Former TA grows into new role at Newby

Starla Pointer/News-Register##Marie Palacios, right, discusses her classroom setup with Robin McKinney, special programs assistant at Newby Elementary School. Palacios has been an assistant for seven years, but this year will be the special programs teacher.

Soon after Marie Palacios joined the McMinnville School District as a teaching assistant, she realized she wanted more.

“Working with kids is amazing,” she said to herself. “This is what I want to do.”

She set a goal of becoming a licensed teacher like her husband, Erik Palacios, who works in the Dayton School District; her sister-in-law, Aimee Joy Palacios Kelly in West Linn/Wilsonville; and father-in-law, Marty Palacios, who retired as assistant principal of Duniway Middle School a few years ago.

Palacios enrolled in college courses in education. But between full-time work and spending time with her own children, she could only take a class here or there.

“Time was tight,” she said.

After the pandemic hit, colleges began offering more courses online, a great benefit for Palacios. She said she was able to take more courses while also working full-time and caring for her family.

In addition, she was able to do her student teaching while continuing to work, thanks to the school district’s “Grow Your Own” program. The program supports staff members who want to earn teaching certificates.

The district also has a program to encourage McMinnville High School graduates to become teachers and guarantees them a job interview after they’ve graduated.

With online classes and the district’s support, Palacios has achieved her goal: She is a full-time teacher.

She will welcome students to her own classroom at Newby Elementary School on Monday.

“I’m so excited,” she said.

Palacios will run the special programs classroom, which is for students who are not able to be in their classrooms for at least 40% of the time.

“They have a variety of high needs, and some are on the cusp of returning to their general classrooms,” she said.

She’s eager to get to know her new students. “We want them to be the most successful they can be, she said.