Highland Park ISD kicked off the 2026-2027 school year Aug. 19 with plenty of back-to-school photos and bagpipe music.
People Newspapers staff were on hand to capture the festivities at McCulloch Intermediate School/Highland Park Middle School and University Park Elementary.
For MIS/HPMS, the 2026-2027 school year marked the beginning of the schools’ new chapter as Scots. The Highland Park ISD board of trustees officially voted back in March to change the schools’ mascot from the Raiders to the Scots.
“I am looking forward to meeting new friends, and having fun at school, and learning new things,” fifth-grader Hannah Lehenbauer said before she walked into the MIS/HPMS building. Her family had recently moved to the area from Ohio, but Hannah was already a fan of the campus’ mascot.
“I really like the Scots mascot,” she said. “He looks really cool.”
It was also the first school day for new MIS principal Katie Schuttler, who joined HPISD from Carroll ISD, and HPMS principal Stefanie Powell, who previously served as an instructional coach and assistant principal in HPISD. The new, separate principals for MIS and HPMS came after the retirement of former MIS/HPMS principal Amanda Reyes at the end of last school year.
Schuttler, Powell, and multiple staff members were on hand to greet students as they walked past blue and gold balloons and into the building on their first day.
Special education teacher Janet MacDonell, who was new to MIS/HPMS but had spent more than two decades as an educator, said she was excited about starting her first year in HPISD.
“Being able to do the depth and breadth of teaching that this system allows a teacher to do is exhilarating,” she said.
Did you take first-day-of school photos? Feel free to share them with us at [email protected] so we can include them in our online coverage.
Authors
Rachel Snyder
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