New Oakridge High School principal makes her debut: ‘I really like working with kids, advocating for kids and supporting them in graduating’ 

By MARK HOWARD/For The Herald — Oakridge Junior-Senior High School’s new principal, Tracy Ross, grew up in Oregon’s Washington County community of Aloha (pronounced “ah-lo-ah”) between Beaverton and Hillsboro, and says her love for teaching began at an early age.

 “I’ve always known I wanted to be a teacher,” she said in an interview with The Herald. “I was one of those kids who had the fake grade books back in elementary school. I used to set up classrooms with fake names and run class.”

 Ross played clarinet and was the band president at Hill High in Hillsboro where she graduated in 1991. She moved to Eugene when she was admitted into the School of Music at the University of Oregon. After graduating from the UO in 1996, she got her first job teaching in Harrisburg, where she taught band to grades 5-12 and taught general music to grades K-8.

 “I taught 12 classes a day, and that’s a lot. My little band was only nine kids when I started, and five of them were drummers.” She said, “And by the end of the first semester, we had almost 20 kids in band, and we marched in the little Harrisburg Christmas parade.”

 When you’re a band director, you’re also a counselor, administrator, a volunteer’

From there, she taught band at Sheldon High where she also oversaw ninth and tenth-grade advisory.

 “I was on the grassroots team to build an advisory program that is still there and quite successful.” She said, “I really enjoyed working with kids in this way, so I wanted to do it at a bigger level.”

 Ross was assistant principal at North Eugene High, Sheldon High and Spencer Butte Middle School. She said she spent most of her career at high school but having that experience at both middle school and high school made her a good fit to be principal at Oakridge. She said it was a unique opportunity to bring her skills to a 7-12 school.

 “It’s really great to build that community of seven through 12 in the same building,” she said. “I’m bringing all my high school experience, which is a lot, and also I like middle school kids.”

‘Some of these kids are coming in as 10th graders, and it was eighth grade in March when they left’

Ross liked the idea of going back to a smaller community and transitioning to a smaller school. She enjoys working with the staff at Oakridge and helping kids grow and become successful. 

“That’s kind of my thing,” she said.

 She said that keeping kids safe is her number one priority, and the biggest challenge of her transition has been implementing the COVID safety protocols which are described in the 2021-2022 reopening plan found on the Oakridge School District website. These include: proper face coverings; physical distancing; minimizing time standing in lines; education and implementation of hand hygiene; strategic placement of hand sanitizing stations; proper ventilation measures; and readily available screening testing, to name a few.

 “I survived the first week. I’m kind of done with all the COVID protocols.” She said, “But we’re here and we’re in person. The kids are just really excited to be here in person and to see their friends.”

‘To come back to school. To get a locker. To go to their classes. These are things that they’re excited about.’ 

Ross is enthusiastic about offering students the five Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs that are now available at Oakridge. These include woods, welding, health services, early childhood and business. This will be a refreshing change for students who, according to Ross, have been doing welding and woods in their homes.

“That’s something new this year that I brought that the teachers are super supportive of,” said Ross.

She said that seventh and eighth graders can take nine weeks of each CTE program within those two years. That gives them an opportunity to experience each class and continue with the one they choose. This is a way for kids to get on track with their interests.

 “That’s a lot to offer in a small school. It brings some challenges with scheduling, and kids kind of have to choose,” said Ross. “But we’re really excited to be able to offer that many CTE for our kids that not all of them are going to a 4-year school.”

‘The smoke has given us a challenge. We need it to rain, so any rain dances we can do would be great’  

 Despite the challenges of the COVID protocols, having to stay indoors because of the smoke and a lack of normalcy in their education experience, Ross has faith in her students’ ability to adapt.

 “Considering everything we’re up against, I think it’s going pretty well.” She said, “The kids are resilient. Maybe us adults are not as much, but kids are resilient. They’re coming back. They’re figuring it out. They may not like it, but they’re doing better than us adults.”

 As far as her transition into the community, Ross had only positive things to say.

“Parents are super supportive. The community is super supportive. Everyone wants their kids to be successful. And I’m figuring out all the good places to eat in town, getting lots of suggestions.” She said, “I’m just excited to be here and get to know people and get to know the community.”

Mark Howard is a graduate of the University of Oregon, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in cultural anthropology. Besides reporting and writing, he produces video and audio stories and is an experienced photojournalist.