Superintendent Vince Swagerty has served students since 1985 as a teacher, principal, and superintendent.  He graduated from Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon and then earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon in 1985 and his master’s degree from Portland State University in 2000.  He returns to the North Bend School District having served as the North Bend Middle School principal from 2007-2009.  Most recently, he led the Mitchell School District in eastern Oregon for five years from 2018-2023.  His wife, Valerie, is a long-time school employee serving as an educational assistant for most of her career and then as an administrative assistant in Mitchell.  His daughter, Melissa, is a 2009 North Bend graduate who currently is an educational assistant in the Wilsonville High School special education department.  His son, Matthew, recently finished his Speech Pathology program at Idaho State University and completing his clinical fellowship to obtain his Speech Pathology CCC.

Please call the North Bend District office at (541) 756-2521 or email mbrix@nbend.k12.or.us to setup a meeting.

Superintendent Board Report

June 5, 2025

Staffing

The North Bend School District is addressing the negative budget impacts of declining enrollment, increased personnel costs, and increased overhead costs. As we have shared in recent weeks, if we fail to address this issue, in two years we will have spent our ending fund balance and, if we take that approach, we will no longer be on stable financial footing.

Our plan to address these difficult financial challenges is to decrease staffing in the district primarily through attrition. However, we are transferring teachers to different buildings and/or grade levels as a part of our process.  The secondary level changes involve overall staff reductions in science, math, English language arts, social studies, Spanish, and music.  In our elementary schools, we will have grade level changes as well as changes in music.

Please understand that we will continue to offer programs in all of the subjects that will continue to meet the needs of our students.  The current financial environment in our nation and the State of Oregon really requires us to be fiscally conservative as we move forward while, at the same time, continue to offer an amazing education for our students.

Graduation

The Bulldog graduates of 2025 will cross the stage on Friday, June 6th, at 6:00 PM, capping 13 years of learning and growing.  I want to take this opportunity to congratulate each of them for reaching this milestone and wish them the best as they each embark on their own journey from this moment forward.  I also want to congratulate every educator who helped guide them along the way.  It takes a team of people all along the way to provide the support necessary to “grow” a graduate and our North Bend school team is truly amazing.  I also want to give a shout out to the parents, grandparents, guardians, friends, and any other important people who supported our graduates on their journey to this moment.  You, too, have been vital in making this day happen.  Congratulations to the Class of 2025!

Championships

Our band won their third straight State championship and their 7th overall State championship.  Reagan Farm repeated as the 1A/2A/3A/4A Girls Single’s Champion at the State tennis tournament.  She is hoping to “three-peat” next season to cap off an illustrious high school career.  Senior Owen Bascom won the individual title in the 4A State golf tournament shooting a 2 under 142.  He came from behind on the final day to shoot 4 under par and he is the first boy from North Bend to win a state championship.  Drew Hood had an incredible State track meet capped off with a championship trophy in the Javelin.  On the boys side, Miles Baxter  brought home a championship in the high jump. Congratulations to all of our spring champions.

School Board Elections

May 20th was election day and we would like to congratulate the four candidates who won their respective races and will serve as new school board members for North Bend beginning in July.  Congratulations to Megan Kronsteiner-Cahill, Julie B. Hale, Anna Huit, and Deanne Wiedenmann.  We look forward to your leadership as you serve on the North Bend Board of Directors.

Board Appreciation

The North Bend School District would also like to honor our four outgoing Board members who have faithfully served the District over the last several years.  Jim Jordan, Mary Schilling, Julie Thies, and Dallas Petenbrink have dedicated their time and energy to ensure that the students in North Bend have a wonderful educational experience.  I would like to thank them for their leadership and our District wishes each one of them great success.

Legislative Update

The Oregon legislature is now addressing the budget as they approach the end of the legislative session.  The good news is that they are funding school districts at the 11.4 billion dollar rate that the governor proposed at the beginning of the session.  The bad news is that since the most recent economic forecast in Oregon indicated a downturn in revenue, we are not likely to see additional funding associated with special education in the form of increasing the SPED cap above the 11% mark or significant increases in the high cost disability rate.  There are still other important education policy bills that are potentially on the table that we are keeping track of.  One of the policy bills that died was the cell phone ban bill so we will continue to have the freedom to develop a policy that best meets the needs of North Bend

Navigating a successful course for every student, every day, every way
1913 MEADE STREET • NORTH BEND. OREGON 97459-3432
Phone: (541) 756-2521 • Fax: (541) 756-1313
Superintendent Vince Swagerty