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From local leaders and hometown heroes to breaking stories and in-depth conversations, the KMAS Podcast brings you the voices that matter in Mason County, Washington. Hosted by longtime broadcaster Jeff Slakey, each episode dives into what’s happening around the Hood Canal—government, education, small business, the outdoors, and everything in between.
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How's it going? I'm Jeff Slakey, KMAS Radio, and I have a kind of a different kind of a conversation here today with Superintendent Wyeth Jesse from the Shelton School District. Good to see you again. Shiloh Littleson is with us as well.
Nice to meet you and talk with you. And, you know, a lot of our conversations are district focused, and they're all about what's going on in the district and the strat plan and the finances and this and that. And we sometimes get deep into the weeds of the numbers and things like that.
Well, Shiloh and I were talking, and one of the things that we kind of both came to the conclusion about is that there's a lot of folks, and even me too, knowing you now since you've got here for five years, that folks might not get a full sense of like who you are and how your background and your raising of your kids has helped you to navigate and see kind of the direction that you want the Shelton School District to move forward in. So I think that's kind of like what we wanted to talk, just get to get a chance to know you away from the district and away from all the things that are going on and how you kind of come up with, you know, your daily routines and how you do this. I mean, we don't have to go into that big of a detail, but you've told me in the past, for example, that you grew up with IEPs and things like that, and I don't know how much you want to share, but like how did that get you thinking about when you joined into education? Because you've been working in that kind of space since you started, even in Seattle, right? Yeah, yeah.
It's, you know, we're shaped by our experiences. You know, my childhood was just my mom and I, for example, and raised with no means, whatever. My mom was an office manager.
She was a secretary. That was just the two of us. Where was this? Yeah, so we moved a lot.
I was born in Walla Walla, so my family's originally from Walla Walla. My mom's side, that's my mom's side, she's not from there. She's from Port Angeles, where she lives now.
And so, yeah, so it was, you know, my family, my dad's side, they had a farm. We grew asparagus and wheat. Just a farm boy then.
Yeah, it was just a farm, just kind of like, exactly, Shiloh, like just raised and shaped by my mom. I love my mom dearly. She worked multiple jobs, helped provide me.
She kept telling me, you're going to go to college, you know? And I was like, not feeling very good because I did have an IEP. I had a reading disability when I was in elementary. And when I got to middle school, they're like, oh, you've really progressed.
You know, it's funny. People always like, but he's got a hard time because I couldn't decode words. I can't hear the sounds very well.
And it's a thing that both my kids have, both my daughters have some things. It's like in the front of your audio, you process so fast, you can't hear the sounds. But there was like, oh, he's got a really good vocabulary.
And people at work today make fun of me for my vocabulary. So it's like, I wasn't, but I had a disability and I remember getting called out and singled out to go see the resource room teacher. Didn't feel very good, you know, academically just because you get singled out.
So, but my mom kept behind me and come all the way around. I ended up graduating high school down in Vancouver, Washington at Columbia River High School. It was great.
It was a great experience. I was treated very well. So I feel like I came out and then I went to college and I didn't go right into education.
I was in Wall Street. I worked in five as a coach. I volunteered.
I did big brother, little brother. I did all those kinds of volunteer things, which eventually led to education for me. And I think too, then when you think about that, those, like you said, that kind of shapes the way.
So when you entered into education back here in Washington, did you start in King County? Is that or no? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I was in my teacher program at University of Washington and the teacher died over spring break.
And they're like, could you come and teach these kids? I did special education. I love, I'm all about the underdog. I'm about trying to advance kids as a kid with special needs, a kid from poverty, you know, like I understand what it's like.
So I, this is my preferred, you know, my preferred population. So I was in a school in Renton, high need school. And I came there and man, I tell you, it was an eye opener because you get this education and you're like, oh, this is the way it's supposed to be.
And they're like, oh, those classrooms not run very well. I'm like, oh, you know what I mean? Cause it's your first, I mean, do you remember your first job where you're like, you thought you had this vision and you're like, oh, not everything's perfect. Right.
Right. So many things I worked at so many other great things, like name those. Exactly.
That's interesting that you say all that and kind of work and work towards that. So when you go into a classroom or you work with families and you know, I mean, you know, their students have perhaps similar struggles that you had growing up. How do you, I mean, like, what do you see in those students or how the families interact? Like, how do you, how did that shape like what you do now? Cause the strat plan talks a lot about safe and welcoming and making sure everybody's reading and you got the good readings course now and all that stuff.
Well, again, I'm shaped by my mom and the value system. Nobody's better than anybody else. Nobody's better than anybody else.
No matter who you are, where you come from, you're not better than anyone. And, you know, I really think I'm really thankful for my mom for that. Sure.
Sure. That's pretty cool. Yeah.
Well, for me myself, I grew up, you know, moving and moving to so many different schools. I went to, I think from my first grade till I graduated was 11 different schools. So I grew, and it was from Montana to Washington, down to Arizona and Oklahoma.
So in high school I went through, it was five different schools. So I went to two different schools in one year. So I've gotten, you know, moved around to all these different places coming in, you know, you know, being the new person, you know, kind of growing up.
And when me and my wife came in, you know, we, we had our son Pride, who's on the spectrum. And so, and that was our first, well, like growing up in school, you kind of have like the special, you know, ed class, you know, and at that time it was always separate, you know, and you knew of the kids, you knew who they were, but there was no real interaction, you know. And so when we had our son, that was kind of one of my biggest fears was like, you know, my son's going to be ostracized, he's going to be, you know, secluded from everyone.
And when we got him into the special education here at, right over here at the round building, and it was... The Early Learning Center? Yeah, yeah. And from there on, you know, how they worked with him, it was amazing, you know, how well they went through and how much they showed him, how much, you know, they let him interact, you know, when he got over to Mountain View, they really put him into the general education, you know, and that was really like just watching it, you know, in himself. Because he's non-verbal, he doesn't come home and tell us like, today I got to do this, today I got to do that, you know, we heard from his teachers and it was like, you know, and you kind of like take it, especially in the beginning myself, I kind of took it as like, yeah, they're just teachers, you know, they want, you know, they're going to definitely make sure it's something good for him to say, but as time went on, you know, you really started to see in himself and his body language and so like with all that, like, you know, I'm just grateful to hear that, you know, you came up with, you know, and you said you were a special educated teacher, right? Yeah, so that was like, for me, that's, you know, great to hear from you, you know, and did you play sports and stuff too? Yeah, I was, I did track football and basketball, I know a lot of people think wrestling, no wrestling, no wrestling, yeah, I put in no pretzel, so I, yeah, that's what did you do, you moved around a lot, like that must, it must be hard for you in some ways, Shiloh, to trust schools if you moved around that much.
No, no, and I was fortunate. So I heard one of those positive experiences. Yeah, no, no, I was fortunate and had pretty good experience throughout there, and there, you know, there were some, you know, some bad experiences, you know, and that was, you know, that's kind of why we're, when I first found out about my son, it was really kind of like, oh, you know, like I wanted to get a mic on him, I wanted to have visual on him at all times, you know, because I'm like, not that I didn't trust anyone in the schools, it was this fear of, you know, what was going to happen, you know, and, or the unknown, so.
So many families I've come across in my career, in regards of some of your experiences, just fear about how to educate kids with special needs, what are you going to do, how are you going to care for them, and almost every parent has that fear, but when you talk about kids with special needs, especially if somebody's non-communicative or limited communication, you're like, well, they might not come home and hear me tell me the whole story, I want a mic, I want a thing out there, how do you build that thing, and I think the fortunate side is I've seen so many educators, like they are, especially in special education, I like that, that's my favorite field, because you get to really know the kids and the families, like when you got, you know, you're a secondary teacher and you got 140 kids, that's a different animal, that's for some other teachers, but you get to know the families and, and you're, it's just not, it's more than just being a teacher, you feel like you're part of a family, especially it has its own, just community, and it's, I still, most of my friends have kids with special needs, and that's where I spend my time, and their kids, and that's what I enjoy about it, is the sense of community that you can draw from that. Nice, one thing we were talking about before you got here was how you kind of, like you mentioned, moved around in schools a lot, but then when you finally got to Shelton and Mason County, you know, there's, there's always a sense when you get here, if you're not from here, that it's kind of like, yeah, arm's length for a fair amount of time, yeah, and definitely gotta gain trust, you gotta gain trust, and you know, and I've been at the radio station for 20 years, and so I think people have accepted me, and you know, from, from living outside of the Shelton area, but there is definitely, not until we get a chance to know you, are we going to really accept you in, and, and love you like we know the community can. Yes, for sure.
You felt that. Yes, yes, for sure. You came in at, at a tough time for that too, with COVID and all that, I mean, there was not a lot of opportunities to open arms, come, let's hug, and I'm here now.
That had to have been tough, I mean that. Yeah, yeah, tough for sure. You know, it's hard to be an administrator in this day and age, and just because the work is, you know, I'm, you know, I, I'm busy, and there's a lot of things to be done, they don't know all the things I do, it's kind of, it's like, feels like a secret, what does a superintendent even do, right, like, what do we even need one, right, like, and so I, I, yeah, it's tough, you know, building into new communities.
The, the thing that no one else really knows is that I'm from these kind of communities, this is where I lived, I mean, if you go to Port Angeles, a lot of similarities, are you kidding me, like, I know a lot of people who lived here, from here, they've done time up in Port Angeles, like, you know, and so you're like, they're also the gateway to, you know, living National Forest, right, they, they also had ITT Rainier, you know, so you just got this history where you're like, I know that, seen one of those, because I've been in Port Angeles a lot of summers with my grandparents, so yeah, it's been tough, but I also, you know, have a strong sense of self and purpose of why I'm here, I'm here for the undog, and that's, that's what I do the work, I mean, it's, I try to get myself out of the adult issues, even though I'm an administrator, because I do it for the kids. And you mentioned your, your daughters, and I know we've talked over the years that they've gone up and through high school and college settings now, and that is, you know, a lot of folks will say, well, he doesn't live here, but I don't think they fully understand why, I mean, you tried, and it's, it's hard when you have kids that are, especially in older grades, you don't, it's hard to say, all right, we're, we're moving, you get to finish your last two years of high school, say about all your friends, because I got a job down here, the school board, I mean, they've been, they're okay with that, I mean, that's, it's been. Sure, I mean, that's kind of a good question, you know, dialogue back with Shiloh and I, you know, like, if you had to move, I don't want my kids to have to move.
Yeah. Do you feel the same way? If I can limit it, if I can prevent it, I will do it, I mean, I, and, because it's not always fun. No.
I learned a lot, I feel like I learned a lot by moving around. You definitely, kids are adaptable, so everyone adapts, but. Kids are very adaptable.
But you, when I go back and look back at it, I think it would have been beneficial if I was able to stay, you know, kind of stationary for a little bit longer than, you know, a year. Sure. Two schools in a year.
Yeah, I feel the same way, you know, two different high schools, I didn't do two in one year, but that's a lot, but I, like, yeah, I have two daughters, a single parent, you know, and, you know, my kids are everything, you know, I will do what I have to do for them. I'm a parent first, you know, like, I, you have to do that, like, I would never compromise. I've had to bring my kids to board meetings when I was, you know, in my previous district, and they're like, they remember a lot of those memories, like, hanging out in my office and my desk, and I got to present to a board and information, like, all those things, and they've come to assemblies when I was a principal, and they've come along the way.
I'm very thankful for them, but at the same time, I wasn't going to uproot my kids when they're, you know, in high school to move away. I wouldn't want to do that to them. They didn't want to do that, so that just means I drive three plus hours a day.
Yeah, do it for the kids. You do it for the kids, you know, and I was just raised that way, you know, I was raised, you know, kind of like, as I'm feeling old now lately, a lot of old jokes coming. Okay.
Anyway, I just was raised, you know, just do your work, you know, seen not heard. You don't, you're not a braggart, you're not better than somebody else. You do the work, and you do it for the right reasons, to provide for your family, right, and to try to make your community better.
That's what I try to do. When you see your daughters now, and they're out of school, or they're in college, and things like that, and then you look at how the district, the students in the district are growing up, what can you do as the superintendent to try to instill some of those similar life lessons, or work ethics, or whatever, into how, I mean, I guess it all kind of goes down to the strategic plan that you guys have worked on for so long, right, but are those tenants in that things that you have worked hard to instill into your family? Is that something? Yeah, everything's a relationship, right, and those relationships, there's still some similar constructs across relationships. When I got here, I did like a listening tour.
Squawks in Ireland was one, and they were like, a lot of our kids aren't getting treated the way, or like, they have different expectations. I saw the data. There was truth to that.
Same for our students with IEPs, you know, or multilingual students that didn't have access and opportunities, even within our CT programs, like, how do we create that, and how get them access to both some college going classes, but also some career classes. You don't have to go to college, like, but you do need to help kids engage and be their best, and so listening and hearing that, I just saw when I came here, I'm like, like, we need to have higher expectations of ourselves on behalf of our students. It's not just higher expectations for students, because it's about the adults have to take responsibility to craft that.
It doesn't just mean I'm forcing the kids to do better. It's, you have to put all of that together on behalf of the students so they have a more enriching environment where they feel they can be successful, that they're not going to get sent out in the hallway, and that they're going to be having low expectations for them. That's that kind of thing, and I wouldn't want that for my kid, too.
That's what I, and I walk into a classroom, I go, would I put my kid here? That's a, that's a, that's an automatic screener for me. That's the way I've tried to train the principals here for this district and other districts that I've been in. What did you see when you saw the listing for the job? What was, why, you said, I can do something here, or I relate here, or what? Yeah, I didn't know everybody.
I mean, I don't know. I did not know Shelton. Like, I don't know.
I didn't spend a lot of time in Shelton because I didn't have any family here. My, driven through it a lot, because if you didn't go from Vancouver to Port Angeles, you got to drive up the canal. So, I, you know, I, most people told me, don't take it.
Don't go for it. But all of me says, yes, go for it, because this is exactly the kind of communities, again, I'm from, I'm used to, and the kind of people I want to serve. So, you know, you don't have to always be accepted.
Doesn't mean I can't serve them, right? And acceptance is on each individual's term. No person makes, is the sole person that makes decisions on who is part of whose community. I speak and stand for myself and the values and the things that I'm trying to bring here.
And I'm proud of the work that I've helped lead and do with these kids. The number one in the state for early literacy growth, 77% decrease in suspensions, including native youth, which is where a lot of our suspensions were happening. Right now, we're struggling with some things for special ed, because that's where some of our needs are for some of our suspensions.
I know that, but our attendance is now up. Like our attendance, can you just go up? Graduation's going, you know, like we've got really good things going on for kids. Is it going to take time? Sure.
Is it change? Sure. Does everybody want that change? Not always. So I understand that.
I try to live with some thick skin, right? But I also try to make, you know, make sure that what I come here to do is is going to be lasting change. Because that's ultimately the things that you're trying to do, right? That are in the positive. Shiloh, you know, parents will go to the school board meetings and they'll stand up there and they'll rail on him and the district, the board members for three minutes and they don't get a chance.
They'll ask questions and they don't get anything. They can't answer, right? Because it's a public meeting or something. You've got him right here.
Is there anything you want to ask him? Well, you know, definitely, you know, because with my son being Native, you know, very much Native, you can look at him and see. And also being on the spectrum, it's kind of like a, you know, because, you know, you already said the statistics that they've already at, you know, higher risk of suspension, you know. So for me, you know, that's kind of a little concerning moving forward because he's in fifth grade right now, middle school.
He's starting to get to that age. Like literally, he's, he doesn't say anything much, but like, you know, it's a middle school thing because he comes home and sits on our table now. He never used to sit on any tables.
He would, you know, but for some reason he wants to sit on our side table, you know. So he's obviously looking at other kids and seeing how they're behaving. So with his friends are growing up, he's been fortunate enough to stay in the same school.
So he's got a good group of friends, but they're all starting to grow up. They're starting to learn their, their different behaviors, you know, as they're getting older and, you know, and it's unfortunate, but at some point them kids are going to start to do the suspendable things, you know. And for myself, it's concerning because my son's going to, he's aware, he's observant, he's going to watch, watch and he's going to try out his own things, you know.
So for me, you know, what's kind of like how, how, how, like, how are you going to put forth like being sure that like, I know we'll do our part as a parent, but like as the school part, like those kids that are in special needs need a little bit more extra work with them, you know, and a little bit more like support and a little bit more guidance, you know. So how would that? Yeah, I know Shiloh and you're, you're, you know, when I hear that, you know, parent to parent, cause I feel like I could turn that to be all this superintendent, you're bringing this into this conversation, but you know, like my kids, I think I've done a really good job raising my kids. It was a pretty tough holidays.
Both of them are ganging up against me. So I, when you're saying like sitting up on the table, I'm like, I got two teenage, well, one's not teenage to 20, but this, you know, like they push boundaries, you know, there's some things that I'm like, that's, that's not okay. You know? And if you pulled that into school, like you could get in trouble, right? Neither my kids have been in trouble in school.
So, but, but that age group, even all the way from where pride is at today, right. As a middle schooler up to, you know, all the way going in well into college, kids push limits. They're still in the identity formation and use a parent, Shiloh, want to have trust that the school district sees what you do and cares what you do, that you're not going to just punish my kid or it'd be a statistic for suspension, but you're actually there to work together to help figure out what they need, not just their deficits, but their strengths and knowing them so that you can trust that we're going to be together.
So this isn't all about like, I have pride. You sat on a table, what are you doing? Or you're not, you know, like not following the rules. Same for my kids.
That's what we've changed here in this district is that it's not just because you did this and now you shall be gone. That's not teaching. That's what I try to go on my tour of the last, talking to so many community members.
I'm like, yeah, okay, sure. You get in a fight, you got to go home, take a break, but why don't we come back the next day? Why does it have to be a long-term suspension, right? Like, I want you closer to me even so that I can have you next to me and we can walk through this in community. And these, a lot of these principles are actually made and grounded in Native American community ways of dealing with issues in circle to bring them in, bring them closer, especially with those who are the elders and those who do care for the kids because they need to learn what it is to be part of this community.
Learn about all the skills because if someone's acting out or not following directions, that means they're not, they don't have always necessarily the social skills or the emotional abilities to handle some things or communication regardless of disability or non-disability. And so that's what our responsibility is. And I am really proud of our staff for taking that on.
And that's why, you know, even when we had budget cuts, we're not cutting counselors, we're not cutting mental health, we're not cutting safety because those things, you have to have wraparound services to get there to understand what it is so that he, so you Shiloh, no matter what happens, you're like, I know that that school has trained people, they care about pride and that you're going to work with us if need be or however necessary so that he can grow and learn and because eventually they graduate. Yeah, it's scary. Yeah, no, no, for sure.
It's definitely scary, you know, knowing of the unknown. Like I said, he just went to middle school this year. It's his first year.
So my wife and I and countless other people were already so kind of worried on how the transition was going to happen and the teachers over there are great as well. And yeah, it's funny how that goes, right Shiloh? Like I've seen pride and he did really good every time I saw him at school. I'm not seeing this, but it's funny how these stories go, right? Like in this community or really any community, it's a thing like, all right, so that's somebody else's kid and they're like, I want you to know my kid.
I want you to work with me and I want you to help teach them. But if somebody else sees that and they go, why are they doing that? They should be gone. So it's always good to be on the other side and it's okay to throw away somebody else's kid, but not your kid.
And so I have to remind people, like everybody needs some space and grace. You're not going to let it go. We're not going to let things go.
No one's going to get away with fighting or drugs or consistently disrupting the educational environment, but we sure do know what's going to happen. It's predictable. I'm sure all your experiences, your experiences, but I remember distinctly even to this day about some of the people that were disruptive, some of the people that maybe caused fights or brought drugs onto a campus.
I remember those people. Can you? Can you remember those situations? So it's been going on forever. What we choose to do about it is how about we put it into the cycle of that continuously going on so that we can actually teach them so they can go off and be productive adults.
So that cycle stops because if we throw them away and then they go off and they don't have those skills, they become parents. Then they can teach that and that cycles through back again. And that's something about Shelton because people do know the stories about people in multigenerational.
They will tell me those stories. Oh yeah. Yeah.
I'm like, well, let's put us, let's work on this. Sure is easy to give it an excuse and move it onto the side. It is a lot harder to actually address it.
And that's why I go back to my staff who have been working really hard to build their skillset, to keep addressing it. And I know it's frustrating at times, but Shiloh's expecting us to take care of pride. And there's a parent that's sending this their best kid every day.
And our job is to do our best to serve them. And we've been great and fortunate with all the feedback and education that he's come along. And like I said, he's grown so much and I got to thank a lot to the district.
It's amazing. I think that's a great way to end it right there. Shiloh, thank you.
Wyeth, good to talk with you as always. And more of these conversations, you know, just kind of letting them know that the people are out there and they're working hard and they're trying to do the best for all the students in the district. Hey, maybe next time, Jeff, you can talk about your son since he's also a middle schooler.
Well, and I was, yeah, maybe next time we'll do that. Shiloh was it. Thanks a lot, Shiloh.
Nice to see you guys. All right.