Superintendent's Welcome Message

As I begin this new journey as superintendent, I am reminded every day of the AUHSD tagline, posted over the front entrance to the District: “Learning With Purpose: College and Career Ready.”  I have thought deeply about what that means. Even though “college and career readiness” has become a trite phrase, with many districts using it, “learning with purpose” has not. In fact, I believe that connecting our students to purposeful learning is key to their success beyond a high school diploma.

I have asked many seniors the question, ”Does education work for you or do you work for education?”  The vast majority tell me that they work for education, that they’ve been jumping through hoops and taking way too many bubble-in tests that have not engaged them in learning. Many seniors lack direction and purpose. They often exit our system without knowing where they want to go, what they want to do, and sometimes without the skills to get them there. Even those who are accepted to top universities often are driven by getting in rather than what they want to do once they are in.

Fortunately, over the last few years, AUHSD has been on the move. We have emerged as a leader in transitioning to instructional practices that align with Common Core standards across the curriculum. Our state superintendent, Tom Torlakson, has praised us for building a collaborative model where teachers are out front in designing relevant, student-centered lessons and performance tasks. By the end of this school year, we will be able to showcase many of these lessons in our own resource bank, which will be available to everyone.  

This hasn’t come easily. In fact, our teachers and administrators deserve high praise for building collaborative Professional Learning Communities where teachers come together, design and reflect on performance tasks, and create more project-based learning activities. Establishing this collaborative culture is still a work in progress-but we will get there. The stakes are too high.

As we recover from the Great Recession, we are faced with a huge challenge. In a mere 10 years, California will need more than 1 million college graduates to replace retiring Baby Boomers who comprise the backbone of the state’s economy. Who will replace them? Will those college graduates come from places like China or India or will they come from school districts like AUHSD?

That’s our challenge.  And I know we’re up to it.

The signs that we will succeed are everywhere. This year, Savanna High School became a P21 National Exemplar School. South Junior High School has created the District’s first STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, Math) “elective wheel,” and students are already winning county accolades. Magnolia High School has the nation’s first Puente class for Pacific Islander students, which is designed to promote academic and cultural literacy, and is showing great promise. Sycamore Junior High School has partnered with the Discovery Science Center and California State University, Fullerton, on designing dual immersion math and science units. Loara High School is implementing a civic education initiative.

Meanwhile, Ball Junior High School has been identified by the Orange County Department of Education as a leader in implementing the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support system and the Response to Intervention system, both designed to provide an array of early behavioral interventions to at-risk students.

Dale Junior High School has been recognized by the National Document-Based Questioning Program as an exemplar school. Cypress High School had a national student finalist at a White House initiative on 21^st century learning. Anaheim and Katella high school students led a P21 initiative gathering 5,000 signatures for the city of Anaheim to create mentoring and internship opportunities, which will be in place this summer. And Western High School had a Nobel Prize winner return to the campus and serve as a living reminder of what is possible.

The bar has been set very high, and it will take all of our employees—teachers, administrators, counselors, special education support staff, classified staff—and all of our community members—parents, and business, civic, and faith-based leaders—to work together focused on our mission so that our 31,000 students will graduate with purpose, college and career ready.

It is truly an honor to serve this great District and I look forward to meeting every one of you. These are exciting times. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.