The next Klamath Union High School principal has been named.
The Klamath Falls City Schools Board of Education approved the hiring of Rod Heyen during a special meeting Wednesday evening at the KFCS Central Office.
Heyen is currently the principal at Warrenton High School and his first day at Klamath Union will be July 1, the first day of the 2024-2025 school year.
Heyen will take over as principal after current KU principal, Tony Swan, will retire at the end of the current school year. Swan has been Klamath Union’s principal since February of 2018.
Heyen has a bag full of experience after being principal at Warrenton since August of 2004.
At Warrenton, Heyen created five Career and Technical Education programs of study to connect students with career pathways in welding, automotive, natural resources, graphic design and manufacturing technology.
Heyen was part of the building of the $1.2 million Career Technology and Innovation Center overseeing budget, design and construction to ensure maximum functionality of the space for programs, faculty and student experience.
Additionally, Heyen navigated the formation of a campus softball field through collaborating with community stakeholders and harnessing local resources to comply with a Title IX mandate. Heyen implemented the Coastal Commitment through partnership with Clatsop Community College oversight to provide the opportunity for students to select from 44 college credits while on the high school campus.
“My wife and I are excited to join the KU Family. Our goal is to sustain and strengthen programs that are in place and grow programs that impact the students and the community,” Heyen said.
Heyen served twice as kindergarten through eighth grade interim principal at Warrenton Grade School to ensure district-wide stability and continuity during periods of economic, staffing and COVID-19 pandemic challenges. As interim principal, he created a daily Launch Pad program, leveraging educational technology to ensure all kindergarten through fifth grade students access to math, reading, writing and coding technologies available for differentiated learning.
While being principal at Warrenton High School, Heyen, a certified calculus instructor through the CCC Coastal Commitment program, did double duty and taught calculus one period daily for 18 years, allowing WHS students additional college credit opportunities on campus.
Heyen’s career in education began at Lake Havasu High School in Lake Havasu City, Arizona as a math teacher and basketball coach in 1990 where he worked for 14 years.
At his time at Lake Havasu, he implemented the Kumon Math pilot program for Title I identified students to build math fluency and instituted the Advanced Placement calculus program at LHHS, achieving a 90 percent pass rate at a score of four or better on the exam.
Heyen earned a Bachelor of Science in math and physics education at University of Nebraska-Kearney in 1989 and his Master of Secondary Education in mathematics at Northern Arizona University in 1995. He earned his Arizona Administrative License in 2004 and his Oregon Continuing Administrative License in 2010 at Portland State University.