million for us this year.”
That levy was necessary in order to make up $2.2 million in budget cuts for the 2022-23 school year. Downs praised Gary Bennett, the district’s chief financial officer who formerly was an assistant superintendent in the district, for his hard work on the levy, which resulted too in an additional layer of fiscal oversite.
“We have a fiscal accountability community group that is also meeting as well as the normal budget committee,” Downs said. “And so I am excited to help us be, continue to be, great stewards of that and to really plan for now and the future.”
Meanwhile, Downs said he’s excited to continue to make strong community partnerships with Sherwood businesses as well as Sherwood city officials.
“Last Friday, we hosted at the high school a chamber breakfast event, and that was wonderful to meet many of our business owners and hear about their involvement with our schools,” he said. “We want to be creative and innovative together, and I get excited thinking about how are we getting our kids prepared for after Sherwood High School.”
At the same time, Downs said student success is extremely important to him.
“One of my goals is I want to get kids on winning streaks and have a couple great things happen to them. That they are happy and healthy is our shared goal here in our district and community, and we are busy planning the ‘welcome back’ and getting our schools and facilities ready,” he said.
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