After completing her student teaching under Andy West, and over seven years of teaching here, Jessica Wray, English teacher, is leaving for Franklin High School in Southeast Portland.

“I have a connection that works at Franklin, he reached out to me and said, are you at all interested in teaching Portland, as you live in Portland?” Wray said, regarding her decision to leave the school. 

Wray chose to accept the position as a freshman, sophomore and Career Exploration teacher at Franklin for multiple reasons.

“One is that I live in Southeast Portland, and it’s so much closer. So that’ll save me a lot of time getting to and from work,” Wray said. “I am also interested in living in the community that I teach in, which is something that I haven’t done yet. And the position that I mentioned is slightly different than the one here, and the next step for me and my teaching career.” 

Leaving however, was not a smooth process.

“It was too hard to pass up. And it’s certainly not ideal, I would have preferred to, you know, finish the year and then transition over the summer. But that’s not when the job was available,” Wray said. 

But despite the late departure, Wray leaves optimistic for her future at Franklin High School.

“I just hope it’s a place that I stay for, you know, just as long as I’ve been here and quality of life, having more time to be with my family,” Wray said. 

Wray’s position here, won’t be filled by a substitute while the school finds a replacement, as Kevin Kloth is ready to fill her shoes.

“I just love that my job is working with people all day long. It’s not sitting in front of a computer all day long or something else where I’m not building these relationships.” Kloth said. A native of the eastern United States, he moved to Oregon recently because his wife, a doctor, who had a job here.

Before Wray left for the last time, however, she had one final thing to say to the school:

“Thank you. Just thank you.”