Dennis Hoerner
"Along the way, I coined the phrase, 'The Little School with the
Big Heart," says Dennis Hoerner, who retired in June after 20 years as
Head of School at Wellsprings Friends School, a nonprofit alternative
high school for students who aren't comfortable in large public
schools. "Our maximum is 60 students. Two of the teachers hired in my
second year are still there, even though the salary scale is low." A
native of Buffalo, New York, Hoerner studied at Harper College and
Rutgers, but came back for a bachelor's and later a doctorate in
English from his hometown University of Buffalo. He taught
English for 13 years at Kanazawa University in Japan. "In my
second year, my wife and I were injured in an auto accident," he says.
"She died, and I was left with two- and six-year-old daughters. I felt
obligated to stay and fulfill my contract." When he did return, Hoerner
taught for six years at Lindsey Williams College in Kentucky. His
younger daughter returned to Kanazawa and still lives there, while his
older daughter studied at the University of Oregon. "She told me that
Eugene was the right place to be," he says. "I came in '98 and found
that English teachers are a dime a dozen. When I discovered Wellsprings
in 2000, it was a dream come true." He was hired as a half-time English
teacher and half-time administrator, then became Head of School in
February of 2001. The framed photograph he holds shows Rachel
Wolfe-Goldsmith, a California Bay Area artist and a 2008 Wellsprings
graduate, seated in front of one of her murals in South Eugene.
Hoerner's successor as Head of School is former Wellsprings teacher
Dante Zúñiga-West, more recently Dean of Humanities for Twin Rivers
Charter School.
happening people
photograph and story by Paul Neevel
Eugene Weekly / 17 September 2020
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