On March 28 at the bi-monthly Coppell ISD Board of Trustees meeting, Grapevine High School associate principal of academics Cody Koontz was announced to be the new principal of CHS9, the ninth grade center set to open for the 2018-2019 school year.

Koontz began his teaching career in 2005 at Grapevine High School, his alma mater, and graduated from Texas Christian University.  

In addition to being an associate principal, he also has coached girls soccer, track and football and taught physics and chemistry at the high school level.

Koontz will officially fulfill his new role starting July 3, welcoming rising high school freshman from across the district.

The Sidekick interviewed Koontz last week to get the inside on what he has in stored for the 2018-2019 school year and how he is preparing to fulfill his new role.

What attracted you to Coppell ISD that motivated you to apply for the job?

First of all, I grew up in this area, I grew up in Grapevine, so I’ve always been aware of Coppell and the success they have had at the school district. They have an outstanding reputation as being innovative, cutting edge, what I love is the structure of community partnerships that exist in terms of creating relevant learning experiences. I’ve been part of opening a high school in the past, Chisholm Trail High School, located in Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD and that was two of the best years of my life, truthfully. The idea of having the opportunity to open a new school in a reputable school district that is innovative and visionary goes back to all that I want to do.

Why are you a good fit for the job?

One of my strengths, one of the things I really strive to achieve, is to build solid relationships. I think that the best way to impact young people is to building meaningful relationships and through those relationships, you can inspire and empower students and teachers from a principal position to achieve greatness. Truthfully, everything I do is always about having a major impact on the lives of others and so I just think the 12 years I have spent in the various roles and various districts h provided me with a wide variety of opportunities.

What are you most looking forward to?

Honestly, getting to know the community, getting to know the leaders in the district, leaders on the campuses and generally to chance to meet the educators and learners. I’ve been around and know of the great reputation [Coppell] has, I’m really excited to just get in and kind of get to know what’s going on and really learn about the pride and tradition that exists in the community.

What is your vision for CHS9?

This unique model for the district is not something that’s ever been done before so for me, what excites me about it so much, is being able to utilize the ninth grade center as an opportunity to unite students from the three different middle schools and give them a space where they have some ownership, knowing that they are the only students in that whole campus. Going through that process of uniting three different middle schools, you got a lot of different dynamics that come from different schools and that’s a process that ninth grades go through anyway but they are just doing it in the context of larger, comprehensive high school. For me, there’s a security piece there and I’m talking social, emotional more so than physical security. To be able to do that in an environment where everyone has shared ownership of the building and you are not dealing with some of the social pressures that come with being around older students and upperclassmen. There’s that piece of it I envision being a very big positive and we really get to unite [the Cougars, Broncos and Wranglers] to truly be apart of the Cowboys, Cowgirl family. Learning what high school is all about and being able to do so in a setting that is unique to just them, as a ninth grader, I think could be a really, really big and positive thing in terms of establishing a good culture for the school.

What do you hope students take away from CHS9?

I hope they feel prepared, I think one of the great concerns and I’ve working in high schools my whole career, is freshman transitioning to high school. There is a hope that they feel prepared for the next step which is going into a larger, comprehensive high school. I want them to find a little about themselves, I think that is a really pivotal time in all students, that ninth grade year, to kind of discover who they are and what they’re passionate about. I want them to learn about leadership and specifically what I am passionate about is servant leadership. My vision for that is not only learning to serve others but to empower others to then go on and serve as well. I want to have pride in being part of Coppell High School even by extension of the ninth grade center and that they are ready to contribute to the larger community as a whole.