BEND, OR -- Bend’s newest high school doesn’t have a principal yet, nor a name, but the building’s design is nearly finalized. Bend-La Pine Schools Assistant Superintendent Lora Nordquist says it will feature a variety of learning and gathering spaces, "Our high schools in Bend now, all have large commons area that are gathering spaces  for kids, in particular. But, what we saw in the schools that we really liked, as we toured, and what we heard from students and staff, was to have a number of different kinds of spaces – smaller, more informal collaboration spaces; as well as some larger spaces throughout the school, not just in one place." Some classrooms will also have transparent walls, partly in an effort to utilize natural light. But, she says the goal is to also inspire other students. "So, a student might be walking by a science lab and be able to see inside and think, ‘Wow! That looks really neat; I wonder what they’re doing in there.’ Or an art class or a CTE lab." Click HERE for a virtual tour. 

Nordquist tells KBND News the new school at SE 15th and Knott Road will be much like the other large schools in Bend, "We are going to be locating our high school dual immersion program at the new high school. But it will be, aside from that program, a neighborhood school. It’s going to be about the same size as Bend High, Mt. View and Summit High School."

The design should be finalized this spring, with construction to start by summer. And then, she says, the hard work begins, "We just finished up – or are finishing up, when our Superintendent finalizes a recommendation – on our boundary process for elementary schools. We will start the process then at looking at our middle and high schools, next year, and finish that by spring of 2020. High school boundaries are the hardest because, once a high school student has started school, or even an eighth grader who’s dreamed forever of going to ‘X’ or ‘Y’ high school, and then we change the boundaries; it’s tough." The naming process won’t begin until after the Principal is selected. Nordquist expects that person will be in place by July first. The school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2021.