Board approves HR consent items including new special-education positions and principal appointment amid public questions

The Newberg Enlarged City School District Board of Education approved human-resources consent items (agenda items 6.1 through 6.13) at its Sept. 3, 2025, special meeting, voting to confirm multiple appointments, change-of-status actions, leaves of absence, resignations, and position adjustments, including creating two special-education teacher positions and two teaching-assistant positions and abolishing several typist positions.

The consent agenda also included an assistant-principal appointment (agenda item 6.3) that drew public comment. Dawn Puchek, a Newberg resident who identified herself as speaking on items 5.1 and 6.3, asked whether the district's hiring practices ensure candidates are "properly vetted," noting that the assistant-principal nominee is the former superintendent of the Pine Bush School District who resigned on June 25, 2024. Puchek said that person's prior salary had been…