Sean C. Morgan
Holley Elementary School’s new principal, Todd Barrett, is stressing empowerment and motivation as he takes over from retired Supt. Larry Horton, who served in the position last year.
Barrett, 37, is a 1997 graduate of Bend High School. Born in Salem, he grew up in Bend, although he spent two years in Stayton during middle school.
He graduated from Oregon State University in 2007 with bachelor’s degrees in liberal studies with a social psychology emphasis and in education. He graduated from Lewis and Clark in Portland in 2011 with a master’s degree in education leadership.
Barrett’s mother taught special education for 20 years, and she always told Barrett, who considered himself impatient – too impatient for education, that he would be a teacher.
Though she proved to be right, it didn’t happen right away.
Barrett worked in the cell phone and technology industries first, including Verizon, T-Mobile, Nextel and Best Buy, after high school.
It was a fishing trip that changed everything for him, a trip that fits his early goals at Holley School.
“I was fishing with my mom and step-dad,” he said. They were part of the Big Brother program, and they had one of his mother’s special education students with them on the fishing trip.
It turned out that Barrett could be patient, and special education was in his future.
“I spent an hour helping him get his line untangled,” Barrett said.
He knew what his calling was then. He moved back to Oregon from Las Vegas, where he was working for T-Mobile and Nextel in a call center, and enrolled in college.
After college, he took a job teaching technology at Ochoco Elementary School in Crook County. He was there for two years, then his school district had to move him as it adjusted to the “Great Recession.” He switched to Title I reading at Crook County Middle School. Last year, he returned to Ochoco as an academic coach.
From there, he applied for the Holley position, which includes half-time principal and half-time Title I reading teacher.
“It looked like a great fit, such a warm staff, such a family atmosphere,” Barrett said. Horton, and Elena Barton before him, “left big shoes to fill.”
Barrett is married to Jessica Barrett, and they have a 4-month-old son, Logan.
“We’ve been welcomed to the community,” he said. “Everybody’s been really nice.”
Barrett sees himself in Sweet Home for long time, relating how Supt. Keith Winslow told him a lot of people come to Sweet Home for a couple of years to get experience and then end up staying for 34 years.
From here, he can still get over the pass easily to visit family and play in the snow. Barrett enjoys the outdoors, fishing and camping, so Sweet Home is a good fit for him, he said.
And he can do that while helping students achieve more.
“What I love is when a kid figures it out, when the light bulb comes on,” Barrett said. “That moment of discovery.”
Motivation is key, teaching children to never give up, he said. That’s the theme of a video he shared with the staff at Holley last week.
The video shares the story of Michael Jordan, who was cut from his high school basketball team; Einstein, who was told as a student that he would never amount to much; and the Beatles and Elvis Presley, who were all criticized as they pursued their musical careers.
They all persevered and succeeded wildly beyond the expectations others had for them.
“Our job as teachers is to believe in kids and teach them to believe in themselves,” Barrett said. That’s for everybody. “If you want to make a better community, it starts here with these kids. My goal is to raise up people who want to help each other.”
Life is hard, and they need the skills to be successful in jobs and at life, he said.
“I want to empower and motivate them to be the best they can.”