LA GRANDE — The principal’s office at La Grande High School will soon be in a state of transition for the first time in 10 years.

La Grande High School Principal Brett Baxter announced Thursday, April 20, he will step down at the end of June to take a position as assistant superintendent of the Wallowa County Education Service District.

Baxter is completing his 10th year as the school’s principal. Baxter has been an educator for 24 years, first working as a language arts teacher at LHS from 2003-2011 before serving as the school’s assistant principal for two years and then as principal of Greenwood Elementary School for one year.

Baxter said deciding to leave La Grande was a difficult decision.

“This has been my home for many years,” he said.

Still, it is a move he feels comfortable with.

“I am at peace with my decision,” he said.

Assistant Principal Eric Freeman said Baxter will be missed.

“I am sad to see him go,” he said.

Freeman credits Baxter with doing an impressive job and with being a wonderful person to work with.

“Brett is big on having strong relationships with his staff,” he said.

Freeman said he feels fortunate to have had the chance to work under Baxter for almost three years.

“It has been a wonderful chapter in my life,” he said.

John Lamoreau, a La Grande High School social studies teacher who worked for Baxter for 12 years before retiring almost a year ago, also had words of praise for Baxter.

“He is one of the most wonderful, steady, compassionate people I have ever worked for,” he said. “La Grande is going to miss him. I have a world of admiration for him.”

Baxter has served as principal at the high school longer than he anticipated. He noted that when became principal the average tenure of a high school principal was three or four years. He said that when he became principal, he promised Larry Glaze, then the La Grande School District’s superintendent, that he would stay at least five years.

Baxter said he feels good about the progress the high school has made over the last 10 years. He noted that the school is now attracting faculty from throughout the nation and that its staff has a strong retention rate. Baxter also noted the school’s graduation rate went up significantly until falling in 2021-22, a drop he attributes to the COVID-19 pandemic. Baxter said he expects the school to gain its pre-pandemic momentum in terms of its graduation rate growth. He said early data indicates that the LHS graduation rate could reach the 90% level for 2022-23.

One of the programs Baxter is proud of helping get started at the high school is its senior day of service, which began seven years ago. Through the program, almost all of the high school’s seniors take part in community outreach activities for one day in October. In the past, students have cut firewood for those in need, met with residents at retirement homes, provided cleanup work and painted buildings.

“I wanted students to understand how important it is for them to give back to the community that has provided them with their education,” he said.

Baxter said he is looking forward to working for the Wallowa County ESD because it will give him a chance to reach out to and help individual school districts. The Wallowa County ESD serves the Joseph, Enterprise, Wallowa and Troy school districts.

Baxter is just the eighth principal La Grande High School has had in the past 59 years. One of the only principals to have served longer than Baxter in that span was Dale Wyatt, who was the high school’s principal for about 24 years through the late 1980s.