Much Earned Recognition for HHS!

Holtville High School Receives Top School Award in State

(note: This is the press release sent to news agencies announcing the big award!)

When Jacki Hester received a phone call mid-day Wednesday, she was prepared to receive the news that Holtville High School was just named a California Distinguished School. After all, the school had been working hard over the past several years, increasing course offerings, providing tutoring and supplemental classes for students in need, and ensuring that the teachers and staff were doing all they could for their students. Test scores are continually rising and student involvement in activities and extracurricular activities is increasing. Teachers are collaborating and providing outstanding hands-on activities and the Academic Achievement Index, used to measure a school’s success, is climbing. Students are being accepted to college at a higher rate than ever and the drop out rate continues to be among the lowest in the county.

Still, once State Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell personally informed her of the designation and that Holtville High School will receive the award May 29th at a ceremony at the Disneyland Hotel, Hester could not hold back her excitement. “This award has been a long time coming and well deserved for the teachers, staff, students and community. Those of us working at Holtville High have always known what an outstanding education we are providing. By receiving this award, now the whole Valley can see what we are so excited about.”

During the phone call, O’Connell noted the progress the school has made significant gains on “closing the achievement gap,” between all the different demographics of the school. This means simply that every student, regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic background or English language ability has access to a high quality, standards based education and can be successful at Holtville High School.

District Superintendent Jon LeDoux notes that this is the first such award the District has ever received. “If you were to walk on to the campus of Holtville High School, you would immediately understand why we received this award. The grounds are clean, the facilities beautiful and the students respectful and focused on their studies. The teachers, counselors, administrators and support staff have really poured their hearts into this school and this community to make sure our kids get exactly what they need to be successful in life. There really is no mystery why students from throughout the Valley have chosen Holtville High School as their school.”
The school offers a very diverse course offering, including Agriculture, Music, Foreign Language, Business and advanced courses in math, English, and science in addition to journalism, yearbook, college writing, AVID, ELD as well as support classes for CAHSEE and English.

In addition to academics, Holtville High School also excels in the areas of academic supports and extra curricular activities. This year the Link Crew program was fully implemented, which was a welcome addition to our campus. Every freshman has a junior or senior Link Leader as a mentor. Link Leaders provide support in the areas of academics, socialization, and leadership skills. They also provide weekly peer tutoring after school. Holtville High School also offers a wide variety of clubs and organizations with a high degree of student participation. Some choices are MESA, STEPS (environmental science), Yellow Ribbon, FFA, Interact, Campus Life and Pep Club. In addition to clubs, students are very involved in the athletic program.