EPHRATA — Rock Witte, Ephrata School District’s maintenance and facilities director, was named the 2020 Regional Classified School Employee of the Year for the education service district that encompasses North Central Washington.

It was an award well-earned by Witte, not only for his more than 30 years of service to the school district, but also for his broader involvement in the elderly and disabled community, said ESD Superintendent Timothy Payne, who nominated Witte. Payne, who has worked with the district for just over a year now, saw Witte’s dedication early on, Payne said, not only for Witte’s creative and tireless work on the district’s schools, but also in his work building ramps for people who are wheelchair-bound with the Lions Club.

“He is just a first-class, service-oriented person,” Payne said.

“Even this morning, he said (the maintenance department works) in the comfort business, that we need to make these people comfortable so they can help our kids,” Payne added. “That’s just a fantastic understanding about why his field exists.”

The ninth of 12 children raised on a small farm west of Ephrata, Witte grew up with a sister who lost limbs to childhood diabetes and another sister who worked as a special services teacher in Alaska. He learned to work with his hands, and he learned to work to make life a little easier for those with disabilities.

Raising his own six children and with abysmal hay prices, Witte turned to the Ephrata School District, where he had himself gone to school, for work. There, he was hired by Larry MacGuffie, who is a former superintendent and currently the chair of the North Central Educational Service District, the agency that received the district’s nomination for Witte and itself nominated him for a statewide award.

MacGuffie hired Witte as a custodial substitute in 1985, where he worked before moving into the maintenance department to work on the new school being built at the time. When that work ran out, MacGuffie asked him to come on as a special needs paraprofessional to help a sixth-grade student with muscular dystrophy.

“He’s always been very kind to disabled people, and he’s kind of a healer,” MacGuffie said in an interview. “If someone needs a ramp in our community, he’s always the first one to help.”

Later, Witte returned to the maintenance department and worked his way up to become the department’s director, where, MacGuffie said, he has had a hand in virtually every project the district has had since.

“I got here at a time when there was so much work to do,” Witte said. “I like that diversity – I don’t want to just work somewhere and do the same thing every day. And being part of the maintenance department in the school system, you can come in the morning with a plan for the day, and by 9 your plan has completely changed.”

Witte also works with high school students, and occasionally with recent graduates, on work programs to give them hands-on experience in landscaping, welding or doing other maintenance work. This is part of the reason why Ephrata has relatively little graffiti and vandalism at its schools, he said, because those students are invested in the quality of their schools and help keep watch. Students – or parents – interested in the program can talk to their school counselors, Witte added.

“Rock is one of my most favorite people,” MacGuffie said. “He’s very comfortable in his own skin and is good with all kinds of people.”

MacGuffie recalls a conference the district had sent Witte to, in which they were winning an award for the quality of the carpet that had been maintained over decades.

“He stood up and says, ‘I’ll tell you why I won this award,’” MacGuffie said. “He points at the manufacturer and says, ‘They make a good product.’ Then he points to another company, ‘Those people came in and laid it down really well.’

“Then he said, ‘And I, myself, I have three good ol’ farmboys, and we know how to take care of things. That’s why the carpet lasted,’” MacGuffie said, chuckling.

That mixture of can-do attitude and insistence on crediting others for their contributions are hallmarks of Witte’s leadership, MacGuffie said.

“He understands relationships, and he’s a cheerleader for everyone who works for him,” MacGuffie added. “He’s a great leader and an even better person.”

Emry Dinman can be reached via email at edinman@columbiabasinherald.com.