Sandy Collins began her career with School District 49 as the assistant principal at Horizon Middle School. She then ventured back to Canon City, Colo., where, for three years, she served as the principal of an elementary school. She came back to D 49. Four years later, Collins is the new principal of Falcon High School No. 3.For those past four years, Collins has served the district in a few capacities. Her first year back, she served as principal of Skyview Middle School, eventually transitioning to central administration as director of school support services and growth-planning. This past year, she held the title, director of secondary learning services.As she approaches her fifth year, she will assume the role of planning principal for the new school, scheduled to open its doors in the fall 2008. Collins is already leading her team to the anticipated opening. She said she’s “pulled together a cadre of teachers from Sand Creek and Falcon (to eventually include parents in the vicinity of the school) to form a planning committee. On May 30, she held the first planning session for the new school. Details like a name for the school and a mascot will be ironed out over the next few months with input from the committee and the students, she said.Collins and her husband, Mike, live in Falcon. Mike is the principal of Sand Creek High School; he also served as principal of Meridian Ranch Elementary. The Collins have three grown children, and a daughter in Colorado Springs presented them with their first grandchild a year ago.Although both Mike and Sandy Collins are in administrative positions in the school system, they’re still teaching – scuba diving. Both are scuba instructors, and in their spare time Collins said they travel to dive two to three times a year. But she’ll be focused on the new high school for the next few years.”The most exciting opportunity anyone could have is to open a new school, a new high school specifically,” Collins said. “It’s a thrilling opportunity.”
