After six years since its last accreditation, SJHHS completed the process again with a four-day visit by a team of administrators and teachers from all over southern California..
Earning accreditation from WASC means all coursework completed at the school will be recognized by colleges and universities, and is an important accountability measure for all California High Schools.
The visit began on Sunday, February 25 with WASC members meeting with site leaders.
On the Sunday before their visit officially commenced, the WASC members toured the school, met with administrators and select teachers, and held a meeting to hear from parents.
The WASC Visiting Committee consisted of Frida Vadgama, Brianne Froumis, Juliano Calvo, Dee Hollinshead, Laura Rodriguez, Ellen Tremblay, and Committee Chair Matt Hinze.
Leo Spengler, WASC Coordinator, began his work in the fall of 2022 by organizing the self-study process.
“There has a lot of data to collect and surveys to give in order to gather insight about everyone’s experiences at San Juan Hills like students, parents, teachers and other staff,” said Spengler.
The process is essentially a check-up ensuring SJHHS is continuing to strive for educational excellence and is executing all it had set out to achieve three years ago, the last visitation.
The visit began on a Sunday.
“We took the visitors around the entire school. They asked us questions about the school’s various programs, and we informed them of our school’s values,” said Whitney Shady from ASB.
On Monday, WASC visitors focused on observing the teacher PLC meetings and classroom visits. Evidence was also gathered on the students work, classroom environment. A student council meeting was also held. After school, the School Organization and Culture focus groups met with the visiting team.
Tuesday consisted of a nearly identical schedule with meetings with counselors, classified employees and students.
WASC concluded their visit on Wednesday by holding a meeting with staff to discuss their observations. There was much praise about many programs at the school, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
Based on what WASC members told staff on the last day of their visit, San Juan Hills is meeting or exceeding all metrics.
“The praise was effusive. They recognized the hard work that students, teachers, admin and staff perform at this school,” said Spengler. “Every metric was rated effective or highly effective,” he added.
These major goals for improvement included using data to inform instruction, developing academic and social-emotional interventions, increasing involvement of all students in A-G courses, CTE pathways, and activities and extracurriculars.
A common theme throughout the visit was the flourishing relationship between students, parents, and staff members. Students and parents are supported by staff members as students feel safe and able to approach any teacher or staff member for help.
“Over 30 parents from various groups came on Sunday to meet with the WASC visiting committee. The committee commented that this was the largest parent participation they have seen at a meeting and that they were very impressed with our campus and school,” said parent Christina Stafford.
“They asked for our opinions on support from the school. Parents from the ELAC community shared their praise for the support their students get from teachers. Another parent spoke about support for her son with an IEP and praised the communication amongst all his teachers,” she said.
The visitation committee had a chance to witness first-hand some of the special events SJHHS holds that embody the school’s motto. During their visitation, the No Place for Hate club hosted their annual Unity Week. This week celebrates tolerance and educates students on how to respect others.
The visitors also appreciated school-wide ideas like in-bell tutorial, the RFTB motto and it’s integration in campus culture.
The WASC committee held lunch meetings with about 25 other students to further understand what it is like to be a student at SJHHS.
“The official accreditation will be shared by the commission in a few weeks based on the visiting committees report and finding. As the committee shared, they were very impressed by our campus,” said Mahindrakar.
The WASC committee made a few recommendations for the school based on their visit. Continue to work on checks for understanding during lessons, add more real world connections to curriculum, and develop targeted interventions for struggling students.
The WASC self study is available online and the committee’s report will be available in a few weeks. The final accreditation status will determine the length of the mid cycle review. For example, a three day or a one day visit halfway through the accreditation.
