Pasco School District outlines three choice high school models, opens lotteries for 2025 freshmen

PASCO, Wash. — Pasco School District officials on Thursday presented an overview of three district “choice” high schools—Orion High School, Delta High School and New Horizons High School—describing program goals, enrollment processes and how students will access activities and services.

Seth Johnson, the planning principal and incoming principal for Orion High School, told the board Orion will open this fall as a career-focused, mastery-based school with signature programs in health sciences, engineering and advanced manufacturing. Johnson said Orion’s approach splits the day into “concourse” years of career exposure for 9th and 10th graders and “runway” years in 11th and 12th grade focused on education and experience, and that the school will allow students to spend roughly half their day off campus pursuing internships, Running Start, Tri-Tech, CBC or WSU Tri-Cities coursework. Johnson said Orion’s application opened before winter break and that “as of 12:30 this afternoon, Orion has a 112 applications,” with planners aiming for a freshman class of about 150 to 180 students and a campus capacity built for about 600.

Casey Bennion, principal of Delta High School, described Delta as a small, STEM-focused program jointly supported by Pasco,…