The mission of West Hills High School is to graduate critical thinkers and problem-solvers who contribute positively to society as productive, responsible citizens.
WH 2020-21 FAQs to students and parents
Admin Responsibilities 2020-21
Monday: DC / Leadership Meeting, 9-10 a.m. Agenda is here
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our Grade 9 Teacher Zoom.
Here is the Agenda with items parents and students shared with Admin
on the left, and ideas / commentary from teachers on the right. We
came up with good list of action items for Admin to pursue with both
the District and for ourselves, and we will keep you updated as we find out answers.
September 28: Students on campus
On Friday, September 11, the Superintendent informed all stakeholders that we will return to campus with students at Level 2: 25% of students on campus each day, Tuesday through Friday beginning September 28. Robin sent an email late afternoon to all faculty and staff with the parent and student letter that was sent from West Hills as promised by the Superintendent's letter. The District also sent a separate email notifying students and parents of their choice to be either in blended learning on campus and how to find what group they are in, OR confirming that they had chosen online learning.
There are many details and questions to be answered in the next two weeks for West Hills to re-open to teachers and students on campus. We are creating videos for both students & parents and a separate one for Faculty and Staff and hope to send that out next Friday.
Please know many practices, procedures and protocols have changed and will change when we reopen with Level 2. We will continue to communicate and work with each department and individual as needs arise. We will not be perfect. Everyone will make their best effort and it is important that people stay calm and try not to react emotionally when things are not perfect. For example, when you see a student (or adult) without a face covering, we simply ask them why do they not have one and please show us the accommodation card if they are excused from wearing one (see California Department of Education issues new Distance Learning Guidelines for groups exempted from this public health mandate). We have a 22 page reopening plan responding to 60 items that will be posted on our website and on B2 (temporary Reception area).
When we reopen September 28, we will have two weeks until the Quarter ends. As a reminder, here is our bell schedule and our Quarter system. Every campus has a slightly different start and end time due to transportation.
You may note that periods 3 & 4 have 20 minutes longer Advisory periods. This is the time of the day when the school will be focused on school wide / district wide information and activity. Teachers are asked to implement the videos, Zooms and facilitate the conversations. Teachers are not planning or using this Advisory for their own content area time. Week one (Sept. 28) Advisory time is planned and will be sent out as soon as the District is able to do so (we have asked for this ASAP so teachers have time to review it as needed). Assistant Principal Carrie Gaeir will be working with a small group of people from WH to plan and create the content for our campus.
Updated Calendar for 2020-21: Please note the last week of each Quarter moves the Monday Teacher workday for PD-PLC-Meeting time to Friday for grading and completing Quarter Grades. This means when we return Sept. 28, we have one week of "normal" and the following week, Monday, Oct. 5 is an in person teaching day while Friday, Oct. 9 is the everyone at home distance learning / grades day. GEA advocated for this as being helpful to teachers with Quarter final grades due. The District is talking with GEA about moving only Group D to Mondays so only one group of students change their day (from Thursday to Monday). We will let you know as soon as we know what the answer is. Just an important FYI for teachers.
The District Teaching and Innovation office sent out this information for teachers on Friday to help with the "one day a week repeated 4 times" concept under Level 2:
Return to Campus Level 2: Considerations for Teaching and Learning
Please know the DLCs, Tiffani Brown, and Dan McDowell are all part of the District support for teachers. On campus, any Admin and any Google Ninja teacher is also willing to support and help certificated in any way with teaching and learning of all kinds. Just let us know if we can help you and we will!
Connect with the library @WestHillsLIB: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Chromebook Insurance Purchasing Window
If you have a chance, please remind students that this is the last week they can buy Chromebook insurance. There is only a purchasing window at the start of each year (unless a student transfers in mid-year), and the deadline for 2020-21 is September 18, 2020.
Distance Learning Hub: Student Technology Tutorials
Check out this link from the Distance Learning Hub to some crowdsourced student-facing technology help resources. Some recently added ones that address common questions include the following:
Sora Access for GUHSD (bit.ly/rst-sora)
See the link above for info on how to access Sora for eBook and audiobook access for anyone with an @guhsd.net account. Related to this, the new One Book, One San Diego selection was recently announced: They Called Us Enemy. The eBook version may be checked out without wait from SDCL via Sora using these instructions through the end of December. For even more “no wait” SDCL titles, check out this link.
After encountering a number of students who are having a difficult time communicating effectively with teachers and staff members during distance learning, I collaborated with Teacher Librarians Anthony Devine and Stephanie Macceca to create a lesson template that you’re welcome to customize and use. Even if you don’t use the full lesson, the tips, sample, and sentence starters may be useful to share.
One great resource for all of us is this succinct video from some of our own
GUHSD Teacher Librarians:
