Educational Services Newsletter

Back to School

We are so proud of all of our schools and all staff for a phenomenal opening to the school year! It has been heartwarming to get out on campuses for Back to School Nights and to see our staff, students and families all so excited for the new school year.

A big shout out to all of our schools that participated in Williams visits this year: Carmel, Eucalyptus, Kingston, Lime Street, Maple, Mission Crest, Cedar Middle, Hesperia Junior, and Ranchero Middle. All visits have been completed with the support of teachers, administrators, the maintenance and operations department and instructional technology division. Through teamwork, we are proud to announce that all schools met all requirements!

Graduations for the Class of 2022

We were so excited to celebrate our graduates! In total, Hesperia Unified is home to 1,745 graduates at an overall graduation rate of 96.6%, with 41% of graduating seniors having met their A-G requirements. Nearly 400 of our Class of 2022 graduates completed a CTE pathway, approximately 25% of our graduates plan to go to a four-year university, 60% plan to go to a two-year college, and 5% have enlisted for military service. Twenty-four of our graduates completed the Registered Dental Assistant program and participated in a special ceremony in their honor and 108 adults from our community graduated from Hesperia Adult School and were honored at the Victor Valley Adult Education Regional Consortium ceremony at Victor Valley College. We are very proud of all of our HUSD grads!

We want to wish Teri McCollum a wonderful retirement. Teri has spent the last 30 years serving HUSD students as an elementary Teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal and most recently as the Coordinator of Elementary Special Education. She's had a significant impact on not only students, but in supporting our staff as well. Teri will be missed and we are happy that she'll now be able to spend more time with her family, including the newest addition, her grandbaby!

New Science Teaching and Learning Materials

We have new science materials for Kindergarten through 8th Grade this school year: National Geographic for elementary schools and Amplify Science for middle schools. These new adoptions are being supported with ongoing professional development made available for all teachers.

Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI)

We had a total of 26 administrators, instructional assistants, and teachers CPI trained on July 27-28. This training provides tools for educators to intervene in crisis situations with de-escalation techniques as well as restrictive and nonrestrictive intervention.

Key2Ed Training

In June and July, 60 District administrators and school psychologists participated in an IEP facilitation training presented by Key2Ed. This was an exciting opportunity to learn how to build relationships with parents and community members as well as to provide our site staff with the tools necessary to facilitate healthy and productive IEP meetings.

Special Services Teachers on Assignment (TOSAs)

Special Services has hired two Special Services Teachers on Assignment (TOSAs) for the 2022-23 school year. Amy Boyd, from Maple Elementary School, will support elementary teachers. Miya Narvaiz-Ward, from Juniper Elementary via Hesperia High School, will support secondary teachers. Our TOSAs will support staff in a variety of areas such as legally compliant IEPs, research-based instructional practices, and supporting new teachers.

New Teacher’s Academy (NTA)

This year we have 105 NTA participants, with our first session held on August 1 at Cypress Elementary. New teachers were able to visit the classrooms of veteran teachers at both Cypress Elementary and Hesperia Junior High. They participated in a Q & A session as well as met with their Site Instructional Coach, received iReady training, and met with Special Services, along with SELPA, for valuable guidance in supporting our students.

Instructional Coaches

Our instructional coaches continue to be learners, honing their craft as coaches as well as staying current with the needs of the staff. They continue to meet monthly with our Learning Forward consultant, Cindy Harrison. Administrators and coaches had an opportunity to come together for an end of year reflection/workshop with Cindy on April 15. This year, coaches attended a four-day Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) training to better support the behavioral needs of students and participated in Ellevation PD and Thriving YOUniversity PD.

Be sure to check out the August PD Bites and September PD Bites.

Impact Education

The district wide Impact Education professional development event for teachers will take place on Saturday, November 5. Our theme this year is "Reignite" and our keynote speaker is Solution Tree consultant, author and former teacher and principal, Dr. Luis Cruz. Be sure to mark your calendars and check out the save the date flyer.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA)

Two types of professional development have been offered in YMHFA: Trainer of trainers and YMHFA for administrators. To date, we have 61 administrators trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid and 50 counselors, psychologists, and/or administrators trained to be trainers of this powerful approach to recognizing and appropriately responding to students experiencing both crisis and non-crisis trauma. The goal is for these trainers to provide PD for at least 50% of staff this school year.

Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS/mySAEBRS)

The first administration window for SAEBRS/mySAEBRS closes on Friday, September 16. As we continue implementing our Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener, the iMTSS team is providing all staff with additional support for a successful implementation through a SAEBRS Webinar Series. This three-part virtual series will help staff understand the basics and purpose of a universal screener, how to read the reports, and help staff to make data-driven intervention decisions.

Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK)

This school year, all elementary schools are offering a full-day Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten program. This has been a district wide effort to provide early education for our students. The expansion of services has included additional teachers, proctors, and instructional assistants, as well as essential items to create exploration and play-based learning environments, in order to effectively meet the needs of our youngest students.

Supporting our English Learners

We have a total of 4,158 English learners in our District, which represents approximately 18% of our total student population. To support our students, we are providing training on Ellevation Strategies, an online professional development tool that teachers can access on demand. Coaches received training on August 19 are sharing the information with their school sites. The goal with Ellevation Strategies is to support every teacher and instructional assistant in learning best practices for teaching English learners. We are also in the process of hiring 15 additional bilingual instructional assistants for targeted support for students.

College and Career Preparedness Indicators

Secondary schools have continued their focus on preparing all students for college and careers as measured by A-G completion and are working with elementary schools to understand the role we all play in this important milestone. A-G completion is a measure of success in a rigorous course of study that prepares students for college and careers and is a requirement for acceptance into most universities. We are proud to report that A-G completion has increased in our District from 38% of our graduates in 2018 to 41% of our graduates in 2022.

CTE Pathway Opportunities

Last school year, 23 students from the IT Essentials pathway at Oak Hills passed the CompTIA ITF+ Certification exam. CompTIA ITF+ is a springboard for IT careers, ensuring candidates are well prepared. This is an ideal certification not only for students considering a career in IT, but also marketing, sales and operations in IT-based organizations.

Starting in September, students enrolled in the CTE Construction Technology pathways will participate in internship opportunities with DMB and the Silverwood Development project. This will include tours of the property, observation of active job sites, and industry speakers including engineers, geologists, building trades, city and county jobs. As the project develops, we will involve other pathways such as Digital Media Arts, Design, Business, and Automotive.

Hesperia High School launched the first Business & Finance Pathway in our District. They are offering two sections of the concentrator course with more than 50 students this year. The capstone course will be developed over this year and launched in the 2023-24 school year.

Our CTE programs were awarded $257,286 for the 2022-23 school year, with planned purchases to include equipment to further develop many of our pathways, such as welding, automotive, construction, culinary and medical.

College Credit Opportunities

Dual Enrollment and Early College Academy courses include a total of 41 Victor Valley College classes for our high school students for the fall term. New this year is a Dual Enrollment CSUSB Geology course at Oak Hills. This may open the door for future CSU courses offered to students in our District. Additionally, last year 1,350 CTE students earned college credits with VVC while another 163 earned credits with Barstow Community College by taking high school courses that have been articulated with a college course.

African American Parent Advisory Committee (AAPAC)

Following the success of our first-ever AAPAC back-to-school event, we were able to analyze the results of the surveys and plan our first AAPAC committee meeting which is scheduled for Wednesday, September 28, 2022 from 4-6 pm at the District office. This meeting is open to anyone who would like to attend, however, we will be targeting the audience of our HUSD African American families with two main goals in mind: 1) Ensuring more positive outcomes for our African American students; and 2) Improving and increasing African American parent involvement District-wide.

District Advisory Committee (DAC) Meetings

The 2022-23 DAC meetings are scheduled to take place at the District Office at the following times:

Thursday, October 6 at 4:30pm

Wednesday, December 7 at 4pm

Wednesday, February 8 at 4pm

Wednesday, April 12 at 4pm

Wednesday, May 10 at 4pm

District English Learners Advisory Committee (DELAC) Meetings

Here is a list of the 2022-23 DELAC meeting dates for your reference.

National Hispanic Heritage Month, “Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation”

National Hispanic Heritage Month was enacted into law on August 17, 1988 and is observed each year from September 15 to October 15. This year’s theme is “Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation” and will be observed by celebrating the histories, cultures, achievements and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. We look forward to supporting our schools in celebrating the Hispanic heritage of our students, their families, and the community.

National Bullying Prevention Month

Every October, schools and organizations across the country join to raise awareness regarding the identification and prevention of bullying by observing National Bullying Prevention Month. The goal is to encourage schools, communities and organizations to work together to stop bullying and cyberbullying and put an end to hatred and racism by increasing awareness of the prevalence and impact of all forms of bullying on all children of all ages.

America’s Safe Schools Week - October 15-21, 2022

America’s Safe Schools Week is an annual event during the third full week each October. Activities during this week will draw attention to the concern with school violence and educate everyone about how schools can be made safer and more secure. America’s Safe Schools Week offers an opportunity to take steps to ensure that schools offer students and teachers an environment in which they can perform to the best of their abilities.

Red Ribbon Week - October 23-31, 2022

Red Ribbon Week recognizes the importance of educating students to be drug free through participation in the “National Red Ribbon Week” activities. The theme for 2022 is, “Celebrate Life. Live Drug Free.” Red Ribbon serves as a catalyst to mobilize communities to educate youth and encourage participation in drug prevention activities. Since inception, this campaign has reached millions of U.S. children and families.

Educational Services Division Newsletter

Sept/Oct 2022 Edition

Website: hesperiausd.org
Location: 15576 Main Street, Hesperia, CA, USA
Phone: 760-244-4411