KHSD NEWS - KHSD Superintendent

KHSD NEWS
5801 Sundale Avenue - Bakersfield, CA - 93309 - 661.827.3100 - www.kernhigh.org
A Tradition of Excellence Since 1893
April/May 2016
KHSD
Recognized
For
Attendance
Program
The Kern High School District’s (KHSD) School Attendance Review
Board (SARB) attendance program is one of only nine school-district
SARBs in the state of California recently recognized for the innovative
ways it keeps students in school.
KHSD’s Truancy Reduction Program, a component to its SARB
program, operates a truancy team, which works in tandem with the
school-site truancy teams. The District team, comprised of two
community specialists, a counselor, and truancy officer, focuses on
proactively helping students improve their daily attendance by
strengthening communication with parents, identifying and removing
attendance obstacles for students, and employing early truancy
intervention strategies as a way to combat truancy.
“The KHSD Truancy Reduction Program plays a very important
and effective role in a student’s academic achievement. The
earlier the intervention occurs, the greater likelihood for a
student’s success.”
- Bryan Campoy, Educational Options Administrator
The KHSD also has parent resources available at the school sites,
including a truancy reduction trifold that provides helpful tips and
outlines the District’s attendance policy. KHSD partnered with Kern
County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS) to create a student parent
resource booklet that has been distributed throughout Bakersfield and
can be found online at www.kernhigh.org. It highlights the many
truancy-prevention resources available in Kern County.
Kern High’s SARB
Mission Statement
The mission of the Kern
High School District
School Attendance
Review Board (SARB) is
to remediate truancy
through prevention,
early identification and
intervention in order to
increase the amount of
instructional time a
student receives to
support student success
in life-long learning and
personal development.
A service of the KHSD Public Information Office
•
kernhigh.org
Parent & Family Center
Grand Opening
The Parent & Family Center on the campus of Shafter High School is open
and ready to serve the parents and students of the community.
A ribbon cutting ceremony and program celebration was held April 26,
2016, for community members, students, and parents. Shafter High
School Principal, Russell Shipley, and the Mayor of the City of Shafter,
Cathy Prout, were the featured speakers.
“We are excited to unveil and launch the Parent & Family Center at
Shafter High. The center is a great resource to help our parents
receive information, maintain regular communication, and overall
provide support to our parents and community to help deliver every
opportunity of success for our Generals!” - Russell Shipley, Principal
Principal, Russell Shipley and Shafter
Mayor, Cathy Prout, cut ceremonial
ribbon at grand opening of Shafter High
School’s Parent & Family Center
KHSD Parent Centers are designed to provide parents and guardians with
opportunities for parental education, leadership and volunteerism. These
programs also create collaborative opportunities between teachers,
administrators, and school personnel and offer a support network for
students and their families.
KHSD
Parent & Family Centers
Arvin High School
East Bakersfield High School
Foothill High School
Golden Valley High School
Mira Monte High School
Shafter High School
South High School
West High School
Photos Courtesy of Shafter High School
Special Visitor Meets Ag Students
Dr. Temple Grandin (center) visited with
KHSD Ag students during lunch.
Hundreds of KHSD agriculture students had a rare opportunity to
interact with an inspiring Professor of Animal Science from Colorado
State University. Dr. Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a
young child and did not verbally communicate until age four. She is now
a successful author and speaker, and her remarkable life story was
featured in a 2010 HBO movie called Temple Grandin, staring Claire
Danes.
Dr. Grandin spoke at length about animal behavior techniques, toured the farm located at the Regional
Occupational Center, and had lunch with the students. Dr. Grandin also had high praise for the Agriculture
Program facilities.
“I learned about the importance of spending more time with the animals and to begin training them early.
This will definitely change the way we interact with our sheep.” – Melissa Sparling, Regional
Occupational Center
Dr. Grandin’s visit was sponsored by the Autism Society, Kern Autism Network.
AVID
Celebration
KHSD’s AVID programs held an inaugural end-of-the-year awards banquet at Mira Monte High School
(MMHS) to showcase programs making a tremendous difference in the lives of many of our students and their
families.
AVID is a global, non-profit organization that focuses on providing academic
support and fostering the development of skills essential for college readiness.
Eight of the 13 KHSD schools with AVID programs were represented, with MMHS
AVID students providing a very warm welcome and MMHS AVID senior emcees
leading an engaging program.
Dr. Bryon Schaefer, Superintendent of the KHSD, as well as Dr. Emerson Case,
English Professor at CSUB, were featured speakers. Dr. Schaefer also presented
the KHSD AVID Student of the Year awards.
Many of the outstanding students being honored shared presentation boards
depicting AVID at their specific school sites.
“Senior AVID students presented short, inspirational speeches reflecting on
their AVID experiences over the past three to four years; tears were streaming down more than one parent’s face as sons and daughters delivered
these powerful messages.” – Brad Ruff, AVID District Director, KHSD
Instructional Services
Nearly 400 people attended the event including AVID 11 and AVID 12 students,
their family members, AVID teachers, administrators, and AVID’s California
Division Program Manager, Kathy Josephson.
The planning committee is already looking ahead to next year’s event, with plans
to host similar celebrations on each side of the city.
Photos Courtesy of Mira Monte High School
Student Engagement
Encouraged
The KHSD Student
Advisory Council just
wrapped up its very first
year. This district-wide,
student-led advisory
council is committed to
providing a voice for the
students of KHSD by
representing and
presenting the interests
of the students to district
leadership.
Each school was
encouraged to appoint up to four representatives to
the Student Advisory Council, which met four times
during the academic year.
The meetings consisted of topics such as an
explanation of the LCAP process. The students
were able to bring to the table their experiences
from each of their school sites. They shared
conversations about what they enjoyed about their
school and what could be improved. They talked
about pressing issues and shared personal goals.
“The goal of youth development through the
Student Advisory Council includes recognizing
that all students have the intrinsic desire for a
sense of influence, competency, belonging,
and usefulness. A successful first year with
the Student Advisory Council was evident
when an overwhelming majority of students
expressed a desire to be part of this same team
next school year.” – Felisa Patiño, M.A.Ed.,
Student Outreach Resource teacher, KHSD
Student input serves as a vital component to the
LCAP process because it directly engages them.
Through this process, students learn how to take
their concerns to the district in a professional and
positive way.
Field Trip
For The Future
Bakersfield College (BC) recently hosted an Open
Campus event, and 750 KHSD seniors who will be
attending BC in the fall took advantage of the invitation
and attended.
Students toured the campus and attended various
informational sessions, exploring what programs and
opportunities BC has to offer.
“The District has been partnering with BC and will
continue to support events like this to assist in
easing the transition from high school to college
life, in order to motivate students to go on to higher
education.” – Christy Fraley, Resource Counselor,
KHSD
Stepping Up Creativity
Central Valley
Continuation High
School is participating in this
year’s Vans
Custom Culture
shoe design
contest. The
contest is sponsored by Vans and provides campuses around the
country with shoes to be decorated by the students.
All Central Valley students were eligible to compete
and created several designs. Students and staff
selected the finalists, pictured above, for the Central
Valley submission and are still waiting to see if they
made the top 50 finalists.
“Art classes were introduced to the contest and
learned about the history of the Vans company and
the style the company has established.” - John
Brown, Site Administrator, Central Valley
Continuation High School
The winning submission will be awarded a grand prize
of $50,000 that will go toward the school’s art education program.
Science
Comes To
Life
Photo Courtesy of Francis Mayer, Bakersfield College
About 1,400 KHSD students put their knowledge to the test, competing at the annual Physics Olympics at
Bakersfield College on April 29, 2016.
The day was filled with hands-on competitions and challenges where students applied the physics they learned in
the classroom in a friendly but competitive environment. There was also a Super Quiz, where each school
showed off its best in an exciting, head-to-head matchup.
“Physics Olympics supports the Next Generation Science Standards, addressing the Science and
Engineering Practices by allowing students to define problems, develop and use models, use
computational thinking, and design solutions.” – Mark Trunnell, event organizer and science teacher at
Centennial High School
The Physics Olympics is a partnership between the Kern High School District and Bakersfield College.
KHSD Shines In Engineering Challenge
The 5th Annual Chevron Engineering Design Challenge, Bakersfield Regionals competition was held at Centennial High School in April and hosted
teams from all over Central California.
A total of 17 Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Pathways to Engineering
Program students competed, putting their design skills to the test by
creating products to meet real-life challenges.
The teams worked together all day on their project and were required to
submit sketches, prepare drawings and a parts list throughout the
competition.
Shafter High Team: Jackie Villanueva,
Savanna Saldana and Christian Bloemhof
with Darin Sundgren, Team Advisor
Photo Courtesy of Shafter High School
“The regional competition gave me a view of what it is like in the real world. I had to think on my feet and
meet deadlines.” - Savannah Saldana, Shafter High School Design Team
The event culminated with each team giving a presentation on its finished project to a panel of industry experts.
“I think this was a great opportunity for students to have to work together, document their ideas, make
decisions quickly, do their best work and present their ideas to others in the workplace. We were all
pleasantly surprised and excited at how well we did.”
- Darin Sundgren, Team Advisor and CTE Department Chair, Shafter High School
The team from Shafter placed second and Centennial’s team took third place honors. Both will be competing at
the state level in Sacramento later this month.
kernhigh.org
Best Of The BEST
A grand celebration for 25 years of Project BEST
(Black Excellence in Scholarship and Teaching)
honored the past and looked ahead to the future
of the program, while recognizing the
accomplishments of 42 KHSD students.
Fuchsia Ward with Mary Quirino
Dr. & Mrs. Horace Mitchell present the CSUB
President’s Award to Project BEST. Pictured
with Ramon Hendrix and Gayle Batey.
More than 300 people attended the event which
took place at the Bakersfield Marriott on April 23, 2016. Attendees were
treated to an evening of entertainment, dinner, inspirational stories, and
presentations. Students from twelve KHSD schools were given more
than $50,000 in scholarships for their continuing education and honored
for their commitment to the program, their schools, and their
communities.
The Gayle Batey Achievement Trophy was presented to Stockdale High
School senior, Jaeden Watson, for the student with the highest grade
point average. Jaeden will be attending the United States Military
Academy at West Point in the fall and studying Mechanical Engineering.
Gayle Batey and Fuchsia Ward were also recognized for their
contributions, vision, and passion for the Project BEST organization and
the young people of Kern County for a quarter century.
The generous donors and sponsors who made the organization and the
Anniversary Celebration possible, were also recognized for their
generous donations and continued commitment.
Fuchsia Ward presenting The Gayle Batey
Achievement Trophy to Stockdale High School
senior, Jaeden Watson.
Rickey Brown III, Stockdale High School
senior, presenting the Senior Address.
Opening remarks were made by Dr. Bryon Schaefer, KHSD
Superintendent. Bryson Gholston, a Project BEST graduate and current
teacher at Stockdale High School was the Keynote Speaker, and the
evening’s student address was given by Stockdale High School senior
Rickey Brown III.
Assemblywoman Shannon Grove attended the event, as well as a
representative from the office of Assemblyman Rudy Salas. Michael
Bowers, a Senior District Representative from Senator Andy Vidak’s
office spoke about a special connection to the organization, because he
himself was a Project BEST graduate.
Stockdale High School Principal and founding member of Project BEST
Ramon Hendrix served as Master of Ceremonies and Kevin Charette
from the Sunrise show on KGET TV Channel 17 joined him as co-host.
Chris Dutton, Project BEST Program
Administrator holds the Assembly Recognition Proclamation from Assemblyman
Rudy Salas.
A wonderful evening of entertainment was provided by J2 and the
Business, and the silent auction raised funds for next year’s
scholarships.
Photos Courtesy of Christa Hunt Photography
Teacher Feature
Judy Farris is an Earth Science and Health teacher at Centennial High School
(CHS) and has been with the KHSD for fifteen years.
“I would do this job for free. The impact we have on kids is more than
teaching about rocks and plate tectonics; it’s about life.”
– Judy Farris, CHS
Like many teachers in KHSD, Judy volunteers her time during lunch and after
school helping students with their schoolwork, but is especially noted for the
additional support she offers students with difficulties in their lives.
“Judy always provides a listening ear and caring heart to students in need. She wants every
student to succeed, and makes every effort to give each of them the opportunity to do so.”
– Dean Juola, Principal, CHS
Judy has initiated and advised many clubs on the Centennial campus based on these needs, currently
advising the Centennial Campus Life and Remnant Bible Clubs and sponsoring the on-campus Northwest
Wednesday Alateen Group. Alateen is for young people whose lives have been affected by someone
else’s drinking.
“Kids are my life. This is what I do and I like being available when someone needs to talk.”
Spotlight on Service
Elisa Machado is the Senior Staff Secretary in the Pupil Personnel Division of
the KHSD. She has been with the KHSD for ten years, serving in School
Support Services and at Golden Valley High School before accepting her
current position in November of 2011.
Elisa oversees the office staff in Pupil Personnel and balances various duties
including DMV clearance for employees, student record requests, and internal
and external communications. She also assists the Kern High School District
Police Department with dispatch and reports.
“The administration is great. The best part of my job is the people I work with. I get to know people
at different school sites and help them, too. Our job is to assist the sites in running smoothly and
that really is the most rewarding part of what I do.”
– Elisa Machado, Senior Staff Secretary, Pupil Personnel
While she has a tremendous amount of experience, Elisa says she loves the learning process surrounding
her responsibilities and appreciates the fact that every day brings an opportunity to experience something
new.
Thank You
Breakfast
An annual project to give back to
the community in a massive way
had the Frontier High School
National Honor Society serving up
a delicious meal with a heaping
side of gratitude.
Building The
Future
The Cabinet
Shop at Foothill
High School is a
state-of-the-art
program giving
students job
skills and an
opportunity to
give back to the
community. The
students recently created cabinets
for a Habitat for Humanity house
being built in Bakersfield.
Frontier’s Big Give hosted a
pancake and sausage breakfast
for all Kern County Firefighters,
Police Officers, Corrections
Officers, Sheriff’s Deputies, and
CHP Officers.
“We are working to give back to
a community that gives to us.”
- Brian Chau, FrHS Student
As part of the Big Give program,
students formed teams, each led
by a member of Frontier’s National Honor Society. Teams selected
a charity and donated their time or
products to the organization. The
students take pride in the fact that
this campaign is one hundred percent student led.
There were 15 teams attached to
charitable organizations including
the SPCA, Bakersfield Homeless
Shelter, Optimal Hospice, Kern
County Fire Department, Rosewood Gardens, and Ronald
McDonald House.
“Our students built these
cabinets from the ground up,
including the use of software to
design them. Students in this
class are going to be industry
ready when they complete the
coursework.”
– Gail Bentley, Principal
Foothill High School
The Kern County affiliate of Habitat
for Humanity was founded in 1991,
and the first home was completed
here in 1992. According to the
Habitat for Humanity Golden
Empire website, 45 homes have
been built to date in Kern County,
housing more than 150 children.
Warming The
Heart Of The
Community
Mira Monte High School (MMHS)
hosted a Project Linus event,
creating 160 blankets for the local
organization that provides these
homemade treasures for babies,
seniors, veterans, and others in
need.
Mira Monte staff and students went
to work drawing colorful squares,
cutting fabric, sewing, and
processing the beautiful blankets.
Members from the Library Club, art
classes, Knitting Club, and Leadership Council took part in the
project.
“It’s a good feeling for everyone
involved. It’s become a yearround effort between our art
classes who decorate squares
and the volunteers who sew the
blankets and quilts. Mira Monte
is indirectly involved with
making many, many more
blankets.”
- John Money
KHSD Police Officer
The Project Linus event was
organized by KHSD’s Police
Officer, John Money. Officer
Money was involved with Project
Linus during his previous career
with the Kern County Sheriff’s
Department and brought the school
and the organization together last
year to continue the effort.
KHSD Kudos
North High School
Art Instructor Mary Bradford was accepted into the National Gallery of Art’s Summer Teacher
Internship at the Smithsonian Institution. She was the only California teacher accepted, and
one of only 50 in the nation.
Shafter High School
Shafter High School Principal, Russell Shipley, was recognized as the South Valley
Agriculture Administrator of the Year. He was also honored as the Kern Association
of Education Office Professionals Administrator of the Year.
South High School
Diana Aguirre, a junior at South High School, won the Congressional Art Award. This is
the 5th consecutive Congressional Art award for South High School. Diana will receive a
trip to Washington D.C., and her art will hang in the U.S. Capital Building for one year.
KHSD Cares
A big thank you to Kern High
School District Office staff and their
families who came out to walk and
generously donated funds to
support the March of Dimes March
for Babies event at the Park at
River Walk.
The event was held Saturday, April 23, 2016, and featured a 5K walk,
food, games, and entertainment benefiting the organization with a
mission to improve the health of all babies.
Upcoming Celebrations
May 11
Proclaimed as “Day of the Teacher” in the Kern High
School District
May 11
Proclaimed as “California School Nurses Organization
National School Nurse Day” in the Kern High School
District
May 16-20
Proclaimed as “Classified School Employee Week in the
Kern High School District
Contact Us
For more information about
Kern High School District
schools and programs, visit
us on the web at:
www.kernhigh.org
Kern High School District
5801 Sundale Avenue
Bakersfield, CA 93309
(661) 827-3100
Lisa Krch
Public Information and
Communications Manager