The mission of West Hills High School is to graduate critical thinkers and problem-solvers who contribute positively to society as productive, responsible citizens.
Activities for the week:
Monday: Collaboration Day: Freshman Class Campaign Week
Tuesday: Regular Day:
- Yom Kippur begins on Tuesday, September 18th at sundown and ends at sundown on Wednesday, September 19th.
Please note, some students, faculty and / or staff may miss school due to their faith. All work may be made up with no deduction in credit or attendance penalty.
Wednesday: Regular Day: UNITY Day: 10th graders (A-K) in Gym;
Thursday: Regular Day: UNITY Day: 10th graders (L-Z) in Gym;
Dept. Chair & Leadership Meeting, E8, 2:00 p.m.
Friday: Minimum Day: First 6 Week Progress Grades due on Monday
For your active participation in our Faculty and Staff meeting last Monday. We reviewed Emergency Procedures.
One item that was not covered (but Robin had intended to cover) is that we have a non-911 emergency number on campus that everyone should be aware of.
If you dial 707 from any phone on campus, you can get an immediate response to a situation in your classroom that you feel needs campus supervision or extra help (e.g. fist fight, uncomfortable non-cooperative yelling, etc.) where 911 is too dramatic a response, but urgency is required.
* 707 rings 60424 and alerts EVERY phone extension in the main office for a school personnel and site sheriff response to your situation.
* 911 from any phone on school alerts EVERY phone extension in the main office and the 911 call center for a concerted emergency services, school personnel and site sheriff response to a situation. (Remember for 911 to call it from desk phones and NOT cell phones because the school level response will be much quicker.)
[Thank you Pete Mergens for this content.]
We also discussed our Sandy Hook Promise work and agreed to show THIS POWERPOINT on Friday, 9/21 to ALL Period 3 Classes in preparing for our Start With Hello (SWH) week 9/24-9/28. No school bulletin will be read out loud this week to "save up minutes" to show the powerpoint on Friday. It is very important that the ENTIRE SCHOOL COMMUNITY experience this information on FRIDAY TOGETHER. This is a MINIMUM DAY and if you have a sub, PLEASE make the powerpoint available to them (you can "make a copy" as well to edit minor grammar or spelling errors). Push it out to a trusted student or two and use their computer for the presentation station for example, etc. Please, please, please DO NOT just "have students read it on their own". We as adults need to read the information on the presentation slides, set the tone for the following week of school and present it as a teacher. It will NOT be as effective is we do not do this together. If you would prefer someone else present this to your students if you do have a sub, please let Admin know and we will cover the presentation for you.
A huge "Thank You" to the adults who attended Camp. We brought our ASB and spent time with students and adults from Steele Canyon, MM, ECV, EC, and various community members from law enforcement and mental health services. \
We have three more camps coming up:
Oct. 18-20, December 6-8, and January 31-Feb. 2. Jamie Gwyn is our Camp LEAD coordinator. Please reach out to her and volunteer to attend! It is an incredible opportunity to focus on our own life experiences while listening to and supporting kids as they explore their own perceptions of self, others, and how they want to be a leader in their own lives and their own worlds. We cover any sub needs and want any classified or certificated staff member who wants to attend Camp to do so. This includes student teachers and Interns. Camp runs Thursday-Saturday and is held at the Pine Valley Bible Conference Center in beautiful Pine Valley (about 40 mins. drive from WHHS). The food is terrific, the showers are hot, and time we spend there INVALUABLE. Please feel free to talk with anyone below who attended for more information or from one of our many faculty and staff who have attended in the past.
(l-R) Ardy Riego (CTE Sports Med; ASB); Corrie Biggerstaff (Science),
Robin Ballarin (Admin), Savannah Addy (Science), Ali Rafenstein (WL),
Jenae Krull (SRO)
Our "thank yous" continue with Jamie Gwyn and Ardy Riego for working with our Howl Leaders, ASB, Key Club, Best Buddies, and the Anti-Bullying Club students (any any other Club or interested students) in brain-storming, planning, and creating our activities coming up for the week of 9/24-9/28 as part of our Sandy Hook Promise work.
On Monday, Sept. 10, Jamie and Ardy worked with these students explaining the goal of SHP and Starts With Hello.
Students then chose small groups to brainstorm ideas and create a plan for the week.
We will inform the parents of this week and involve the community with information on our marquee at the front of the school, through our website, and on campus each day during the national SWH week.
If you would like to be more involved, please reach out to either Ardy or Jamie...All are WELCOME to this work! 😊
More information to come for this week via email....stay tuned!
GUHSD and West Hills High School are proud to announce, pending Governing Board approval, Mr. John Hoadley's selection as Assistant Principal. John will replace V.P. Joann DuFloth-Johnson, who recently transferred from West Hills to El Capitan to fill an Assistant Principal vacancy left when Lynelle Nicholson was selected as the new administrator at MERIT Academy.
A product of the GUHSD, West Hills and SDSU, John has taught for 12 years in Special Education and been a Department Chair for the last five years serving at Helix Charter High School. A graduate of our Admin Apprentice program, John brings a proven track record of instructional leadership, innovation with technology, and a passion for teaching and learning. We are working on John's full-time transition to WHHS, hopefully by October 1. Welcome John! His email is jlhoadely@guhsd.net. Feel free to reach out to him if you like.
September 19 (last names A-K) and 20 (last names L-Z):Unity Days for 10th grade in Gym Please see emails for more information.
September 21: Minimum Day: 6 Weeks Progress grades; Show SWH presenation period 3
October 8-13: Homecoming Week! Game Friday 10/12; Dance in our Gym 10/13. No tickets sold at the door; Everyone must have current school I.D. to attend; Guest passes via VP office close on 9/28 (last day to turn one in to get approval for Dance). Please help us message this to ALL students! We have over 700 students at this dance. Thank you.
October 10: PSAT Minimum Day, grades 10 & 11 taking the test. More information to come.
This was a tough week with suspensions linked primarily to vaping. Please remember these informational items from our May 21 Faculty and Staff meeting and know that we ARE reaching out to ALL PARENTS regarding these issues.
CNN article with links on VAPING and High School
Vaping Information for parents and staff
If you feel a student is under the influence, or you see what you believe is a vaping device, please let admin and / or campus supervision know. If you feel you can comfortably and discreetly confiscate the suspected item and bring the student and item to Admin and / or campus supervision's attention, please do so. This should never be in front of an entire group of students or in front of class if at all possible.
Please only send one student to the restroom at a time and try to get them to NOT go at the time of request--postpone with something like "Can you wait a few minutes?..." Students are texting each other to meet up in the restroom to "hand off" shared vape pens. We continue to have to be the crafty adults disrupting teen shenanigans. We welcome strategies that are working in your classroom to keep students in class at all times and only releasing one at a time to the restroom.
Thank you!
