Mountain View High School opened in 1979 as the second high school in the greater Bend area. It was the first new high school in the area since
Bend High School had opened in 1904, and the two schools remained the only traditional high schools in Bend until
Summit High School opened in 2001 (
Marshall High School is a magnet high school also located in Bend). The school's first principal was Jack Harris; after his retirement in 1987, the school named the football stadium after him. In 1989, the students had the ability to leave campus during lunch (open campus), but at the time the school district administration was considering ending this. Scott Mutchie, the superintendent, was saying that the presence of illegal drugs in the community was a factor to end open campus. Some students, in a school meeting, expressed disagreement with the reasoning. The school's mascot is a Cougar; MVHS originally adopted
University of Notre Dame's fight song, but it is now based on that of
Washington State University, whose mascot is also the cougar. ==Academics==