Buena Park School District’s middle school students are recharging while creating their own miniature Zen gardens, applying stress management techniques, and boosting their social-emotional growth at newly established WellSpace centers. Buena Park Middle School and Gordon H. Beatty Middle School WellSpace centers are areas where students can express themselves, decompress and seek out relaxation and mindfulness techniques with support from school counselors. Students participate in activities such as journaling, aromatherapy, art therapy and physical movement. The centers are also furnished with comfortable chairs, calming music and encouraging slogans.
Parents were treated to a cavalcade of lively videos, presentations, and teacher interviews, detailing a wealth of programs and events available this year in Buena Park School District, during a series of virtual back-to-school nights. The District hosted its middle school events on Aug. 31, while grades TK to 2 were held on Sept. 1, grades 3 to 5 on Sept. 2, and the Buena Park Learning Center on Sept. 7.
Longtime educator Loriann Leota thrives on being able to roll up her sleeves and jump right into assisting her students, teachers and administrators – motivated by her love for a good team dynamic. Leota is bringing her hands-on approach to education – backed by a decade of experience in teaching and administration roles – to Pendleton Elementary School, where she will serve as principal in 2021-22.
Buena Park School District welcomed more than 4,000 students onto its eight campuses for the first day of the 2021-22 school year on Aug. 17, where teachers, staff and students celebrated the return to regular in-person learning. Following more than a year of remote and hybrid learning, many students and parents exuberantly returned to campuses for full-time, in-person instruction, while other students are continuing with online learning through the Buena Park Learning Center and Academy for Accelerated Learning.
Buena Park School District Returns to Full-Time Instruction on Aug. 17
Buena Park School District will launch the start of its 2021-22 school year on Tuesday, Aug. 17, with students returning to full-time, in-person learning. Families who wish to keep their children enrolled in remote learning are eligible to apply to the Buena Park Learning Center, which provides students with rigorous at-home learning materials and support.
Buena Park School District Superintendent Dr. Ramon Miramontes was named a 2021 Superintendent of the Year by the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators, honoring efforts to improve the lives of students and eliminate the achievement gap. Miramontes was chosen as the “Honoring Our Own” awardee for region 6 – which includes San Diego, Orange, Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties – for demonstrating exceptional leadership in advancing equity and success for Latino students and their families during the 2020-21 school year.
Buena Park School District students are staying physically fit, increasing their understanding about healthy eating and improving their social-emotional well-being thanks to the District’s health and wellness resource guide and fitness calendar. The health and wellness guide launched in January 2021 after a District English Learner Advisory Committee meeting, where parents began asking for new ways to keep their children active and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buena Park School District is encouraging students to read more, expand their creativity, exercise regularly and boost their social-emotional growth by following a list of 20 activities posted on the District’s Summer Choice Board. The activities, selected by District staff, provide additional learning opportunities for students during the summer break – such as writing letters to friends, in-person and online reading events, virtual field trips to America’s national parks and physical education activities.
Buena Park School District students are journeying around the globe and experiencing the sprawling cityscapes of Rome, Malaysia and Greece, thanks to virtual field trips offered through the District's Summer Kid Connection program. Kid Connection, which has enrolled 24 students at Corey School and 32 at Emery School, is open to all District students. The program offers a safe environment for academic assistance, playtime with friends, art and other activities over the course of nine weeks. Emery School’s program is led by Elisa Rios, and Corey School’s is led by Jenifer Navarro.
Buena Park School District students are mastering public speaking, expanding their acting skills and learning how to improvise as part of the District’s speech and debate summer program. The summer program is a two-week course that will prepare 51 students – from grades four to eight – for success in the District’s main speech and debate program, as well as tournaments. While in the course, students are either placed in a writing workshop or learn to deliver specific speech topics, which include informative, original orator, declamation, interpretation and impromptu.
