Spotlight on Jeffrey Niess

When do you start and what does your job entail?

I have accepted the generous offer to begin on July 11th, but I am coming by on July 6th to do my employee paperwork and spend time with Mike Nerland and some of the staff I have heard so much about.

I am grateful to be responsible for the Special Education Program provided to our partners in the ESD 112. I am also a voice and reporter for our region in Olympia. I believe that my job will be to continue the work of my predecessors and serve the Superintendent as we grow our services, resources and support to our ESD partners.

What do you think you’ll like best about your job?

I am most of all a people person. I am fortunate to give voice to the students in need of special services. I am their advocate and their servant, first. I am also a steward of the taxpayers and a colleague to the ESD 112 Leadership Team. I forward our goals and mission. All of this means I am in personal contact with a great many people, and that is the aspect of this job that I relish. I have heard great things about the people within the walls of the ESD building, as well as the care and sincerity you all offer each other here. I am used to that special relationship between colleagues and look forward to that same experience here.

What do you find most challenging about your job?

At this point, comprehending the scope of our practices and the partnerships we have in Washington. So far, I have heard and/or read about a great many programs, supports, resources and leadership we offer to our partners. I am amazed it all gets the attention it deserves, but I have heard great things about the work of this ESD and I am very fortunate to be asked to be part of the ESD 112 family.

What do you consider to be your greatest on-the-job skill or asset?

I believe the greatest tool I offer to forward the goals and mission of our ESD is my ability to see both the big picture and minute details within that big picture. I have vision for our plans, but I am also a grinder who gets things done. Vision without task completion or task completion without vision still leaves unfulfilled duties to our learners.

I also believe that I am sincere and genuine in my relationships with people. I may not always make popular choices, but they will be well-evidenced and explained. I don’t work to get people to agree with all my decisions, but I work hard so that they completely understand them.

Single? Married? Kids? Pets?

I am newly married to my partner for the last 10 years. Arun is a 5th grade teacher in Camas and she has two wonderful children that I have become as close to as my own daughter. My daughter, Poonam (age 22), works for a Dental Physician here in Vancouver. My stepson, Tristan (18), just finished his Freshman year at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR. He is in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Theatre Program at SOU. My only in-home child is a my stepdaughter Kayla (16) who will enter her Junior year at Camas High School this fall. She is an athlete and volunteers with special education student athletics (Unified Sports) at CHS. We have a dog named Bailey who has no idea she is not another human in the house.

Do you prefer being called “Jeffrey” or “Jeff”?

I have no preference. Professionally, I have always been introduced as Jeffrey, but when people are acquainted with me, I tend to be called Jeff. Without the continued confusion of working with Jeff Snell in Camas, calling me Jeffrey will not be nearly as important.

What do you enjoy doing with your free time?

I love spending time with my family or alone with my wife. We enjoy finding neat restaurants in Portland, seeing films and shopping. I drive race cars, and I am a race instructor at Portland International Raceway. I love yard work and working on our home. I collect rare/fine whiskeys and wines, and I have been aging my own rye whiskey for years. Our home was built for entertaining so we love having family and friends over all year around.

We have a dedicated theatre room and hundreds of old and new films. I can often be found in our theatre room long after everyone has gone to bed, watching older films or documentaries on Netflix in order to unwind from the day. Music is equally important so I will download concerts and watch them in our theatre room as well.

We love to go to the beach, Bend, or to visit family in California and Wisconsin. I am originally from Green Bay Wisconsin and we go to Packer games whenever we can get back there. With a son that has been in theatre since middle school, my wife and I also attend and support Portland Center Stage and The Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. We love to see plays and recently saw Hamilton in Seattle.

If your coworkers wanted to surprise you with a little treat sometime what should it be?

I have a weakness for cinnamon candy (hard candy, Hot Tamales, etc.), and I love good, strong lattes.

What is something that no one would guess about you if they just met you?

I was recruited to play baseball and football in college, but after losing a kidney to a kidney disease, I became a college cheerleader and then a mascot at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

What is the funniest thing that you heard or saw recently?

The second Deadpool film. Rare for a second film in any genre to be clever, but that film made me blow diet pepsi out my nose.

If you had to choose to live without one of your five senses, which one would you give up and why?

I have recently had two spinal surgeries on my neck (fused 4 of my 7 neck bones) because of arthritis. This has caused me to lose much of my feeling in my face, arms and hands. So that might be an easy choice…the loss of touch.

If you could live in a book, TV show or movie, what would it be?

I think that if I had gone to Washington DC earlier in my career (I was fortunate to be invited to speak to a congressional subcommittee on early childhood funding in 2014), I would have loved a life in politics. So maybe House of Cards or the West Wing would be settings I could see myself living within.

If you could master one skill you don’t have right now, what would it be?

Playing the piano. Music is my therapy. I am always singing or humming, and to play an instrument would be brilliant.

If you could speak another language, which would it be and why?

Hindi. My wife is East Indian, and she and her family speak Hindi. They are very kind and work to include me in their story telling and jokes, but it would be nice to just blend in with them when they converse.

What fad do you wish would come back? Which do you feel should stay gone forever?

I would love to see drive in movies come back in vogue, and I will never miss parachute pants (or really any fashion from the 80’s).

Would you rather live in the city or the woods? Why?

City. I love all the culture and cuisine of a big city. I sincerely appreciate my alone time, but I could find solitude in the city long before I could find cuisine and arts in the country.

What teacher inspired you the most? How did they?

Dr. B. Bradford Brown at the University of Wisconsin. He was my adolescent psychology professor and one of the most entertaining and knowledgeable educators I have ever known. He inspired me to become a psychologist and with his trust and friendship I was able to publish/co-author research while still an undergrad. That paved my way to full scholarship offers for grad school (of which I selected the Ph.D program at Oregon).

What’s your favorite holiday and why?

Thanksgiving… Family, Friends, Food and Football without any of that gift-giving tension or shopping like we live in an ant farm nonsense.

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?

Listening to music. I love to put on my headphones and listen to something that I have just downloaded off of iTunes. I have friends that adore music like I do, and we are always sending each other songs to inspire, remind us of a good time or forward some new band that is just getting airtime.

At what age did you become an adult?

Still in a holding pattern. My wife calls me (affectionately) the oldest 14-year-old she has ever met.

What is something you learned in the last week?

That, after 28 years in Camas, change is hard, but so exciting too.

What did you want to be when you were little?

Always, always wanted to be a race car driver. I didn’t race until I was 35 years old, but it was one of the most satisfying moments in my life…to fulfill that dream.