Paul Burch is a highly-decorated music educator who has taught for over twenty years in small, rural schools. He is currently the K-12 music director of the Lowell School District, teaching 300 students in 11 different courses during the average week. With a program built nearly from scratch, Lowell High School has been a perennial participant in OSAA State Championships in Band and/or Choir since 2012, with eight top-3 finishes and three OSAA State Championships. The program also travels out-of-state every spring for competition, with 22 1st-place finishes in 24 attempts.
Paul’s passion for small schools comes from his own roots as a rural, Oregon kid himself. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Music Education from Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, and in between teaching assignments enjoyed a foray into church choral music and doctoral studies in Musicology at the University of Oregon. He is passionate about rural students having the same opportunities as their urban counterparts, and has worked tirelessly to facilitate student involvement in All-State, various regional honor groups, WIBC, and Solo/Ensemble.
During this past year, Paul has collaborated with Melissa Jmaeff and others on the Oregon Small Schools Task Force, offering solutions to improving conditions for small-school educators, as well as interfacing with OSAA, OBDA, and ACDA to ensure fairness for rural kids in our statewide competitions. When not grinding away at the job, Paul spends every chance he can get with his amazing wife and three kids, ideally traveling to some far-flung place on long family road-trips.
Paul Burch
Small Schools Chair
Lowell School District
Lowell, Oregon
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