Category Archives: News Release

Obsidian Middle School art teacher Jennifer Moore was recently awarded the 2018-19 Oregon Art Education Association (OAEA) Middle Level Art Educator of the Year Award at the annual OAEA fall conference in Rockaway Beach, Ore.

OAEA serves as the professional organization for Oregon art teachers. Each year, they seek out exemplary educators in the profession to honor, according to Pat Roberts, art teacher at Pilot Butte Middle School in Bend and past president of OAEA.

“Jennifer is definitely worthy of our recognition this year,” Roberts said. “She constantly inspires other art educators with her commitment and dedication to her students, school and community.”

Now in her 20th year of teaching, Moore particularly enjoys working with middle schoolers because they are passionate about everything, and can be inspired to find success in art through effort and creativity, she explained.

“Jennifer is well loved by students, staff and families,” Obsidian Principal Tami Nakamura said. “She does so much more than teach art at Obsidian; Jen teaches students to think creatively, embrace uniqueness and celebrate differences. Students who …

Redmond High School (RHS) students will give six performances of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” from Oct. 26-28 and Nov. 2-4, 2018.

“Cartoonist Charles Schultz strikes the perfect balance between childhood joy and adult existential angst,” said Pat Tellinghusen, director of the musical and RHS drama coach. “Students are having a blast playing children and adults will enjoy the deeper themes. This musical appeals to people of all ages.”

Sophomore Jeffrey Richards plays the title role, the child-like Charlie Brown, who looks for meaning in life, and junior Laynie Peugh plays his nemesis, Lucy Van Pelt, who points out Charlie Brown’s every flaw, Tellinghusen explained.

The cast will perform excerpts from the musical for Redmond Early Learning Center kindergartners and hold a preview performance for elementary and middle school students in Redmond.

Tickets are available now at redmondhs.seatyourself.biz. Students pay $5, seniors pay $8 and adults pay $12. Children under five are admitted free of charge.

All performance times are scheduled for 7 p.m., except two matinees scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 28 and Sunday, Nov. 4 at 2 …

The Redmond High School (RHS) Theatre Department will present “American Horror Story,” a themed haunted house fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, or “Saturday the 13th.”

“The haunted house will include an anthology of rooms representing varying seasons of the FX horror television series,” Drama Teacher Hilda Beltran said. “Audiences can expect terrifyingly realistic characters as well as lighting effects, strobe, sound effects and special effects makeup.”

The entire show is 100 percent student-produced with theatre students portraying all characters. The event is both a fundraiser for the Thespian program and an introduction to technical theatre for students in Beltran’s Foundations of Theatre class.  

“The haunted house will take guests through high points of seven American Horror Story seasons,” Beltran explained. “The audience will enter in the ‘Asylum’ room, which features supernatural and scientific scares from the 2012 season, and will exit through the ‘Roanoke,’ where they will come across the ghost colony and cannibals featured in 2016.”  

Open for one-night only, admission costs $6 per guest for 18 and over, $4 for …

Theater students in Redmond will roll out seven original plays from blank page to theatrical stage in twenty-four hours beginning Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018, announced Pat Tellinghusen, Redmond High School (RHS) drama coach.

The 24/7 Invitational, formerly only an RHS event, now includes all three Redmond high schools this year, with Redmond Proficiency Academy (RPA) and Ridgeview High School participating in the challenge.

“This is like theater boot camp,” Tellinghusen explained. “We’ve had so much fun with this format at RHS the past two years, we wanted to get the other schools in on the game.”

The evening before the performance, seven student playwrights will receive their prompts and have eight hours to write a seven-minute play. The next morning at 6:00 a.m., the playwrights deliver their plays to seven directors who have two hours to plan before the cast and crew arrive. While the casts rehearse, the crew engages in a high stakes scavenger hunt to find the props, set and costumes for seven plays.

“This is instant and pure collaboration,” said RPA Theatre …

The Redmond School District (RSD) kicks off the 2018-19 school year on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018 with grades second through sixth and ninth grade beginning classes.  All other grades, except for kindergarten and first grade, begin school on Wednesday, Sept. 5. First graders begin on Thursday, Sept. 6 and Redmond Early Learning Center kindergartners begin a staggered start on Monday, Sept. 10 through Wednesday, Sept. 12.

“I’m very excited about the school year ahead and our district’s many opportunities to positively impact the lives of our students,” Superintendent Mike McIntosh said.

On Tuesday, Aug. 28, McIntosh addressed all district employees at a breakfast sponsored by Redmond Rotary and co-sponsored by Mid Oregon Credit Union and OnPoint Community Credit Union, where he emphasized a theme of hope and attentiveness to students who otherwise may end up neglected and shuffled through the system.

“Every single person in this gym has an important part to play in the upcoming months as we help shape young people’s lives and provide opportunities for them to receive a high quality education,” McIntosh …

After unanimous passage of a bond resolution for the November 2018 ballot, the Redmond School District Board of Directors is seeking applicants for a bond oversight committee to be formed if the bond passes in November.

The independent, citizen-led body will have charge of monitoring the planned improvements, progress, schedule and costs of the bond program. Additional responsibilities will include reporting quarterly to the board of directors and producing an annual report.

The board of directors will appoint interested volunteers to serve on the oversight committee at the October 24, 2018 board meeting.

To be considered for this committee, please fill out an application at Bond Oversight Committee Application. Hard copy applications can be returned to Gina Blanchette at 145 SE Salmon Dr. in Redmond or by email at gina.blanchette@redmondschools.org by 5 p.m. on October 10, 2018.

Additional information about the committee and responsibilities can be viewed at redmondschoolbond.org/bond-oversight-committee.

Reprinted from Bend Bulletin

When Redmond School District realized it had more than 4,000 electronic devices and laptops that needed to be programmed, fixed or scrapped for parts this summer, and not enough information technology staff to handle the workload, officials tried a new strategy: student interns.

According to Mike Nye, assistant director of instructional technology for the district,the plan has worked beautifully.

“They are more than kicking hiney,” Nye said of the four teenage interns. “I can’t say it enough of how impressed I am with their level of professionalism and skill.”

According to Nye, the district received slightly fewer than 20 applications for the tech internships, and four were chosen: incoming Redmond High School seniors Isaac Hathaway and Owen Goodrich, and recent graduates Joshua Hair and Nicholas Cantwell, who graduated from Redmond and Ridgeview high schools, respectively.

“We pretty much found a core of superstars,” Nye said. “These guys bubbled to the top, but everybody that applied for this were more than capable.”

The teens say they’re enjoying their $12-per-hour, …

The Redmond School District board of directors unanimously approved a resolution to place a bond measure on the November 6, 2018 ballot during their board meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018.

The almost $70 million bond package addresses safety and security upgrades and maintenance projects for every school building, and replaces M.A. Lynch Elementary with a new building.

“I’m pleased that the board took action to make our schools safer, extend the life of our buildings and make them more energy efficient,” Board Chair Tim Carpenter said. “Safe and modern schools help build our economy and community and will leave a legacy that outlasts all of us.”

Before the vote, district representatives went over the proposed bond project list, detailing projects that would include district-wide capital repairs and improvements to classrooms and school facilities, secure school entrances, upgrade or install security cameras, and the plan for full replacement of M.A. Lynch Elementary.

“I’m looking forward to partnering with the board and community to pass the bond in November,” Superintendent Mike McIntosh said. “The bond’s success …

The Redmond School District is offering a new online verification process for middle and high school students beginning Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018.  

Called ParentVue, the system allows for secure updates to student records and eliminates the traditional hard copy version that was mailed or sent home with students.   

“We’re looking forward to streamlining our records verification process and making the procedure more convenient for parents,” said Tracie Renwick, director of secondary education.  “This system will help us ensure accuracy and timeliness of important information for families, such as parent email addresses and emergency contact information.”

Parents can login to ParentVue at redmondparents.org and sign in with their username and password. They will need to click the “registration” tab once logged in. If parents have questions about this process, they are welcome to contact their student’s school office. Parents are asked to inform their student’s school immediately if contact information changes during the school year.