Growing up, Luis Jara never thought he’d leave Florida, but only four short months ago he found himself driving across the country to a new state.
Jara’s journey took him through West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and Utah, among other states. As he drove through Idaho, mountains reminiscent of the Andes rose around him, reminding him of his childhood. Finally, after six days of driving, Jara arrived in Oregon. “I had not seen mountains or the Pacific coast in 19 years!” he says. “Everything is flat in Florida.”
Having lived in the Sunshine State since he was 14, Jara’s decision to leave was not an easy one.
Jara immigrated to the United States from Peru in his early teens and quickly acclimated, settling in Miami, Florida. “Miami is a melting pot,” he says. “Hispanics are a culture of community.” Despite this, he says, “It is very difficult to come to this country.” Not long after his arrival in Miami, Jara had to learn English and begin applying to college.
The college application process was not as accessible as it is today when Jara was applying. He recalls that at the time, the resources for aspiring college-bound immigrants were virtually nonexistent. “When I was growing up and the background that I was in, none of that was available to me,” he says. “You guys are blessed with how much support you have.”
Jara first attended Miami Dade College and received his Associate of Arts in computer engineering. He then pursued a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Biopharmaceuticals. Jara says, “My best college experience was landing an internship at University of Miami’s Institute for Human Genomics.” There, he learned various lab techniques and used bioinformatics tools. The internship proved to be a great opportunity and something that Jara recommends for students who plan on attending college.
Despite his academic successes, Jara says, “I struggled in school, and switched majors, and had to persevere and it was difficult to get a job, but here I am.” His most recent degree is his master’s in Educational Leadership from the University of West Florida, which he received in 2020.
Jara’s own experiences with the education system have molded his teaching philosophy today. “I am here to help,” he says. “An administrator’s role is not punitive and not to get on your case but to be sure you are successful and that you are safe.” Jara seeks to guide
students through developing an understanding of their needs and fostering connections. “I take a big interest and I follow up with them to see if everything is going well,” he says.
In the beginning of his career, Jara taught mainly math and science. Then, he says, “I had the opportunity during Covid to move up to management.” As a district support person, Jara provided professional development training and showed teachers how to use software and streamline instruction. Jara says that “listening to what teachers need and supporting them after giving them the tools (they need to succeed),” was his main goal.
In January 2023, Jara was given the position of assistant principal at Miami-Dade Virtual School. The Miami-Dade school district has around 300,000 students in total; in comparison, the Portland Public Schools (PPS) district has roughly 30,000 students. With that many students, the amount of work necessary to oversee the student body was difficult and stressful for Jara to manage.
As an educator of eight years, Jara saw how new legislation and political attitudes in Florida were adversely affecting his students. In March 2022, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed into law the “Parental Rights in Education” bill, more commonly known by the term “Don’t Say Gay.” The act made national headlines for its extremely radical and discriminatory restrictions on educating students about LGBTQ+-centered topics. Teachers faced a dilemma — teach kids how to accept themselves, or submit to the state and refuse to talk about queer centered matters. “Florida is going through some things and it is affecting students and immigrants and the LGBTQ community,” Jara says.
These rules and regulations on teachers violated Jara’s core values. He didn’t see a way he could be in a position of power, follow his beliefs of acceptance and understanding and enforce these new regulations all at the same time. “Administration should be here to help, not scare,” he says. Jara and his wife felt it was time for a change.
This decision led Jara to apply for a vice principal position in PPS, to which he was later accepted. After a meeting with Grant Principal James McGee, Jara was hired at Grant High School. He knew that the school’s location was going to be a great place for a fresh start in the Pacific Northwest.
After being at Grant for only a couple of months, Jara is not yet sure how he will apply his diverse set of skills to the new environment: “As I get to understand things better I will have a better approach.” In accordance with this, Jara has an open-door policy, meaning students are free to enter his office and talk to him at any time during the day.
“I want you to know that we (the Grant administration) are very caring people and we are here not to make your life miserable, but to support you and make sure you are developing into your potential,” says Jara. He makes it clear that he is always here to help, but he says, “We won’t know until you talk to us.”
Jara says, “Lima, Peru, is very similar to Portland in that the weather is the same and has the same temperature and humidity.” The parallels between Lima and Portland give Jara a feeling of nostalgia. Jara, who often does outdoorsy activities, says it helps that Portland is a very green place. He finds the natural sites of the Pacific Northwest to be calming; hiking has been one of the ways for him to remember his home and his family.
In his free time, Jara enjoys solving puzzles and listening to a variety of music genres. In Miami, Jara would frequent harmonic and power metal shows. Additionally, Jara says, “I watch anime and play video games.”
When speaking with Jara, he showed a video of a three-dimensional music box puzzle, one of his favorite things he has built. On his recent stop in Seattle, Washington, during his summer road trip to Portland, Jara purchased a LEGO model of the Space Needle. It now sits, assembled, in the window of his new office at Grant. In addition to LEGOs, Jara’s office is decorated with bonsai trees, anatomy and physiology textbooks, inspirational quotes and pictures of him and his wife.
While Jara puzzles together his life in a new city with a new job, he hopes to lead Grant into a productive and meaningful period of growth. Throughout Jara’s life, he has paid homage to those who have helped him along the way. Looking to extend this support to his students, Jara says, “I look forward to meeting all of you and learning from you so that we may work and grow together in harmony.”
