COOS BAY — Ashland’s loss was Coos Bay’s gain, when Christine McCollom accepted the principal job at Bunker Hill Elementary School. At least that’s how superintendent Bob De La Vergne sees it.

“She has an extensive background and experience, and she’s very people-oriented,” he said. “We are very fortunate to have gotten her.”

McCollom has tried to keep the traditions established by her predecessor, Dale Inskeep, who now is principal at Sunset Middle School.

She holds morning assemblies on Fridays. They haven’t had the music provided by the guitar-playing Inskeep, though McCollom suggested she’d incorporate some in the future.

She’s also brought in some ideas of her own ideas, issuing certificates to students with perfect monthly attendance and handing out Hornet Hoorah tickets to student who are caught doing the right thing. The tickets can be used to purchase items at the school store or enter a raffle drawing to go to lunch with McCollom. The winners get to choose where to eat, and the first student to get a free lunch went with McCollom last Friday to Dairy Queen.

McCollom is originally from the South Coast. She found herself without a job in Ashland due to the state’s school budget crunch. She had finished her third year as principal at Bellview Elementary School, which has about 300 students. With other administrators outranking her in seniority, McCollom started searching for another job.

She found herself in familiar territory on the coast. Her parents graduated from Pacific High School in Langlois and she has cousins who live in Coos Bay. She also spent her first summer after high school working at the Sea Lion Caves north of Florence.

Before moving to Ashland, McCollom taught elementary school classes for 10 years in Salem. She worked under a principal who served as an example and an inspiration.

“The important thing was getting everyone on the same page,” she said.

She’s encouraged teachers to use similar elements in their classrooms so students have more consistency from year to year. The Coos Bay job offered her a chance to continue working at the grade-school level.

“That’s where my heart is,” McCollom said.

She’s also a strong advocate of reading and writing. At Bellview, she oversaw a new writing program that resulted in 10 out of 50 fourth-grade students exceeding on state writing scores.

“It’s nice when you focus on something and then you see results,” she said.