Opening a New Year

As NPHS is set to open for the 2015-16 school year, it serves as time for reflection on the past year and thoughts about the upcoming year.

My first year as Principal was certainly an amazing experience. The opportunity to work with such a strong group of teachers, students, and community allowed me as principal to continue to work to make NPHS a special place. NPHS is a great school and Newbury Park is a great community, it is requisite though that as a school community we need to continue to work to improve and make NPHS a place where student learning is emphasized at all times.

Due to recent passage of Measure I, NPHS and all CVUSD schools, will see an infusion of technology on campus. It is imperative the technology is used in conjunction with strong teaching strategies which engage students in the learning. Over the next years, my goal is to increase learning involving the students in the learning process, and have teachers work as facilitators within the process. The change must take place over time, as the change affects students and teachers. Most of our students are used to a different methodology, but I see the new teaching strategies better aligned to college and work environments. It is still necessary to provide the students with content knowledge, but then let the students work with the new content and demonstrate their understanding and go beyond with the new technology. When students explore and collaborate together the learning and engagement is enhanced.

In order to push the change along, I have worked in conjunction with our ASG class and PFA to reconfigure the student cafeteria into a learning environment. Rather than long cafeteria tables, we have purchased round tables and bistro type tables, which allow for more discussion and collaborative work. Additionally, computers will be housed in the cafeteria for students to work on. Along with available WiFi for students to bring their own devices. This change allows students an additional space to work before, during and after school. My belief is that students can work, share and collaborate in this space.