Yosemite High School is in good hands and has a bright and successful future.
That was just one of the positive comments made by a member of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation visiting team last week. The six-member team was in Oakhurst from March 12 until March 15. They met with administrators, teachers, students and community members.
YHS has spent over a year preparing its self-study report on Focus on Learning. The visiting team, which comes from throughout the state, has worked several months on the YHS accreditation but only met in person Sunday.
The high school will receive a written copy of the report in two to three weeks. At a later time, they will find out how long the school will be accredited. Six years is the maximum length of accreditation. YHS was last accredited in 1994.
The visiting team commented on the openness, honesty and friendliness of everyone at YHS. The chairman of the committee, Mike Stockdale from Kings Canyon High School in Reedley, said Yosemite High is "the kind of school I’d like to have my children attend."
One team member said they had found the school "very interesting" with a "great staff and great student population."
YHS Principal Steve Raupp was extremely pleased with the process and the team’s oral report to staff Wednesday afternoon. He noted that the staff had worked very hard to prepare for the visit and had done "a tremendous job."
YHS Assistant Principal Randy Haggard, who was chairman of the school’s self-study, said the team’s response was "amazing, outstanding."
After months of work, capped off by the visit, the visiting team agreed with the school’s self-study. "They validated everything we determined in the self-study," Mr. Raupp said. "We took a critical look and came up with an accurate assessment and identified where we need to go to continue our school improvement process," he said.
Yosemite Joint Union High School District Superintendent Bill McCabe, who has chaired six different visiting teams over the years, said YHS received "an excellent report."
The visiting team’s report responded to the five focus areas of the self-study and then noted school-wide strengths and areas for growth.
"YHS’ greatest strength is people – the board, superintendent and high school staff," a team member said, adding that "the students are also to be commended." The team recognized YHS as a "safe, orderly, clean environment."
Areas of strength recognized by the visiting team included strong leadership; strong commitment to excellence by the staff; safe, orderly campus; rigorous curriculum with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate; students’ five-year plan; excellent fine-arts opportunities; good variety of instructional strategies beyond the classroom and textbooks; community advisory committees; and six-week student progress reports to parents.
Areas of growth for the high school, as outlined in the self-study and validated by the team, include the continuation of on-going assessments of student achievement; working closely with the elementary feeder schools on curriculum; communication with students, staff and the community; increased respect for all stakeholders; increase in student expectations in academics and behavior; stress real-world connections in class work; continue to work on creating a positive environment; continue to align the curriculum with the state standards; increase the use of technology by staff and students; implement consistent enforcement of discipline and attendance rules.
The team determined that YHS has adequate resources to meet all of the goals it has set for itself, and which the team validated.
Focus group chairmen were Deborah Brown, Gael Irizarry, Bob Yohn, Valinda Clevenger and Kevin Shaw.