Local News

Principal of Bend's Next HS Looks to the Future

BEND, OR -- Bend-La Pine Schools' new high school, under construction near the corner of Knott Road and 15th Street, in southeast Bend, needs its own identity. It'll be the fifth high school in Bend. Chris Boyd becomes Planning Principal for the new school on July first. He's currently Principal of Pacific Crest Middle School, which he helped open in Bend in 2015. There are a lot of similarities between his work at the middle school and what's to come, "We need to start the process of picking a school name and looking at school colors, because we want the physical environment of the building to reflect an identity and some of those emerging pieces that are part of a school culture."

 

Boyd says it's important that he start the process now, even though it'll be two years before students walk the halls, "Thinking about the enormity of a high school, there's the need to be on the ground from the beginning in that process; and they have begun the process - we are doing the excavation work at the site as we speak - so aligning those things is important."


His job is more than picking a mascot and  motto; although, those will come. Boyd says the culture is key to a school's success, "We need to bring a lot of different people together. When you're building culture, when you're building identity around something, there has to be a process in which multiple voices are at the table, and we're coming together and making some collaborative decisions." He tells KBND News, "Particularly thinking about ways in which the school can find greater ways of relevancy or connectivity across content areas, implementing career and technical implementation programs; there's a whole host of different programs we'll be looking at."

 

The yet-to-be-named southeast Bend high school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2021. Boyd says he's looking forward to what's ahead, "When you look at what makes a school really successful, it's having that clear and shared focus and purpose, and if you can establish that in a new school, you've got traction for years and years to come."

On Air Now

George Noorey
George Noorey
10:00pm - 12:00am
Coast to Coast

FlashAlert

KBND ON FACEBOOK

News Disclaimers