Hundreds gathered March 12 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the area’s

first high school.Victor Valley High School’s

“Reflecting on a Century” centen-nial celebration was a resounding success, as nearly all of the 400

Crosby steps down from seat

Victor Valley Union High School District Board Member Lisa Crosby has

resigned from her seat on the board.

Crosby, a local resident for 37 years and a grad-uate of Victor Val-ley High School, was elected to the board in 2014. Her term would have ended in December.

The board can choose to fill the seat by appointment within the next 60 days or hold a special election (with the cost absorbed

CONNECTIONSMARCH 18, 2016

Victor Valley Union High School District

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

A sobering story

Friday Night Live Club educates Adelanto High School seniors about drinking and driving

More than 450 Adelanto High School juniors and seniors learned a pow-

erful lesson about the dangers of drunk driving Thursday during

a DUI Court event as part of the Friday Night Live Club’s Safe and Sober Prom 2016 campaign.

A real judge heard statements from real attorneys as students played jurors, the victims’ family members and the defendant in a

Legendary VVHS basketball coach and teacher Ollie Butler speaks to the crowd during the VVHS centenni-al celebration on March 12. (Photo: Donald Atkinson)

See DUI on Page 8

COBALT BOOK 'BAN' Page 2

STUDENT OF THE MONTHPage 3

LEADERSHIP DAYPage 4

HELP SILVERADO STUDENT WIN SPECIAL BIKE

Page 5

From the office of Superintendent Ron Williams, Ed.D

See VVHS on Page 7BOARD OF TRUSTEES

FREE BREAKFAST FOR ALLPage 3

Board of Trustees: Penny Edmiston, Timothy Norton, Barbara J. Dew, Timothy Hauk

Night to remember for Jackrabbits

See CROSBY on Page 6

Victor Valley Union High School District

Connections •Page 2

COBALT INSTITUTE OF MATH AND SCIENCE

• The Daily Press promotes this week-end’s performances of “The Little Mer-maid”: http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20160309/NEWS/160309744

• The Daily Press writes about VVUHSD’s free breakfast for all students: http://www.vvdailypress.com/arti-cle/20160307/NEWS/160309816

• The Daily Press recognizes a UP stu-dent who is a finalist in a regional essay contest: http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20160227/local-students-com-pete-in-mwa-essay-contest

• The Daily Press covers Adelanto High School’s DUI court event: http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20160317/NEWS/160319785

• The Daily Press writes about the CIMS book-banning exercise: http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20160305/NEWS/160309852

• The Daily Press covers the Victor Valley High centennial celebration: http://www.vvdailypress.com/arti-cle/20160312/NEWS/160319921

VVUHSD IN THE NEWS

WHO WE ARE

Layout, design, photos and stories (unless otherwise noted): Kris Reilly

Copy editing: Dianah Edington, Heather Pauling, Jackie Rocha, Dr. Ratmony Yee

Send comments or story ideas to kreilly@vvuhsd.org

A novel idea: Books 'banned'Cobalt Institute of Math and Science junior Josh Givens holds up a copy of ‘The Great Gatsby’ — a book that was ‘banned’ due to a purported challenge from a parent.

Cobalt Institute of Math and Science students saw several of their school

books “banned” this week as part of a lesson about censorship, and school faculty was taken aback by how strongly the students react-ed.

On Tuesday, CIMS teachers showed their students a cease and desist letter from a law firm claiming to represent a parent who objected to several books be-ing taught in the school’s English classes, including classics such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, Ray Bradbury’s “Fahren-heit 451”, George Orwell’s “1984” and S.E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders.”

The parent purportedly ob-jected to the books because they “exposed students to violence, sex, drugs and alcohol … and other crimes.” Teachers then confiscated the books, and at the

time students thought the ban was real.

“I was really mad,” said CIMS ninth-grader Julissa Deleon, whose class was reading “Fahr-enheit 451” before it was taken away. “I was like, ‘These are our books. There’s nothing wrong with these books!’ ”

The exercise was the kickoff to a project-based learning pro-gram incorporating controversial books that have sometimes been banned or challenged by school districts or governments around the world. The project involved several English classes at the grade 7-12 school of choice with-in the Victor Valley Union High School District.

“We thought, ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we pretended that we got an actual parent complaint and

See BOOKS on Page 8

Victor Valley Union High School District

Connections •Page 3

A HEALTHY START

STUDENT OF THE MONTH

Hook Junior High School students grab their first meal of the day on a recent morning. Like all Victor Valley Union High School District campuses, Hook offers free breakfast to all students each day.

Aaliyah ForrestLakeview Leadership

Academy

Lakeview Leadership Academy seventh-grader Aaliyah Forrest is the second student chosen

as Victor Valley Union High School District's Student of the Month.

Aaliyah carries a 4.333 GPA while taking honors classes and has perfect attendance. She is cur-rently a mentor in the after-school ASES program where she uses her Leadership qualities to show beginning students necessary cooking skills.

While in fifth grade, Aaliyah was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarco-ma, a rare form of cancer behind the eye. She went through exten-sive chemotherapy for over a year, which caused her to lose her hair and suffer extensive pain.

"Aaliyah is the epitome of being a leader," LLA Principal Lonnie Keeter said. "She has overcome adversity and continues to have a positive outlook daily. As the principal of Lakeview Leadership Academy, I am honored to nomi-nate Aaliyah Forrest for Student of the Month for VVUHSD."

The Victor Valley Union High School District celebrated Nation-al School Breakfast Week earlier

this month in an effort to remind the community that breakfast is free for every student in the district every day.

Research shows that eating breakfast is linked to better academic perfor-mance, and VVUHSD offers a balanced morning meal free of charge. Because of its high percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced meals, the

district qualifies for Provision 2 funding, which allows all students to eat break-fast for free, even if they do not qualify for free or reduced meals.

All students at Adelanto High, Silver-ado High, Victor Valley High, Goodwill Education Center, Hook Junior High, Lakeview Leadership Academy, Cobalt Institute of Math and Science and Uni-versity Prep simply need to visit their cafeteria 20 to 30 minutes before the first bell of the day rings.

Food service worker Elodia Nunez, Hook Principal Maura Balmaceda, food service operator Stella Limon, VVUHSD Nutrition Services Director Jason Hill and VVUHSD Nutrition Services Field Supervisor Robynne Sokolowski pose in the Hook kitchen before breakfast began on Monday.

FREE BREAKFAST FOR ALL STUDENTS

Victor Valley Union High School District

Connections •Page 4

Leading the way

COMING UP

CIMS STUDENTS EXCEL AT HISTORY DAY

LAKEVIEW LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

Lakeview Leadership Academy students and Superintendent Dr. Ron Williams high-five VVUHSD Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Dr. Ratmony Yee as Yee and VVUHSD Coordinator of Mathematics Carol Cronk, right, enter the campus during Lakeview’s Leadership Day event.

Students welcome community to Lakeview Leadership Academy for Leadership Day

The established leaders of the High Desert met with the young leaders of Lakev-

iew Leadership Academy recently to experience what the school has to offer.

The grade 7-8 school within the Victor Valley Union High School District practices the “Leader in Me” philosophy based on Sean Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens.”

Lakeview invited community members to see the seven hab-its in action on March 11, with student presentations, classroom visits and musical performances at the campus on Tamarisk Road just south of Spring Valley Lake.

Attendees included many

prominent business people in the community as well as Victor Ele-mentary School District Superin-tendent Jan Gonzales and a large contingent of VVUHSD person-nel, including Superintendent Dr. Ron Williams and Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Dr. Ratmony Yee.

“I was thoroughly impressed with everything Principal Lonnie Keeter and his staff are doing to nurture and cultivate the tal-ents of these amazing students,” Williams said. “Lakeview Leader-ship Academy students exemplify Covey’s seven habits on a daily basis, and the results of applying those habits were on full display here today.”

Students greeted visitors and led them into Lakeview’s

District art show coming next month

VVUHSD's inaugural District Art Show is scheduled for April 11-15 in the district

Board Room. The best work from the art programs at VVUHSD’s school sites will be featured at the weeklong event.

Opening Night will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, April 11, followed by Gallery Hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. the rest of the week.

VVUHSD art teachers invite staff and community members to see the work of our amazing students!

See LEADERSHIP on Page 9

In the next issue:

EMPLOYEES OF THE QUARTER RECOGNIZED

FEMALE WRESTLER HONORED

ACTIVE SHOOTER TRAINING

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT!

Victor Valley Union High School District

Hook Jr. High earns girls basketball title

Connections •Page 5

The Hook Junior High School girls basketball team defeated Cobalt Institute

of Math and Science 20-17 on March 4 to claim the 2016 High Desert Athletic League champi-onship.

The team started off 1-1 be-fore rattling off 10 straight wins to finish the season, head coach Robert McClure said. Hook fin-ished the year with an overtime victory over CIMS to claim the title after being down 11-4 at halftime.

Before Friday’s game, the Lady Wranglers were given a little extra spirit when staff and stu-dents put on a surprise parade as

the players were leaving the Hook campus for the game.

Because Hook does not have a home gymnasium, the Lady Wranglers played their home games at the old Cobalt campus and practiced at the Hook Com-munity Center. The team struggled at first but showed steady improvement throughout the year, McClure said.

“They did great; they worked really hard,” McClure said of his team. “They put in a lot of work and came far. … (In the final game) they didn’t didn’t give up; they fought back and they won in overtime. It was a great game.”

SPORTS

Hook Junior High School girls basketball players and coaches pose with their championship banner after winning the High Desert Athletic League championship on March 4. (Photo submitted by Kristina Madrigal)

Silverado High School staff and students are hoping to rally support for a handi-

capped student who is competing to win a special bike that will make her life easier.

Camille Martinez a 21-year-old severely handicapped student in Taner Duman’s class. She has been enrolled at Silverado for eight years, but will be too old to attend after this school year.

Before she leaves, she is trying to win a special adaptive bike in a contest known as the Great Bike Giveaway.

She has experienced the bike in Mr. Ellis’ Adaptive PE class, and her mother attributes most of her weight management and physical development to access to the bike.

To win the bike that is appro-priate for her, she must have the most votes; last year’s winner had more than 6,000 votes. Camille currently has 300+ votes.

"I’m confident that a big push from the Silverado communi-ty could help her win the bike," Principal Heather Conkle said in an email to staff. "I’m reaching out to you for some assistance with getting the student body behind Camille."

Visit https://www.friendshipcir-cle.org/bikes/2016/02/camille-m/ to obtain further information and to cast your vote.

Help a special needs student win a special bike!

Victor Valley Union High School District

Connections •Page 6

by the district). The board is ex-pected to appoint a new member, then the seat will go up for reelec-tion in November.

"The Superintendent’s office would like to sincerely thank Lisa Crosby for her service to the Victor Valley Union High School Dis-trict," VVUHSD Superintendent Dr. Ron Williams said in a written statement. "Her wisdom, positive attitude and passion for education were tremendous assets to our board. We will always consider Lisa a part of the VVUHSD family."

Board President Penny Edmiston lauded Crosby at the March 17 board meeting, saying that her4 colleague "has gone above and be-yond ... She has been a true cham-pion of our students."

Crosby provided the following written statement about her de-parture:

"It is an extremely tough and emotional decision but I feel it is best at this time for my family that I resign my position on the school board. Being on the board has been such a big part of my life the last year and a half, and I am going to miss it tremendously.

"I have been a part of this dis-trict since I started going to school in it 37 years ago. I never truly grew to love it as much as I have during my time on the board. I had no idea how time-consuming it would be, but I wouldn't change any moment I spent fulfilling my duties in the position. My goal going in was to help make great changes for the better and I believe this board, the superintendent, and staff worked as a team and accomplished so many great and marvelous things together in such a short time, that were so vital to healing and building trust in the district once more.

"I have heard from so many employees that they had not felt happier or more valued at the start of a school year as they did at the beginning of this year. We have implemented many programs and committees that will continue to strive to make this the best dis-trict ever. I care deeply about all employees in our district and am aware of all the contributions they make. I am grateful for all of the time I have had to get to know so many fine people that I have been privileged to come into contact

with and have appreciated all of the hugs and encouragement. I will miss them!

"I have formed many close re-lationships and bonds with many that I will always cherish, and hope to keep them and form even more. I will still be around for a long time and hope in the future to be able to serve in any capacity necessary to help where I can. For now I am looking forward to not being just a 'ship passing through the night' at home and be able to spend some precious time with my daughter particularly, in the last few months that I have with her before she heads off to college in Utah.

"Again, it was a great honor to serve on the School Board with such fabulous board members and for such a fine school district. I am grateful for all of the love and support I was given while on the board and even this past week. I have great confidence that the district will continue on its great path to excellence with its fabu-lous leadership and contributions of all involved. Thanks again for the tremendous opportunity I had to serve and work with each and every one of you."

CROSBY from Page 1

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SOCIAL MEDIA

At a recent board meeting, Bosch awarded Principal Dr. Melda Gaskins and Cobalt Institute of Math and Sci-ence staff a $25,000 STEM grant. It's the largest grant Bosch has given to a school for Project Lead the Way.

available tickets for the event were sold, organizers said. The crowd filled both gymnasiums at the VVHS campus, with the older gym hosting a slate of speakers while the newer gym housed extensive memorabilia displays from the school’s 100 years of history.

Many of the attendees were alumni, and event co-organizer Rani Walker said the grads told her they were “overwhelmed with how great both gyms looked and how great the memorabilia was.”

Walker joined VVHS Principal Chris Douglass, Assistant Principal Nancy Noyer, graphic arts teacher Rick Garcia and an army of staff members and volunteers in pre-paring for the event, which fea-tured a slew of speakers from the school’s storied past. Among them were Ollie Butler, former longtime basketball coach and teacher; for-mer teacher and coach Felix Diaz; former athletic director, teacher and coach Joe Vargas; former Victor Valley Union High School District Superintendent Julian Weaver; VVUHSD board member Barbara Dew; comedian and VVHS grad J.T. Turner; and former VVHS teacher George Struebing, who served as Master of Ceremonies.

Current VVUHSD Superinten-dent Dr. Ron Williams provided the opening remarks and told the crowd how the history of VVHS “is the history of the Victor Valley itself.”

“Other high schools and dis-tricts have incorporated in our region, but the history of second-

ary education in the Victor Valley starts here at VVHS,” Williams said.

Victor Valley High School start-ed in 1915 as a one-room school-house in a private home and has since grown into the Victor Val-ley Union High School District, serving 9,600 students — 2,000 of whom attend Victor Valley High today.

More than 30,000 students have graduated from the school over the past century, many of whom have gone on to become prominent citizens of their communities — including scores of local business owners and other grads who’ve achieved worldwide renown. Among them are John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, The Boston Globe newspaper and Liverpool Football Club; Rochelle Calhoun, Vice President for Cam-pus Life at Princeton University; and former Olympic wrestler and mixed martial arts hall of famer Dan Henderson, just to name a few.

Some three decades before the battle for school integration made headlines, VVHS graduated its first African-American student in 1921.

Today, Victor Valley Union High School District boasts eight cam-puses in Victorville and neighbor-ing Adelanto, serving students in grades 7-12. The district’s oldest school is still a focal point for the district, which recently approved funding for construction of a new multi-use facility that will serve as the campus’s new entrance at the corner of Mojave Drive and Sixth Street.

The presentation of colors and Pledge of Allegiance at Satur-day’s event were led by the VVHS AFROTC and Cadet Corps pro-grams. VVHS counselor and grad Andrea Porter led the singing of the school’s Alma Mater. Food was provided by the VVHS culinary arts program and 3rd Generation Tacos.

MORE PHOTOS ONLINE AT VVUHSD.ORG

Victor Valley Union High School District

Connections •Page 7

VVHS from Page 1

VVHS 1962 grad Karen Newman and her brother Jess Newman (a 1962 graduate) check out memorabilia. Jess Newman is wearing his original varsity letterman’s sweater from his days as a Jackrabbits football player.

we were going to take away all the books so we wouldn't get sued,’ ” CIMS English teacher Kristen Savko said. “(The students) were more shocked and more outraged than I expected. Whole classes were like, ‘They can’t do that to us! That’s what we’re supposed to be reading!’ And they wanted to make posters and make a petition, and they were writing letters to the President. It got much bigger than we expected.”

Students, including 11th-grader Josh Givens, soon took to social media in protest, using hashtags such as #bringourbooksback on Instagram and other sites.

“I just thought, ‘that’s complete-ly wrong and shouldn’t happen,’ ” said Givens, whose class had been reading “The Great Gatsby” before it was taken away. “I just felt really motivated to either spread aware-ness to it or put a stop to it.”

The teachers had planned to keep the ban in place for at least another day, but by the end of the school day it was clear they’d have to let the students in on what they

were doing to avoid a flood of par-ent complaints.

According to an email sent out by Savko to fellow teachers, stu-dents were told that the purpose of the exercise was “to put each student into the shoes of students in other cities, states, and coun-tries dealing with censorship. We wanted each student to see that censorship can have a devastat-ing effect on education and to get students interested in learning more about banned and challenged books.”

CIMS English teachers Mandy Oakes, Svenja Swager, Shannon

Gibson, Antonia Vignocchi, Bonnie Vigil and Sterling Self also took part in the experiment with their students.

“I was surprised about all the en-ergy (the students) put into this,” said Swager, who teamed up with Savko to come up with the idea. “In every classroom the kids were screaming; they were demanding their books back. Definitely they got some kind of wake-up call from this. … They became aware of the issue of book-banning and the issue of censoring books, taking away their freedom to get educat-ed.”

Victor Valley Union High School District

Connections •Page 8

BOOKS from Page 2

Cobalt Institute of Math and Science students in Mandy Oakes’ English class hold up copies of '1984' and signs they made to protest a book ‘ban.’ The exercise was the kickoff to a project-based learning event dealing with banned books.

reenactment of the penalty phase of a real DUI trial that occurred in San Bernardino County involving underage drinking and driving.

Adelanto High School Resource Officer John Hayes of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department played the bailiff and handcuffed the “defendant” after he was sentenced by Judge Victor Stull. San Bernardino County Dep-uty District Attorney Colin Child and Deputy Public Defender Robin Bannister made statements before

the judge. The students then heard from

Rina Kennedy of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who delivered an emotional story about her 24-year-old brother Marc Tomassi of Hesperia. Tomassi was a standout baseball player for Sultana before he suffered devastating injuries in a drunk-driving crash in 2013. He now struggles just to walk, and all of the friends he used to party with have abandoned him, Kenne-dy said.

All of the participants answered questions from students at the end of the event. Stull drew a round of

applause from the students when he answered a question about peer pressure.

“If you have friends pressuring you to do drugs or drink when you don’t want to, they’re not friends,” Stull said. “Get rid of them.”

The Friday Night Live Club at Adelanto High School aims to edu-cate local youth about the dangers of drugs and alcohol while encour-aging healthy lifestyle choices, es-pecially on prom night when they may be pressured to drink alcohol. Friday Night Live Club Adviser Bree Landry organized the event.

DUI from Page 1

multi-purpose room, where at-tendees were treated to refresh-ments and performances. After a school band performance, stu-dents Chelsea Sweet and Robert Moreno drew an enthusiastic re-sponse from the crowd with their vocal duet, “I See the Light.”

Students, including Master of Ceremonies Kyle Hovannesian, delivered speeches on leadership and the seven habits, which are: 1. Be Proactive; 2. Begin With the End in Mind; 3. Put First Things First; 4. Think Win-Win; 5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood; 6. Synergize; and 7. Sharpen the Saw.

The visitors then broke into groups and toured classrooms,

where students talked about their work in a variety of subjects. They also saw the school’s Leader-ship Hall, which features photos and quotes from famous leaders throughout history as well as pho-

tos of students who participate in Lakeview’s Leadership program.

Throughout the morning, the crowd saw first-hand how the school lives up to its motto; “We build leaders, one child at a time.”

Victor Valley Union High School District

Connections •Page 9

LEADERSHIP from Page 4

Lakeview Leadership Academy students participate in a team-building activity on campus during the Leadership Day event March 11.

A group of Victor Valley Union High School District personnel from all of the district’s sites recently completed a 100-hour training program that promotes equity in education.

The Association of California School Administrators Equity In-stitute was attended by a group of VVUHSD administrators, teachers and classified staff who gave up their Friday evenings and Saturday mornings over eight weekends.

The professional development program concluded on March 5 with participants receiving com-mendation coins from VVUHSD Superintendent Dr. Ron Williams.

Attendees learned about racial and socioeconomic issues facing our district and developed strat-egies to ensure equity among our diverse population of students.

Equity InstitutePROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT