High school district expanding Ready Now Yuma
As the Ready Now Yuma program expands from the freshman and sophomore level to the junior class in the fall, Yuma Union High School District staff have been working to develop upper-division pathways for students to take advantage of.
At a governing board meeting Wednesday, Ready Now Yuma director Laura Campbell shared how their current course catalog has been reworked into various clusters according to the interests, careers and college pathways for students and their counselors as course scheduling for next year is already under way.
By taking core area classes as well as the fine arts, CTE (Career and Technical Education) and AP (Advanced Placement) courses and organizing them by type, Campbell said, the different structure is helping students to begin identifying their goals and interests to build toward their future, whether college or a career.
The six overall precollege and career pathways, which she said are aligned with what the Department of Education requires, have been reviewed and approved by principals, assistant principals and counselors. They include a general communications such as arts and humanities; education; health services and career sciences; engineering and industrial systems; social and human services; business systems; and natural resources such as agriculture.
Campbell emphasized that by students taking courses in the various categories, it does not lock them into that particular pathway and also does not prevent students from taking courses in multiple areas of interest.
With school counselors each meeting with 350-450 students at least twice a year, they are now able to better guide those students into taking courses that will be beneficial to their college and career interests. Associate Superintendent Gina Thompson said the counseling responsibility also can be shared with teachers now as pathways are more clearly identified.
Community Engagement and Communications director Frank Nuñez said that he and Campbell will be visiting various businesses and other entities around town to help further subject pathways and internship opportunities for students.
Visit www.ReadyNowYuma.org or www.youtube.com/user/YUHSD for more information about the Ready Now Yuma initiative.
In other meeting news, Thompson said the AdvancED Accreditation team will be visiting YUHSD Feb. 10-13 for a districtwide audit and evaluation.
Superintendent Toni Badone said the district staff and faculty have been working toward this visit for the past year, writing and gathering reports and data, as this is the highest level that a district can apply for.
Thompson added thanks to the thorough preparation district and campus level staff, the work that they have done has helped improve the way things are run and improve as necessary before the evaluators arrive.
Basically, she said, the district will be on display “to make sure we're working toward student achievement and doing what we say we're doing.”
Also during the meeting, the governing board unanimously elected Bruce Gwynn as board president and Phillip Townsend as vice president.
Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSSarahWomer or on Twitter at @YSSarahWomer.
