Roger Trail educated, experienced and ready to lead Royal School District

ROYAL CITY — When you look into the history of new Royal School District superintendent Roger Trail, you get a good picture of why the school board couldn’t turn him away.

Trail is academically prepared for education – teaching and administration – has plenty of experience, and he speaks Spanish like a native speaker from Mexico or South America.

In addition to that, Trail has seen much of the world. He has bicycled across Europe and South America. He has worked as a ski bum in Switzerland. He’s had an education-related business in Venezuela.

“I had an uncle who traveled a lot with USAID (like Peace Corps) and spent time in Central and South America,” Trail said. “I always found that to be interesting.”

The sense of world started not only with the uncle but also a cousin who was visiting other countries. And Trail’s family hosted an exchange student from Mexico when Trail was in seventh grade in Moscow, Idaho.

“I began to see Spanish as an important language in the U.S.,” he said.

Originally from Moscow, Trail is a 1984 graduate of Moscow High School. He enrolled immediately in the Ciclo Básico Diversificado (Diversified Basic Cycle) Jose´ Luis Ramos in Maracay, Venezuela, to study a year of humanities in 1984-1985.

Trail met his future wife at the CBD, where a number of students were grouped into a section and had the same study schedule. This group had 30 girls and 4 fours.

Yes, Venezuela is a country that produces international beauty pageant winners, and Trail got to see why. Soon a girl named Alba caught his eye, and he gravitated toward her. Their relationship blossomed over the next few years.

Trail’s first day in humanities class was memorable. He stuck out like a sore thumb with his blonde hair and blue eyes. The teacher happened not to be there that day. So the other students swamped him with “a ton of questions” at his desk.

Trail continued to explore his interest in Spanish and Hispanic cultures at the University of Granada in Spain, graduating with a diploma in Hispanic studies in 1988.

Then Trail went out to see more of the world. From 1989-1991, he crossed Europe and South America on his bicycle and worked in Zermatt, Switzerland as a ski bum.

Trail returned to Venezuela in 1991 supposedly to hone his Spanish speaking skills, but there was that other priority. He and Alba married in 1992.

While in Caracas, Trail worked for an education contractor, designing and teaching English as a Second Language training programs for major businesses. His clients included Proctor & Gamble and CANTV, the national phone service.

Trail went on his own in 1993, forming CAIRT (Centro Asesores de Idiómas Roger Trail). His principal contract for English as a Second Language training was Fábrica Nacional de Cementos (National Cement Company).

During his leisure, Trail enjoys spending time with Alba and their two boys. He also takes pleasure in snow and water skiing, mountain biking and basketball.

Trail’s first U.S. degree, from the University of Idaho, was a bachelor of arts in Spanish in 1989.

Trail received a bachelor of science in secondary education from Idaho in 1966. In 2002 he received a master’s in Spanish literature from the University of Oregon.

Trail’s initial administrator’s license came from the University of Northern Iowa in 2005. In 2014 he completed Washington State University’s superintendent’s program.

Trail started his education career as a teacher in Coos Bay, Oregon. He joined the Marshfield High School staff in 1996 as a Spanish teacher. He also taught Spanish and English as a Second Language during summer at Southwestern Oregon Community College (SOCC).

Trail has been a forensics coach and a sophomore class advisor, started the MHS Outdoor Club, led the Spanish Club on trips abroad, was the boys’ varsity basketball announcer and was a member of the PBS (Positive Behavior Systems) team.

Trail then became Foreign Language Department chair at Marshfield in 2001 and Dean of Students in 2004. Then he moved on to Clarkston as the assistant principal of curriculum and Instruction and served in that capacity until he was hired as principal of Clarkston High School for 2007-11.

In 2011 Trail became the executive director of human resources for the Clarkston School District and will finish this year at that post.