Philomath High earned the No. 12 spot out of 340 Oregon schools in the 2025-26 U.S. News and World Report rankings, making it the only high school to crack the top 12 outside of the Portland metro area.
The distinction places Philomath ahead of schools from Corvallis, Albany, Eugene and Salem, along with all smaller school districts around Oregon. The International School of Beaverton occupies the top spot on the list.
PHS Principal Mark Henderson believes his school’s standard of excellence comes down to factors that don’t show up in any ranking system.
“Our teachers care so much about these kids,” Henderson said. “They make themselves available to them and support them so well. We have a good, strong culture here.”
Henderson said the ranking reflects strong advanced placement offerings and consistently high graduation rates but he believes the real difference is the school’s culture and community support.
“When we reach out to families, as we often do with kids that are struggling, they’re very supportive and they’re good partners with us,” he said. “All you can hope for from a staff-parent relationship is that they’re positive and willing to step in and help out.”
The principal said he gets positive comments about the school’s atmosphere from visitors and substitute teachers.
“We have a very strong culture here and I get feedback on it all the time from people that come in our building and our substitutes love subbing here,” Henderson said. “The kids are just great and in my view, it’s just one big family.”
U.S. News and World Report analyzed 25,000 public high schools across the United States, assessing them on college readiness, state assessment proficiency and performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rate.
“The highest ranked U.S. public schools demonstrated outstanding outcomes above expectations in math, reading and science state assessments, earned qualifying scores on an array of college-level exams, and graduated in high proportions,” the study said.
Henderson said the school has evolved its approach to college-level coursework, now offering dual credit courses through Linn-Benton Community College alongside AP classes in various subjects.
“AP is not for everybody and we really started focusing on dual credit options,” he said. “We just feel like the dual credit through LBCC is much more accessible.”
The Philomath School District covers the cost of AP exams, which run just under $100 per test — removing a potential barrier for students.
A key differentiator, Henderson believes, is the school’s multi-tiered systems of support.
“Every week, a team meets on the freshmen and then a team meets on one of the other grade levels and we identify those kids that are struggling and we put interventions into place,” Henderson said.
As a former administrator at Crescent Valley High in Corvallis, Henderson can offer a comparative perspective.
“The teachers at CV were fantastic — loved them,” Henderson said. “Our staff is phenomenal. I wouldn’t trade them for anybody.”
2. Grocery store obstacles
Mayor Christopher McMorran covered a lot of ground last week in a 40-minute state of the city address at the museum, including what might need to happen to entice a grocery store to Philomath.
It’s been 12 years now since Ray’s Food Place closed down in the space now occupied by Marys Peak True Value. The city manager, mayors and city councilors have made attempts to drum up interest through the years but nothing has materialized.
“We have numerous new businesses coming into our downtown and we’ve seen ever increasing foot traffic and patronage at these businesses,” McMorran said during his presentation. “Whether you’re looking to get a bite to eat, buy a book, have a haircut, get some art supplies, get a drink, get a tattoo and so much more, you can find it in downtown Philomath.”
But then he added: “If you’re looking for groceries, I’ve got bad news.”
The lack of a full-service grocery store in town has remained on the minds of a lot of residents. Sure, you can grab certain items here and there at Dollar General or maybe one of the convenience stores but Philomath still doesn’t have the real deal.
One of the issues that I’ve heard from the past is that a grocery store chain might not be willing to make the investment in Philomath with a Safeway not far away on the western edge of Corvallis (according to Google Maps, it’s 3.4 miles from City Hall to the grocery store — of course, as we know, it can take more than 10 minutes on Highway 20 to drive that short distance).
The mayor said things are in motion to try to make it easier for commercial development to occur in town.
“A big piece of our efforts on both housing and economic development are some of the forthcoming updates to our zoning map and development code,” McMorran said. “I know when you wake up in the morning, zoning map and development code are probably not the most exciting words you think of but this has huge impacts on what can be built in Philomath and where those things can be built.”
This is where the location of a grocery store figures into the picture.
“Obviously, the city is not really in the business of opening and running a grocery store but we can and we should set the table to make it as attractive as possible for a private developer or a grocery chain to want to come to Philomath,” he said.
McMorran said that if a chain wanted to open a grocery store here, it would run into quite a few obstacles.
“The truth is that right now, there isn’t a great place in town to build a grocery store and part of that problem is purely on paper,” he said. “We’re working to establish a new commercial zone that will allow these regional enterprises, which would be specifically designed for things like grocery stores and other larger commercial operations which serve our town and our surrounding communities.”
McMorran said the philosophy around land use and property development in Oregon has focused on simply preventing bad development from happening and he acknowledges the importance of protecting things like our waterways.
“But we must take the next step and move from a mindset of only preventing bad development and embrace a mindset of encouraging and empowering good development,” he said. “I’m encouraged by the changes underway on this front as we unlock the true potential with our development.”
At this point, I would agree that the lack of buildable property in town appears to be the biggest issue. The mayor’s comments on the matter make sense. We shall see what happens in the next few years.
3. Beavers at Bald Hill
Nature’s engineers have been hard at work at Bald Hill Farm, but their dam-building efforts have flooded one of Corvallis’s most accessible recreational paths.
The solution? Oregon’s first notch exclusion fence, installed by Greenbelt Land Trust in partnership with the city of Corvallis, Marys River Watershed Council and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The innovative approach aims to balance beaver activity with public access to the Bald Hill paved path. While the industrious rodents have been creating valuable habitat for turtles, dragonflies, amphibians and birds, their handiwork has made the trail impassable.
According to an article distributed by Greenbelt Land Trust, the exclusion fence works by covering a strategic notch cut into the beaver dam. Made from basic fence panels, posts and wire, the structure lowers water levels without completely dismantling the beavers’ work. The design takes advantage of beaver behavior — the animals are triggered by the sound of flowing water and typically attempt to repair leaks they can hear.
Installation required the team to wade into the pond carrying the assembled fence, then secure it with metal posts driven into the bottom. A floor panel prevents beavers from tunneling underneath, while the fence extends beyond the notch to block access from below the dam. Fish can still pass through the ponds freely.
The big question is whether the beavers will accept this compromise. While they won’t climb over the barrier, they’re known to construct mud walls around obstacles, the Greenbelt article noted.
Greenbelt Land Trust is inviting the public to watch this experiment unfold. A drop-in event on Jan. 31 from 4-6 p.m. offers a chance to see the fence and possibly spot beavers at work. A guided walk on Feb. 11 from 10 a.m.-noon will explore the beaver ponds from another vantage point.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).