February 03rd, 2022

Gardner selected as next GAPS superintendent

   The Greater Albany Public Schools board voted 5-0 Thursday to select Andy Gardner as the district's next superintendent.
  Gardner, who has been the superintendent of the North Santiam School District since 2010, was one of two finalists for the GAPS job. The other candidate was Cydney Vandercar, interim superintendent of Eugene School District 4J.
  Gardner’s annual base salary will be $220,000 for July 1, 2022 through July 30, 2025. His contract was approved 4-1 Thursday, with board member Michael Thomson opposing it.
   Previous GAPS superintendent Melissa Goff was fired in July under a no-cause dismissal clause. Rob Saxton was appointed interim superintendent for a base salary of $150,000.
 From 2007 until 2010, he was the principal at Stayton Intermedidate/Middle School.  He served as the principal of Sublimity K-8 School from 2002 until 2007, and was the Stayton High School Athletic Director/Vice Principal from 1997 until 2002.  Prior to that, Gardner was a teacher and coach at Stayton High School from 1993 to 1997.  Gardner first came to Stayton in 1990 as a teacher and coach at Regis High School.
  He is a member of the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators’ Vision and Policy Work Group, and he serves on the Willamette Promise Advisory Board, which is dedicated to increasing the number of college-going students in the region.  He has served as an Executive Board Member for the Oregon School Activities Association since 2011, and was President of the board in the 2015-16 year. 
  Gardner grew up outside of John Day, graduating from Grant Union High School in John Day.  Gardner earned his bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from Western Oregon State College, and his Master of Arts in Teaching from Western Oregon University. 
​He and his wife Amber have two sons, Jake and Justin, who attend school in the North Santiam School District.

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