Covina-Valley Unified School District will kick off the 2025-26 school year with its annual Welcome Back Convocation, bringing together teachers, staff, and administrators for a morning of celebration, connection, and inspiration. The event will include a dynamic keynote speaker, team-building activities, and uplifting messages to set a positive tone for the year ahead.
Fontana Unified School District (FUSD) is heading into the 2025-26 school year with 12 new administrative appointments, including five interim appointments, as part of a strategic reorganization designed to optimize leadership assignments within the District. Two Fontana Unified administrators took on new roles within the reorganization at the District level, with former school principals Christopher Hollister, Ed.D., and Patricia Corral, Ed.D., named Executive Director of Secondary Education and Interim Executive Director of Classified Human Resources, respectively.
Whittier Union High School District (WUHSD) is taking a significant step forward in its efforts to expand and celebrate arts education, moving ahead with plans for its new Performing Arts Center (PAC) – a state-of-the-art facility that will serve visual and performing arts (VAPA) students from across the District. The PAC, set to be built on the northwest side of the United Sierra Education Center, recently received final approval from the Division of the State Architect. With this milestone complete, the District’s general contractor is moving forward with bidding out the work, which will then be submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval, tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 9. Construction is slated to begin shortly thereafter.
El Monte Union High School District’s (EMUHSD) ongoing partnership with Beat the Streets (BTS) Los Angeles continues to create opportunities for student-athletes to shine, with six students — including two recent graduates from the Class of 2025 — proudly representing their schools and community at the 2025 Beat the Streets National Camp and Duals, held June 24-26 at the University of Pennsylvania. BTS, a national mentor and sports-based youth development organization, aims to empower youth through wrestling. Its annual National Camp and Duals combines elite wrestling instruction with mentorship, leadership development, and team-building experiences.
A school year filled with prestigious recognitions continued for Wayne Ruble Middle School math and computer science teacher Zahra Razi, who recently earned two national honors for creating transformational learning environments and enriching students’ understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Razi was named one of the International Society for Technology in Education and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ISTE+ASCD) 20 to Watch Award recipients, making her one of just 20 early-career educators worldwide recognized for innovation and impact. She was also selected as a Generation AI Luminary, one of 10 educators nationwide honored for advancing AI-powered instruction and ethical technology use. Razi is the only educator in the country to be selected for both awards this year.
Fontana Unified will start the 2025-26 school year, welcoming more than 30,000 students back to campus on Wednesday, Aug. 6. The new academic year marks the beginning of a new era for O’Day Short Elementary School – previously known as Randall Pepper Elementary – as it officially opens under its new name in honor of the O’Day Short Family, which is remembered for breaking Fontana’s color barrier 80 years ago.
Covina-Valley Unified School District will welcome students and families back to its annual Back-to-School Extravaganza, continuing its tradition of providing students with free backpacks and school supplies for the upcoming school year.
Upland Unified School District is transforming school meals from the ground up with a robust, innovative farm-to-school program that connects students with fresh, healthy, and locally grown produce, straight from local farms and gardens at each of the District’s 14 campuses. Every school site in the District now features a regenerative garden, maintained with the help of student interns from federally funded agriculture programs, Upland Unified students, and volunteers. These spaces serve as more than just gardens; they are outdoor classrooms and community hubs that foster hands-on learning, sustainability, and healthy eating habits.
Covina-Valley Unified is opening new doors for middle school students through a pilot career technical education (CTE) summer program, giving incoming seventh- and eighth-graders early exposure to hands-on, real-world learning. The program, open to Las Palmas, Traweek, and Sierra Vista middle school students, quickly reached full capacity after its launch. Organized into three sessions, the program offers students the chance to explore two CTE programs per session, including studio art and business entrepreneurship, sports patient care and medical patient care, aviation/aerospace, and theater production.
Oakton College in Des Plaines, Ill., has seen a profound and measurable impact from implementing Caring Campus, reflected in increased student persistence rates from semester to semester. Known as “The Persistence Project,” at Oakton, the college exemplifies how a culture of care can transform student experiences and outcomes. The Persistence Project encourages faculty to adopt simple, relationship-building behaviors such as learning students’ names in the first two weeks, scheduling individual check-ins with students, and providing early feedback. In fall 2024, the college analyzed outcomes for students enrolled in courses taught by faculty participating in the project. Results showed that first-time Oakton students who took at least one course with a Persistence Project faculty member persisted from fall to spring at a rate 17.8 percentage points higher than their peers — 77.4 percent compared to 59.6 percent. These fall 2024 results align with a consistent trend of increased student persistence seen since the college first implemented the Persistence Project in 2016.
