Principal Schalde Encourages Students of Morro Bay

by Nate Landwehr 

November 6, 2024

Every year at Morro Bay High School begins the same way. Each individual grade level has a special meeting in which Principal Scott Schalde will introduce the new motto for the year, and tell the same story about his almost unfortunate initials. What many students don’t know is that there is more than meets the eye to their almost hilariously initialed principal.

A portrait of Principal Schalde (Photo Credit: MBHS)

Principal Schalde started his career at MBHS over a decade ago as just Mr. Schalde. “I taught here for six years. I went away for 10 years and now this is my fourth year back.” Those 10 years between working at MBHS definitely were not without their changes. “The campus certainly changed with Measure D(The measure that allowed for drastic construction on campus)…It was not ever way cool before and now it’s really awesome.” A main aspect that Schalde notes stayed the same was the culture of the students of MBHS. “The thing that didn’t change at all was how epic the kids are at Morro Bay High School.” 


What may come as a shock to many, however, is that Schalde has some experience on the receiving side of principal discipline while he was in high school.  “I got in trouble for parking in areas I wasn’t supposed to park… I left class about five minutes early one time because I wanted to get to McDonald's before anyone else with my buddy.” 


When reflecting on his own time in high school, Schalde said, “I got voted most involved. That should have been an indicator that maybe I would do something like this. But I never thought I would be a teacher and I never in my wildest dreams would have ever thought that I would be a principal.” Schalde’s involvement with school has clearly been an ever-present aspect of his life.

When Schalde is not dealing with the busy life of a principal, he greatly enjoys spending time with his wife and, when they’re in town, his two children. Schalde is extremely proud of his children as they both are now living in San Diego after attending college there. 


Schalde can always be found somewhere on campus trying to be a part of whatever cool things are happening. One of the biggest events that Schalde is looking forward to is the third annual Pirate Olympics. Like many of the seniors of MBHS, Principal Schalde cannot wait for graduation and to see what all of the graduating Pirates will move on to do.