There is plenty to be excited about in the upcoming school year, according to Mountain View Los Altos High School District Superintendent Nellie Meyer. New principals, programs, staff positions and facilities are paving the way for a more equitable and safe experience for MVLA students – and after two tumultuous years of unprecedented times, Meyer said she is ready to tackle new challenges head-on.
New faces
The new school year brings two new principals – Kip Glazer at Mountain View High and Suzanne Woolfolk at Alta Vista High.
Glazer, who previously served as principal of San Marcos High in Santa Barbara, replaces Michael Jimenez. Woolfolk, former Los Altos High assistant principal, succeeds Bill Pierce as principal and director of alternative programs.
“They are both very enthusiastic and a pleasure to work with, and they’re really excited to be welcoming the students back to school,” Meyer said of the new administrators.
In addition to new leadership, the MVLA Foundation has provided funding to support a new district position to facilitate technical programs at all three district high schools. MVLA hired Amber Woodward as career technical education coordinator. She will work to expand students’ options for technical classes – including computer science, engineering and culinary arts courses – and will further develop career-oriented programs such as the optometry certificate program at Alta Vista High.
Meyer said the impetus to expand the programs came directly from student feedback.
“In the last year, I’ve been going to different classrooms to talk to students about what they would like to see, and many of them mentioned that they would like to see more of the career technical education, courses and pathways that lead to university or career,” she said. “I remember (Alta Vista students) telling me that they saw it happening at the larger high schools, but they don’t have it here. It was a result of really listening to their desire to have something relevant and engaging.”
New programs
The 2022-2023 school year will be the first to feature the freshman ethnic studies course, a yearlong elective, interdisciplinary course that studies the histories, experiences, cultures and issues of racial-ethnic groups in the United States.
The debut of the elective is acting as a soft launch for next year, at which point all California schools must implement an ethnic studies course as a graduation requirement. The state requires only one term of instruction and doesn’t impose specific curriculum, but MVLA staff has worked alongside community organizations to ensure that the program meets the district’s standards.
“Our team, led by Julie Yick, has developed a curriculum that lays the foundation for understanding different ethnicities and engaging with the impacts of different cultures as they enter MVLA, so they can use that knowledge in 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade classes effectively,” Meyer said. “This certainly was a state requirement, but one of the traditions of MVLA is to take something that we are required to do and make it ours and really develop something strong for our students.”
After a 10-year hiatus, MVLA is set to introduce an improved English Learning Development program at Los Altos High. Prior to this year, ELD students who attended Los Altos High commuted to Mountain View High for specialized instruction, creating an accessibility issue for the increasing number of ELD students in Los Altos. Beginning this year, Los Altos High will offer a comprehensive ELD program that will include elective courses.
New facilities
Construction at both Los Altos High and Mountain View High remains ongoing, but students will be able to enjoy some new facilities, with more to come in the coming months.
Mountain View High’s new auxiliary gym is set to be completed in September, and construction of new classrooms and labs for the district’s Freestyle Academy of Communications Arts & Technology is scheduled to wrap up in October. New Student Services buildings at both Mountain View and Los Altos highs have begun to take shape and will be under construction until next spring.
Meyer said that while inflation and supply-chain problems have resulted in some delays, the original Measure E budget contained enough contingency funds to offset any increases.
“We are seeing an increase in costs, but it has not as yet caused any need to cut any of our projects, so we’re very proud of that,” she said.
Ongoing issues
While Meyer does not expect any unique challenges for the district in the upcoming school year, she noted that she would have said the same thing in 2019, just before the pandemic, acknowledging that school administrators can never be totally aware of what’s to come.
“I would say that challenge and opportunity are kind of mixed into one at any high school campus because it’s such an energetic organism,” she said. “But we’re really excited about addressing the traditional challenges of increasing student achievement and closing the achievement gap. It’s a momentous task, but we’re excited.”
