The West Linn-Willsonville School Board, Superintendent Kathy Ludwig, David Pryor, Enrique Guillen and Pat McGough. (Mac Larsen / West Linn Tidings / Wilsonville Spokesman)

If you added the combined school district experience of custodial supervisor Enrique Guillen, Chief Operations Officer Pat McGough and Assistant Superintendent David Pryor together, it would equal almost 90 years. 

“I think I’m still in denial that this is happening tonight,” Superintendent Kathy Ludwig.  

Pat McGough  leaves district prepared 

McGough has worked for the district for 25 years since moving from Anchorage School District in Alaska. 

McGough was hired to manage facilities that spanned two municipalities with varying conditions and ages. In 2019 he became chief operations officer — right before the school district faced one of its greatest challenges in the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“I would often turn to members of our executive team and comment, ‘I don’t know where we’d be without Pat,’” said Ludwig. 

McGough quickly scrambled the district’s technology resources with Chief Technology Officer Curtis Nelson to support 9,000 students’ remote learning. 

“Thank you very much for the kind words. 25 years, there’s been a lot of change, but I can’t think of a place that I’ve had truly more fun working, solving problems, moving everything forward. But what you should be excited about is the future; the future’s in this room, and the people that will lead this district are here now and the outlook is bright for the district,” said McGough. 

Enrique Guillen is West Linn-Wilsonville’s superman  

Truly a less-sung hero of the school district, Guillen has worked for the school district for 24 years and became custodial supervisor in 2021. 

“All the time, my goal was to make the schools safer and cleaner for the kids and staff,” said Guillen. “This school district was my second home. A second family – and behind me I have the support of a great team, they made my job easier.” 

Guillen is a problem-solver and many noted his ability to be anywhere and everywhere. 

“When Enrique let me know that he was thinking about retiring I said, ‘That’s it. I’m out of here. So he’s the catalyst for all of this,’” McGough joked. 

In his role, Guillen oversaw more than 30 custodial and engineers across all 17 district schools. He began his WLWV career at Sunset Primary, the same year that Superintendent Ludwig started as principal. 

“It only took a few moments of working with Enrique for me to know that I had a colleague I could trust and I could count on no matter what,” said Ludwig. “Enrique shows a leadership in schools that is more popular with students than some of their favorite teachers. He quickly earned the name Superman among young students.” 

David Pryor says goodbye to the ‘best place to work’

It is rare for a teacher to stay in the same district where they began their career.

“David would often tell me, ‘this is the best place to work. I believe in the mission, and I love this district and the people. Why would I leave?’” said Ludwig. “The core of David’s strengths is his student-centered vision and his ability to communicate complex systems and actions with clarity, thoughtfulness, positive presumption and a spirit of collaboration.” 

Pryor started his career as a student teacher at Willamette Primary School and was offered his first teaching job there in 1995. 30 years later he has continued to lead in the district as a primary school instructional coordinator, principal and  assistant superintendent for primary schools since 2016. 

“There’s a lot of talent going out of the door,” said board member Dan Schumaker. “David, it’s always seemed to me that your secret is that you believe so much in other people.” 

Over the course of his 30 years with the district, Pryor managed the opening of new primary schools as West Linn and Wilsonville grew and changed. 

“It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was being hired to teach, and I remember thinking someone made a mistake, because everyone’s smarter than me in the building — and students included. And you know, that never changed. Regardless of what role I had, I felt like everyone around me (was) brilliant and had such integrity, and that’s what kept me in the organization,” said Pryor.