Two longtime Whittier Union administrators have been recognized by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) as Region 15 Spring Award winners, highlighting their unwavering commitment to student success, innovative leadership, and empowerment of education communities. Pioneer High School Principal Mary Chapman was recognized as ACSA Region 15 Secondary Principal of the Year, while Whittier Union Adult School (WUAS) Assistant Principal Juan Anzaldo received the ACSA Region 15 Adult Education Administrator of the Year award. Region 15 covers all of Los Angeles County except for L.A. city schools.
Whittier High School has successfully renewed its six-year accreditation status from the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ASC-WASC), demonstrating that the school has the capacity, commitment, and competence to support high-quality student learning and ongoing school improvement. The ASC-WASC accreditation status received by Whittier High School is for six years, running through June 2032, with a mid-cycle progress report due during the 2028-29 school year. This is the highest level of ASC-WASC accreditation, and the third consecutive six-year/mid-cycle report accreditation status the high school has received.
For the second time since 2024, the College Board has recognized three Whittier Union high schools for their continued excellence in developing a college-going culture on campus and creating paths to success in higher education by placing the schools on its 2026 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Roll. La Serna, Pioneer, and Santa Fe high schools were once again recognized for increasing participation in their AP programs, giving students opportunities to earn college credit while attending high school, and maximizing college readiness. La Serna and Pioneer each received a silver-level award, while Santa Fe received a bronze award.
Whittier Union High School District Adult Transition Program (ATP) students spread love and joy throughout the community by designing, writing, and delivering Valentine’s Day cards to local senior citizens through the American Association of Retired Persons’ (AARP) Wish of a Lifetime Cupid Crew initiative. ATP students delivered more than 200 Valentine’s Day cards to Whittier Meals on Wheels, the Whittier Senior Center, Palms Senior Living, and La Habra Senior Center from Feb. 10-13.
Whittier High School senior Guadalupe Duenas is poised to be the first member of her family to attend a four-year university, with a plan to major in child development and a goal of becoming an elementary school teacher, milestones she could never have imagined as a young English learner with a speech and language impairment and Specific Learning Disability.
As La Serna High senior Brooke Chancellor enters her final semester of school, she is looking forward to joining her Lancer classmates for the upcoming whirlwind of graduation events celebrating the Class of 2026. Just two years ago, the odds of Chancellor participating in a commencement ceremony at La Serna seemed out of reach.
The Whittier Union High School District Board of Trustees unanimously appointed Whittier resident Armando Urteaga to serve as Trustee for Area 5 following a Special Board Meeting on Jan. 17. Urteaga will serve the remainder of the term through November 2026. The appointment followed interviews with six candidates conducted during the special meeting. After interviews and deliberation in open session, the Board selected Urteaga based on his extensive experience in public education and long-standing service to local school communities. Urteaga has been a resident of the Whittier area for 25 years and is a longtime public education leader with more than 30 years of experience serving students and families. He holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from California State University, Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in educational management and school administration from the University of La Verne.
he Whittier Union Board of Trustees will begin its process to fill the vacancy in Trustee Area 5 when it conducts interviews of seven eligible Whittier residents who seek a provisional appointment to the Board during a special Board of Trustees meeting to be held at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17 in the Whittier Union Board room. Community members are welcome to attend the open session in-person or via webinar to view the process and to participate in public comment prior to the interviews. Webinar information will be available next week on the District’s website.
La Serna High School seniors posed for photos, danced to their favorite tunes, showed off Lancer swag, and proudly placed “I Applied” stickers on a bulletin board after completing a college application to a UC, Cal State, private, or community college - or a job application - during the school’s inaugural Future Ready Celebration Day on Dec. 4. The Celebration Day lunchtime festivities, which were attended by 225 seniors, are the second part of La Serna’s recently-launched Future Ready initiative, a schoolwide effort to educate and encourage seniors to take control of their post-secondary plans, joining Whittier High School, which launched its own Future Ready program in October.
Whittier Union High School District is proving to be a front-runner in ensuring student success, with 2024-25 California School Dashboard data ranking the District as one of the top four districts in the state, successfully serving a majority Latino, Latinx, Hispanic, and socioeconomically disadvantaged community. There are 995 districts in the state with Dashboard results. The Dashboard is a color-coded system created by the California Department of Education to help districts track year-to-year progress in key areas of growth. It allows districts to measure successes and identify areas for improvement in the year ahead. Measured areas include four-year graduation rates, suspension rates, attendance rates, and more.
