Employees of the Year

During her report at the June 13 School Board Meeting, Superintendent Susan Andreas-Bervel announced Golden Hills Elementary teacher Jennifer Butler as District Certificated Employee of the Year and THS Special Ed Para-educator Clint Cass as District Classified Employee of the Year. The honorees were chosen from Employees of the Year from each school. For a full list with pictures, visit the District website at http://www.teh.k12.ca.us/ and click on "Newsletter".

THS principal Scott Heitman announced that the district has posted the position of Engineering Teacher. A portion of the teacher's salary will be donated by Arts, Science and Technology Educational Corporation of Tehachapi (AST), thus securing the future of the engineering classes. District Personnel Director Tim Beard said that so far the two applicants who had been offered the job had declined the position. "We are up against the private sector,"he added. He said that they do have a teacher for Introduction to Engineering but are in need of a qualified teacher for Principles of Engineering. THS Robotics is a club that will fit in with the engineering classes.

THS science teacher Dan Gillam presented a report from the district Science Instructional Leadership Team regarding proposed changes in the science curriculum and THS graduation requirements. The state and federal government have made concept changes to science education. The new standards are called NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards). The manner of testing has also changed. Now every student is to be tested on every standard (biology, physics, chemistry etc.). Students at THS traditionally have been tested only on the classes they have taken. At a recent conference, Gillam and the team learned that 30-40% of schools already require three years of science. "It is impossible to teach all the standards to all of the students in two years," said Gillam

Head of Instructional Services Regina Green presented a new Board policy that would increase graduation requirements at THS to include three years of science. The Board will vote on this policy at their June 27 meeting.