Wednesday, October 08, 2025
68.0°F

Othello's Desert Oasis High School gets new principal

Columbia Basin Herald | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 1 month AGO
by Columbia Basin HeraldLynne Lynch
| August 15, 2016 6:00 AM

OTHELLO — Othello School District’s alternative learning site, Desert Oasis High School, will start the year with Vance Frost as its new principal.

Frost will also work as the school’s career and technical education instructor.

Frost, 53, is a familiar face in Basin education circles. His last job was teaching at Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center in Moses Lake. Prior to working at CB Tech, he ran Chiefs Academy Cafe for the Moses Lake School District.

He later obtained his administrator credentials from Gonzaga University.

Frost said he “wanted to be a catalyst to change education” and was told he should become an administrator to do so.

The system is broken and was put in place many decades ago to serve a good idea, he explained.

Today, education is not serving the needs of citizens and industry, or to be competitive in a global market.

He arrived at his conclusion from personal experience, both as a student and a business owner.

Education is a second career for Frost. He decided to go back to school at age 41. Frost worked in the graphic design business and although finances weren’t an issue, he was losing his passion for the business.

“What was this hamster wheel in life I was on?” he pondered at the time.

A pivotal moment happened when he was a guest speaker at Chief Moses Middle School. Frost organized a group activity for students to develop a new candy bar logo. He brought mini candy bars to class for the students to analyze and they got to work.

A teacher complimented him on his approach to the activity. Instead of merely talking at the students, he was engaging them and getting them to work together in groups.

“One teacher said ‘you’re really good at this,’” he recalled.

What piqued Frost’s interest in teaching was watching a few male students in the back of the class during the activity, with hair hanging in their eyes.

As they become more interested in the activity, their chins lifted up in interest. Their ideas were listened to.

“One of the parents said it was the first time they loved education,” Frost commented.

Now in Othello, Frost tells a story of how caring the school community is. A student didn’t have a place to live or furniture before the start of school. Through people stepping up to help through a group text, the student’s needs were met.

“I knew then we had a culture that cared about people,” he said.

ARTICLES BY COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD

July 8, 2013 9:04 a.m.

One teen dies, one hurt in Washington crash

LIND, Wash. — An 18-year-old Kalispell woman died and a young Kalispell man was injured in a crash in Washington state on Sunday.

Quincy donations help horse riding therapy
November 2, 2015 5 a.m.

Quincy donations help horse riding therapy

QUINCY — A donation from the Microsoft data center in Quincy and donations from other Quincy businesses will help a Wenatchee-area nonprofit group continue to provide horse riding therapy to people with special needs in Grant, Chelan and Douglas counties.

'People are your greatest resource' - PUD's retiring hydro manager
September 11, 2015 6:05 a.m.

'People are your greatest resource' - PUD's retiring hydro manager

WANAPUM DAM — There were signs something was not quite right at Wanapum Dam on Feb. 27, 2014. An investigation was underway, but the hydro division employees were going about their regular business.