Verdugo Hills High School WASC Self-Study Page 1

Verdugo Hills High School WASC/CDE Self-Study Reportschool. The Magnet School office was moved to bigger quarters and mademore accessible to student classrooms.The JROTC classrooms have been expanded and updated to better meet theneeds of the participants, who also receive credit for physical education.The Parent Center was moved to the main building hallway to increase itsaccessibility and utility.FINDINGSHuman ResourcesThe human resources are utilized efficiently; consistently responding tosituations that require doing more without additional resources. TheCopernican schedule effectively increases efficiency by producing six periodsof instruction per full-time teacher per year, rather than five periods under atraditional schedule. This allows flexibility in meeting student achievementlevels by allowing not only for academics but an opportunity for studentparticipation in extracurricular activities. Despite budget cuts, VHHS hasmaintained a considerable offering in these areas. Also, fourth periodcommon conference for most faculty members enables team planning andcollaboration both departmental as well as interdisciplinary.Inclusion of Special Education resource students and collaboration ofResource Specialists with general education teachers has assisted studentsand staff in meeting all students’ educational needs; although cuts in thenumber of Special Education department teachers have increased class sizesand individual IEP paperwork.MaterialsPer the Williams Consent Decree, all students have the approved text foreach class in which they are enrolled; for the last two years the school hassuccessfully completed external audits of compliance with this consentdecree. New adoptions of textbooks create unnecessary duplication andredundancy in textbook ordering and processing, but the administration anddepartment heads, along with clerical staff, work cooperatively to keepVerdugo Hills High School WASC Self-Study Page 59