Text Box: By Janet Knoeppel As I rounded the curve and came upon the new facility, I was unprepared for what I saw! I had seen the plans and even the building while it was in progress, but this was way beyond my greatest expectations. There before me was one of the most beautiful school facilities I had ever seen. Sitting atop a slight hill, on a corner in Escondido, with the foothills as a backdrop, was the realization of a dream come true for the Valley High School staff, students, parents and the community. As I toured the facility on the day of the dedication, I was impressed with the attention to detail and to the educational usefulness that had gone into the planning of this school. Valley High School is a permanent facility with no portable units. The school is built around a large center quad area with attractive plantings, cement benches and lots of open space. The classrooms are all state of the art. The entire school is connected to the Internet; 250 new Dell computers were purchased for student use, in addition to new computers for the staff; classrooms have LCD projectors mounted from the ceiling to encourage and facilitate the use of multi-media options for both teachers and students. The science lab is a “real” science lab. There are standard experiment stations, brand new, state-of-the-art microscopes, all new equipment with which to conduct scientific experiments, and the room is large enough to provide space for lectures/discussions as well as the lab for experiments. There is a large multi-purpose room/gymnasium that will allow for assemblies, meetings, dinners, basketball and volleyball games. Valley has its own athletic field that is shared with the community after school and on weekends. Text Box: In addition, there is ample parking for staff, students and visitors to the campus. I first came to know the Valley High School family in 2001, just 8 days after 9-11. I was to be the chairperson for their WASC accreditation. At the time they had just been moved from their previous facility to a number of portable trailers on a small, cramped location next to the district office, with the promise of a brand new facility “in the future.” While they were not excited about their location, true to the way everything is done at Valley High School, the staff was making the best of the situation. They knew their purpose was to provide the best possible education to their students and to prepare them for such things as the CAHSEE and STAR testing, as well as post-secondary options. Jan Boedeker, the principal at Valley High School, sets the tone and the pace. Not one to sit still, literally and figuratively, she sets high expectations for her staff and the students, and provides the means with which to accomplish these expectations. Her glass is always half-full! One of the first continuation schools in the state to explore the option of offering AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) to the students at Valley, all teachers are trained in teaching using AVID methods. The students have responded exceedingly well to this opportunity and many of them are finding that school is worth continuing once they graduate from high school. Several of the staff have been mentors to other teachers learning the AVID methods. In fact, they presented at the 2003 State Conference on the incorporation of AVID into the continuation high school program. Text Box: Valley High School’s New Facility Help Student, Staff Attitudes Text Box: Page # Text Box: CALIFORNIA CONTINUATION EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

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