School Board Update

At the TUSD August 23 school board meeting, Superintendent Susan Andreas- Berval presented Certificates of Recognition from the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to Board Trustees Mary Graham and Jackie Wood for their years of service on the Tehachapi School Board. President Mary Graham was honored for her 10 years of service from 2006 to 2016. Trustee Jackie Wood was honored for serving 15 years from 2001 to 2016.

Tehachapi High School Scott Heitman gave the School Board a detailed Summer School report. Heitman said that at one time, Summer School had been as long as six weeks; however, it is now felt that the new 20 day program is a "much better return on our investment". TUSD Summer School this year included Extended School Year for Special Ed students and APEX online classes for junior and senior high school students.

Sixty-six students from pre-K to 18+(tall) attended Extended School Year classes. The district offered Speech Services, Adaptive P.E., Occupational Therapy and Compensatory Services. Transportation was also available for these students.

The APEX courses used four classrooms and were attended by 120 students from grades 8 to 12. Eighty of the students were from JMS, 20 were from Monroe and 20 from THS. Of the JMS students, 65 completed their Health requirement, allowing the district to add another Introduction to Engineering class this fall.

The THS students used the APEX courses for credit retreival. Six of seven non-graduate seniors completed their graduation requirements. There were 46 juniors who completed one class, 16 who completed two classes, 3 who completed three classes and 1 who completed four classes. Fifty-four Sophomores completed one class, 19 completed two classes and 3 completed three classes. Of the Freshman class 8 students completed one class.

The Monroe students weren't to be left behind. Seventeen students completed one class, 9 completed two classes, 1 student completed three classes and 3 students completed their graduation requirements.

It was an impressive report for the short 20 day period.

Personnel Director Tim Beard advised the Board that Superintendent Andreas-Berval placed the first AED in the THS gymnasium at the "Welcome Back" on August 15. In the week following, Mr Beard placed the remaining AEDs so that all campuses are now AED equipped.