IMESD Announces New Hires

The InterMountain Education Service District recently announced the hiring for two positions.

Tonya Smith is the new director of Regional Programs and Related Services. Jerry Copeland is the new director of Human Resources. Both will work from the IMESD Pendleton office.

“It is with great pleasure we welcome Tonya Smith into her new position. She has already been an asset to the IMESD, and we know that she brings a wealth of skills and administrative talents to our organization,” said Mary Apple, assistant superintendent of the IMESD.

“Jerry Copeland brings to the IMESD a wealth of experience in education—from the classroom to administration to human resources. We are looking forward to the contributions he will make to our organization,” said IMESD Superintendent Dr. Mark Mulvihill.

Smith’s position oversees IMESD’s areas of speech-language pathology, autism, deaf and hard of hearing, audiology, vision, nursing and occupational and physical therapy.

Smith was born and raised in Eastern Oregon and has always had a passion for working in education in a rural setting. Her education and career path have provided experience in speech/language pathology, behavioral health, vocational education, autism and administration. In a previous job, Smith was involved in development of the widely used Oregon Intervention System (OIS) that addresses behavioral supports, including crisis intervention.

Smith earned her master of science in education through University of Oregon, where she also gained education experience for an initial administrator license. She also has a bachelor’s of science in liberal studies from Oregon State University. Smith has been employed as an autism consultant with IMESD for the past three years.

Copeland brings to his new IMESD position 29 years of experience in public education. He is the former superintendent for the Athena-Weston School District. During his career, he has worked as a business teacher, high school assistant principal, elementary principal, assistant superintendent and director of human resources and instruction, in such places as Arlington and Harrisburg, and for the Pendleton School District.

“Jerry brings to the IMESD a wealth of experience in education — from the classroom to administration to human resources. We are looking forward to the contributions he will make to our organization,” said Mulvihill.

Copeland is the current president of the Oregon Small Schools Association and the Eastern Region Director of the Oregon School Personnel Association. He was named in 2013 as the Weston Educator of the Year and was a recipient of the Doug Flatt Memorial Leadership Award in 2010. He has two undergraduate degrees from Eastern Oregon State College (EOU) and a master’s degree in business education from Oregon State University.