Karen Gray is appointed the new acting superintendent of the St. Helens School District following exit of her predecessor Steve Webb, who is also former superintendent of Vancouver Public Schools.
Courtesy of the St. Helens School District
The St. Helens School District will have a new acting superintendent after the temporary executive they initially hired, former Superintendent of Vancouver Public Schools Steve Webb, announced he was leaving earlier than expected.
The new acting leader is Karen Fischer Gray, 67, who retired from the superintendent post at the Lincoln County School District in 2023. Gray previously ran the Parkrose and Coos Bay school districts and was Oregon Superintendent of the Year in 2018.
St. Helens has been rocked by a teacher sexual abuse scandal, which started with the arrest of two teachers in November. Allegations of wrongdoing in the small school district on the Columbia River have since spread to implicate at least 10 school staff, including the high school principal and superintendent, who were forced out amid growing evidence they failed to properly notify authorities of student complaints. Superintendent Scot Stockwell remains on paid leave.
Among Superintendent Webb’s four priorities in his brief tenure at St. Helens was to launch an outside investigation. At a press conference Friday, a spokesperson for the district confirmed the third-party investigation will take longer than initially planned.
Related: St. Helens acting superintendent will step down early
J.Marie, the communications strategist brought on by the district for the ongoing crisis, told reporters during a press conference Friday that the sole reason given by the investigator when they requested an extension was that they needed to interview additional people and that the report would be delayed by two to three weeks. Marie did not say whom the investigator would interview but said they had been authorized and mandated to conduct as thorough an investigation as possible.
Marie said the district cannot give much information on the third-party investigative report at this time. However, she said Webb and the detectives involved in the police’s investigation have been in ongoing conversations.
“The investigators were clear … that in the process of their investigation, there was no information that was found that would indicate that the school board or any of its members had information about the illegal and inappropriate alleged activities,” she said, referring to law enforcement’s investigation, “and therefore, there is no concern at this time that there was any delay on their part or failure to report.”
Marie clarified that this finding was specific to the school board; it does not include Superintendent Stockwell.
Because the results of the third-party investigation have been delayed, so has the district’s final corrective action plan. The district released a draft corrective action plan earlier this month, asking for community feedback. Marie said that feedback will be shared when the plan itself is released.
Related: St. Helens School District appoints acting high school principal following Wagner’s arrest
She said the final plan will include timelines and persons responsible in order to help ensure board and community accountability. The district intends to attach a cover document to indicate the differences between the draft and final plans, including the rationale for any changes. For example, if an edit was made due to family feedback or based on information in the investigative report.
“The district very much appreciates the urgency that they feel, and district leadership shares that urgency,” Marie said, speaking to families’ concerns and eagerness for answers and action.
“I want to acknowledge and appreciate families for their engagement and also for their patience and understanding that a thorough investigation takes time,” she said, “and that in order for the community and the decision-makers to have confidence in what’s learned in that investigation, it has required us all to have patience at a time when patience was extra hard.”
FILE - The outside of St. Helens High School on Nov. 15, 2024. A communications strategist for the St. Helens School District says corrective action plans following St. Helens High School's sexual abuse allegations have been delayed because the third-party investigator needs to conduct additional interviews.
Joni Land / OPB
Webb’s official last day is Friday, though he has offered to stay on to help with the transition of new leadership. Gray’s first day is Monday.
Marie said Gray’s salary will be $17,000 per month, in addition to a monthly $2,000 housing allowance. Gray lives in Estacada, but Marie said the acting superintendent will spend much of the week in the St. Helens community. The housing allowance makes that possible, she said.
Gray was not on the conference call with reporters on Friday. Marie said she spoke with the new leader recently. She said Gray emphasized values around communication, transparency, integrity and mutual respect with the community.
The St. Helens school board held a meeting Thursday without properly posting public notice of the meeting in advance. They are in the process of rescheduling that and will need to re-approve Gray’s contract at the new meeting. Marie said the shift in the board meeting should not affect Gray’s start date on Monday.