In 2018, Bend-La Pine Schools leased a warehouse to hold both Realms High and the now-closed Skyline High School. Going into the 2026–27 school year, the lease is no longer financially viable for the district. Realms Middle School will be moving to Buckingham Elementary’s campus, while Realms High school will be joining Bend Tech. 

Instead of determining which students attend based on their proximity to the school, all students in Bend-La Pine Schools are eligible to attend Deschutes River High by entering a choice option lottery. The lottery currently has an ongoing waitlist. Students who are presently attending Bend Tech or Realms will be automatically offered a spot at the new school if they choose to attend. 

The school’s new name, Deschutes River High School, was chosen back in February. Using suggestions from the community and staff at both schools, a committee was formed to present the top three names to the Bend-La Pine School Board. The name was chosen because of the Deschutes River’s proximity to the high school and its timelessness.

Deschutes River High will offer both Bend Tech’s CTE program, made up of four academies that provide students with hands-on training and certifications for careers in health science, STEM engineering, construction and business. The CTE program will be interwoven with Realm’s experiential learning model, which centers on providing project-based, hands-on learning to enable students to contribute to a better world.

The school will be under the leadership of Bend Tech’s current principal, Latisha Clark, and Realm’s vice principal Zach Harju. 

“We get to explore new things and new ways of learning, teaching and thinking,” said Clark. “Bringing Bend Tech and Realms together into a single high school could bring the best of them both and ensure the Bend Tech campus is fully utilized.” 

The post Realms and Bend Technical Academy Combine to Form New High School appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

Started in 2017 under a few feet of snow, the now annual FungiFest has attracted all kinds of attendees, with the goal of educating people about — you guessed it — mushrooms! According to the National Library of Medicine, society has a large distrust and fear of mushrooms, called mycophobia, and spread rumors about their deadly toxins. This comes despite only 2% of known mushrooms being toxic. The Central Oregon Mushroom Club aims to set this record straight through their mushroom talks, presentations and museum-like exhibits all featured at FungiFest.

The first thing many notice at the Fungi-Festival — or rather, before the fest — is that there’s nowhere to park. It was hosted at the Sunriver Homeowners’ Aquatic and Recreation Center, which offered 200 parking spots. However, overflow parking was still required at a nearby church. Volunteers said it’s the most people they’ve seen at the event yet. One volunteer, Don Carter, discussed the changes they made this year to accommodate. 

Carter has volunteered at the festival for the last five years with his daughter. Back then, the festival ran out of the Sunriver Observatory, “but obviously it outgrew that location,” he said. This year, Carter was in charge of running an art station for kids to paint, teaching them that mushrooms are friends and not to be feared.

But why has the FungiFest been such a hit with locals? It is truly a mushroom-lover’s paradise, with mushroom coffee, mushroom ice cream and even a mushroom marketplace. However, Carter believes there’s more to it than just excitement. 

“People are curious,” he said. “And I think now more than ever people are trying to play more of a role in where their food is coming from.” 

The quality of the food available in stores is becoming a growing concern for Americans across the country. People have been calling into question the dangers of using pesticides and other chemicals. Just last year, the Charles Boggini Company recalled three different sodas from businesses because several of their additives, including preservatives and dyes, were linked to cancer. 

Redmond High School student Lyric Campbell attended the event with their father and said that chemical processes are important to prevent food from going bad but the manufacturers “don’t have anyone’s best interests at heart.”

Clearly, people have concerns about the use of preservatives in their food, but don’t have an alternative. Campell stated that organic foods are too expensive to be a reliable option, especially for people in low-income situations. 

Popular retailers like Safeway typically demand an extra 40 to 60% for organic produce. Therefore, if someone wanted to save money, get outside, and be more confident in the quality of their food? Then going mushroom foraging seems like a great alternative! Carter believes this fits with “Central Oregon’s unique outdoor culture” and is part of the reason why FungiFest is bringing in so many people year after year.

Ultimately, Sunriver’s FungiFest is a place where outdoors hobbyists and people looking to learn can gather. While there, one would be hard pressed to find a place where a kid wasn’t running around having fun painting or playing with a magnifying glass. The event cultivates a sense of curiosity for all ages. While at first the lectures can seem boring, the level of passion these people have for fungus is enviable. With such big numbers this year, it’s clear FungiFest won’t be going anywhere and could be a Central Oregon tradition for years to come.

The post Central Oregon’s FungiFest Teaches Oregonians to Fetch Their Own Food appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

In just a couple of hours, one of Caldera’s student and counselor-led clubs attracted a wave of people, selling out entirely. The club, Cultural Legacy, was started just three years ago by counselor Morgan Davis. As Caldera is a Spanish immersion school, the club was provided to express a great amount of love and acceptance no matter one’s ethnicity, hoping to unite a variety of students to learn and share about themselves through practices and experiences. 

Cultural Legacy’s table was filled with plenty of food and drinks, provided homemade by student members and their families. Daisy Noeli Chavez, a club leader shared, “our table was a complete success thanks to all the hard work and dedication of our advisors, Veronica Trejo, Morgan Davis and Liz Vargas.”

The club’s table stood out with a variety of decorations, representing Latin countries’ traditional colors and symbols. Many attendees returned multiple times to come back for seconds on their favorite dishes and to chat with students about the club and its purpose at Caldera. 

Authentic Hispanic foods such as empanadas, pozole, Fresca con crema, chicharrones and tamales all sold out at the table, with the club raising a total that day of $1,090.

“I was really happy with our results at the end of the day. I am not surprised people purchased so much of our food because the meals were delicious and our students did an extraordinary job making them,” said Morgan Davis, the team’s head advisor. 

“However I was pleasantly surprised by how much money we ended up making as our goal was to make $500 and we exceeded the expectations,” Davis continued.

The vibes brought to the table helped influence a more cultural environment, rather than feeling like a regular school fundraiser. Members that attended the event with their families to help out preparing the food include Noeli Chávez, Ulises Ventura Santos, Samantha Giovanna Roise, Herandy Ramírez Solorio, Hannah Alicia Lopez and Stefany Guadalupe Tello Ruíz. 

The money raised at the event will help club members go on future field trips to colleges, such as Central Oregon Community College, Oregon State University and Portland-area community colleges. The money will also provide more event opportunities at school like Latino family night, uniting those of Hispanic background and creating a welcoming learning environment to those coming from middle school. 

The post Student Vendors at Caldera Make an Impact appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

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According to the directive, which bypassed earlier legislative failure in the state senate, policies must be adopted by Oregon schools before Oct. 31, then fully implemented by January. 

“This is more of a surface-level fix rather than a real preventative measure at the root of the problem,” said Matt Fox, a visual design teacher at Bend Senior High School.

Fox and other critics argue that the ban misses the real problems, such as the youths’ addiction to their phones and lack of a solid attention span. They explain that developing digital relationships and media literacy is necessary before the bans are established. 

According to Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, the average person’s attention span has decreased from two and a half minutes to just 47 seconds over the last 20 years. This shift has impacted how students are able to learn, making it harder to understand complex topics or connect ideas. 

Some Oregon schools, like Bend’s Cascade Middle School, have already enacted bans. Fox noted that students with prior exposure to phone-free days struggle less with devices in high school. 

“Freshmen who have had cellphone bans in middle school have less of an issue with phones,” he explained.

Schools that have enacted similar bans have also found positive results, reflected by increasing engagement and social interaction. But educators like Fox are concerned about the lack of students’ involvement in these decisions. 

“I don’t like the idea of kids being on their phones during lunch and passing periods, not interacting and not being human,” said Fox. “But we didn’t ask students about this, there was a real lack of student voice in how this was structured.” 

When students were asked about how this order will impact their upcoming year, they expressed worries surrounding necessary communication with their peers and parents.

“I rely on my phone for communication related to club meetings, sports and other school activities,” said Kira Woodford, a rising senior at Bend Senior High School. “I think it’ll be really difficult to have the same quality in my extracurricular activities without the ability to message my peers.”

While students like Woodford worry about this policy’s practical application, educators like Fox point out that it misses the opportunity to teach students about real life responsibility.

“We’re not preparing students for the real world,” Fox said. “You need a chance to practice cellphone restriction with some guardrails in play, but not like this, where you can’t have phones at all.” 

Even in Fox’s visual design classes, phones are necessary to make calls to organize meetings, send emails and even to download images onto the school’s computers.

Fox also points to a problem beyond the classroom: the need to replace the entertainment and social connection that cellphones give students. He worries that if we suddenly rob them of this support, we will see a rise in mental health-related issues.

“We need to have more time to socialize and play games, like open gym and recess,” said Fox. He strongly recommends that the schools give screen-free alternatives that will drive social connection. 

But others, like Dr. Jared Conney, a neuroscientist and author, applauded Governor Kotek’s bold action. 

“Once phones are gone, schools gain the equivalent of one to six extra hours of instructional time per week,” Conney said. “Students are more focused, teachers are more engaged, and everyone is more connected.”

Time will tell if this research rings true in Oregon schools.

The post Kotek’s Cellphone Ban Raises Concerns appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

Sawyer, a dedicated member of the Caldera High School staff, serves alongside two other hall monitors with the primary responsibility of keeping students safe. Her presence is imperative to the school’s security, she said, and she takes her role seriously.

“Me and two other individuals are in charge [of] the safety of every single human being in that school,” said Sawyer, who reported walking around 20,000 steps each day and referred to herself as the “mistress of detention.”

However, over the past several years, Sawyer has found it increasingly difficult to carry out her responsibilities. Since the pandemic, she has noticed a significant rise in behavioral concerns, leading to feelings of burnout among both educators and support staff.

Additionally, underfunding in schools and Bend’s high cost of living have left many employees with financial worries. Sawyer, for example, earns $23.04 an hour compared to an average income of $31.74 in the city of Bend. As a part-time employee, her gross salary is only $23,943 per year.

“It would be a huge morale boost for us to get paid fairly,” Sawyer explained.

Achieving fair pay is a primary objective in the current bargaining process between Bend-La Pine Schools and the Bend Education Association (BEA) and Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA), unions representing local educators and support staff. This spring, school district officials and union representatives have met to discuss a variety of issues in local schools, but salaries have remained at the center of negotiations.

As this process unfolds, many are left wondering why Bend-La Pine Schools would choose to black out the message on Sawyer’s shirt. According to Scott Maben, Director of Communications for Bend-La Pine Schools, the answer lies in the context of the event.

“In our view, the statement detracts from the primary purpose of Excellence in Education, which is to recognize a select group of educators and support staff who go above and beyond in the work they do in our schools,” said Maben.

Sawyer, however, has a very different view on the matter. With concerns regarding compensation and workload hanging over the school district, she felt that a ceremony recognizing incredible employees was the perfect time to draw attention to the common issues faced by the honorees.

“Good people are getting burnt out, truly,” Sawyer emphasized. “And I’m one of them.”

In Sawyer’s eyes, Bend-La Pine Schools’ choice to post the edited — in her opinion, censored — photos shows a refusal to recognize the complex issues faced by public school employees.

“It’s cowardice to [avoid talk of pay inequity] instead of embracing that this is a conversation that we need to have and being bold and trying to make sure that your employees are being taken care of,” Sawyer explained.

While the district’s funding is largely determined at the state level, Sawyer feels that the school district’s decision to erase the message on her shirt demonstrates a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to work alongside school employees in pursuit of a brighter, more equitable future.

The post Bend-La Pine Schools Conceals Call for Increased Pay appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

The Tower Theatre has been a pillar of Bend culture and entertainment since its opening on March 6, 1940. A symbol of hope and pride for the community, featuring sleek art deco design elements and the Northwest’s first dual projection system, the theatre flourished for its first 40 years. However, due to the increasing accessibility of home televisions and drive-in movies, the theater suffered declining ticket sales and fell into disarray. 

After a period of unsuccessful ownership by the City of Bend, the Tower Theatre Foundation, a community based nonprofit, raised enough funds to repurchase the theatre in 2001. The Tower finally reopened on Jan. 30, 2004, boasting nods to the art deco flourishes of a bygone era and modernized amenities. 

This series will provide an amazing opportunity to honor a Bend institution which has cultivated the arts, community and culture of our town for 85 years. Join the Tower in celebration with accessible prices, birthday cake and an opportunity to jump into the past to enjoy familiar classics. 

The post Tower Theatre Celebrates 85 Years appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

More than 300 people gathered at Drake Park in downtown Bend on Jan. 18 to speak out about their fears and frustrations. The Uniting Our Voices event was inspired by The National People’s March and Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. 

It was a brisk morning with sunny skies, people were bundled up in warm clothing. A myriad of people of all ages and demographics were there, engaging with the speakers. Apprehension and frustration was shown in the people’s expressions. Signs lay about, featuring slogans such as “My body, my choice,” and “This will comb over.”

The first speech acknowledged all of our lived realities and how we need to unite and listen to each other. At one point, the speaker, Chela Sloper, held up a sign reading, “If you’re not saying Black Lives Matter, you’re probably not thinking it.” She also discussed the template of America (white, straight, English-speaking, Protestant) and how we need to reconfigure our understanding of what an “American” is.

The second speech was delivered by a local teacher named Amy Sabbadini. Sabbadini talked of her family’s experiences in the 1930s being Jewish in Italy. She also spoke out about local Ku Klux Klan activity against Catholic immigrants during the 1930s. This may be surprising considering what most of our history has told, but Oregon has had its fair share of racism. That is part of the reason why Sabbadini asked that we protect people the same way her family was protected by her fellow Italians. Sabbadini encouraged people to help their community members, support local journalism and speak up about injustice. 

 “We fight authoritarianism by linking arms, by seeking peaceful solutions and by expanding opportunities. When we build longer tables instead of higher walls, when we refuse to demonize our neighbors, we defeat authoritarianism,” stated Sabbadini. 

The speeches continued, describing the fears around immigration, bodily autonomy and the environment. Poems and songs were sung along with the speeches. 

The post Community Unites Against Division appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

The lawsuit, United States v. Skrmetti, was brought against the state of Tennessee in response to the state’s recent ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The plaintiffs include Nashville residents Samantha and Brian Williams and their 15-year-old transgender daughter and Dr. Susan Lacy, who practices medicine in Memphis. Two additional plaintiffs filed anonymously.

Gender-affirming care, which includes puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy and surgery, is a part of gender transition for many transgender people, including youth. These forms of treatment help alleviate gender dysphoria, a condition defined by the Mayo Clinic as “a feeling of distress that can happen when a person’s gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth.” 

A decrease in gender dysphoria is often correlated with improved mental health and general happiness. According to a study performed by the University of Washington, gender-affirming care can decrease depression among transgender youth by 60% and suicidal ideation by a shocking 73%.

“You may have heard folks describe it as life-saving care, and that might sound dramatic…but it really is true for a lot of folks,” said Erin Rook, program manager of GenderHive, a Central Oregon nonprofit working to support transgender youth.

While these statistics are difficult to argue with, gender-affirming care has become yet another point of contention in the culture war regarding transgender rights. Critics question whether these interventions are necessary, especially for those below the age of 18. To supporters of gender-affirming care, the answer seems quite obvious.

“Why wait for something that you know could be helpful now?” asked Rook. This philosophy applies particularly well to puberty blockers, which can temporarily suppress the development of secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts and facial hair, if started before the onset of puberty.

If the Court rules to uphold Tennessee’s law, transgender youth in the 24 states with full or partial bans on gender-affirming care for minors will have no hope of seeking treatment in their home states. A decision in this vein would be devastating, advocates say, potentially leading to a continued exodus of transgender teens from red states to places like Oregon, in which legislation has been passed to protect gender-affirming care access.

“If I never had the hope of transitioning to where I’m happy, I wouldn’t want to continue living to be unhappy forever with something that I can’t change,” said Grey, a transgender teen who is currently receiving hormone-replacement therapy in Bend. “Now, I know I will be able to change it, so I have hope.”

However, this case stands to decide far more than gender-affirming care access for teens like Grey—it will set a precedent for all future cases regarding transgender rights. In order to reach their decision, the Court must consider whether or not the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause applies to transgender people. 

The clause, which asserts that no state must “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,” has been applied to numerous landmark Supreme Court cases regarding race or sex-based discrimination, including Brown v. Board of Education and Obergefell v. Hodges, which established same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. 

The plaintiffs argue that, as the Tennessee law places no restrictions on the same forms of care for cisgender youth, the law violates the Equal Protection Clause based on a person’s gender. However, the state of Tennessee claims that the clause does not apply to this case, or rather, to transgender people in general. After all, they claim that their law does not make distinctions based on biological sex.

If the Court rules that the Equal Protection Clause does not apply to transgender youth, the future ramifications could be devastating. If transgender people are not guaranteed equal protection under the law, LGBTQ+ advocates worry that it will become much easier for state governments to restrict their rights. A decision to uphold Tennessee’s ban will not only embolden opponents of gender-affirming care, but possibly allow for restrictions to bathroom access and the ability to compete on athletic teams matching their gender identity.

This last point is particularly relevant following the passage of a bill in the House of Representatives which will prevent transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports at the high school level. If the bill succeeds in the Senate, any future challenges will likely mirror the Court’s ruling in this case.

The Court is expected to announce their decision on United States v. Skrmetti this June. Although many analysts suspect that the ban will be upheld, there is little to do but wait. In the meantime, trans people and their allies have a message for those who have politicized their existence and fought to restrict their rights:

“Trans people are just normal people,” Grey emphasized.

The post Gender-Affirming Care on the Chopping Block appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

According to Summit junior Van Russell, who is playing Damian, “Mean Girls” takes on a greater meaning when performed in a high school. The play is a satirical comedy based around teenage drama and social dynamics, and although it is dramatized, the plot rings true to the experiences of many local students.

“It means a lot to share [“Mean Girls”] with high schoolers, especially when the story that it’s telling is a very real thing,” said Russell. “I think that it also shows the message that we generally echo in theater, which is ‘be you.’”

In addition to the relevant themes, “Mean Girls” will feature guest performances from a variety of Summit staff members, including principal Donna Servignat and social studies teacher Marni Spitz. 

“I have a hard time thinking anyone wouldn’t come in and come and just be completely blown away,” said Spitz, who will play a tap-dancing lunch lady and Mrs. Heron, the main character’s mom.

While the cast is made up entirely of Summit students and staff, all Bendites are encouraged to attend. So clear your calendars—there is no doubt that Summit Theatre Company will turn this show into one worth seeing.

The post ‘Mean Girls’ Comes to Summit appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.