Fontana Unified to Launch School Year on Aug. 24
Fontana Unified School District will begin the 2020-2021 school year on Monday, Aug. 24, with online instruction for all students. The decision to start the school year on Aug. 24 was announced during a July 22 Board of Education special meeting. The new start date supports Fontana Unified’s continued efforts to ensure all students are equipped with devices needed to engage in distance learning and provide parents and teachers with additional trainings prior to the start of the 2020-21 year.
Fontana Unified Provides Parent Tech Training for Distance Learning
Fontana Unified is helping families prepare for the 2020-21 year, which will begin with distance learning, by offering a series of technology trainings on how to use Microsoft Teams and make the most of digital learning tools. The trainings – which began July 21 and run through Wednesday, July 29 – are offered in English and Spanish and highlight how parents and students can attend virtual meetings, find class resources, complete digital assignments and more.
Fontana Unified School District announced their plans for the 2020-21 academic year, providing families with two learning options, understanding that the situation with COVID-19 requires options that are flexible and allow for instructional model adaptation as the situation evolves. These two options include a “Flexible Learning Program” and a “Virtual Learning Program.”
Both learning programs start off with online learning. The flexible learning program has four stages, beginning with distance learning, as mandated July 17 by Governor Gavin Newsom in recognition of the state’s rise in COVID-19 cases. According to the new state guidelines, only schools in counties that have been off the state’s County Monitoring List for 14 days and follow strict health and safety guidelines may reopen for in-person instruction. The flexible learning program will allow the District to seamlessly phase-in on-campus learning as the community health dynamic improves.
Nine aspiring nurses from Fontana Unified’s Class of 2020 will further their education at Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Baptist University in the fall, building on the skills they learned in the District’s Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program. Cindy Aceves Ortiz, Melissa Gutierrez, Elvi Haro Dominguez, Tianna Johnson, Lizette Rodriguez, Brieana Rojas Gutierrez, Sabrina Rullan, Edith Valdovinos and Elizabeth Vega were inspired to pursue degrees and careers in the medical field after completing the CNA program at Fontana High School.
FONTANA, CA – Fontana Unified educator Marco Garcia will serve as Fontana Middle School’s principal for the 2020-21 year, bringing 22 years of experience to the role. Garcia takes the helm at Fontana Middle School on July 1 after working as an assistant principal at Henry J. Kaiser High School for the last four-and-a-half years.
Fontana Unified School Earns AVID 2020 Teacher Advocacy Award
Fontana High School has earned the 2020 Teacher Advocacy Award from Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), one of just five schools in California to receive the accolade this year. The award recognizes schools for exceptional leadership in support of the AVID mission, which is to narrow the achievement gap and improve college readiness for all students. Fontana High is an AVID National Demonstration School, a status achieved by less than 3 % of AVID schools nationwide and held by Fontana High since 2006.
Fontana Unified Opens Online Enrollment for 2020-21 Year
Families interested in enrolling in Fontana Unified for the 2020-21 year may begin the process online. Fontana Unified offers an array of academic and enrichment programs that begin in transitional kindergarten and kindergarten – such as coding and robotics, dual language immersion and leadership development – and prepare students for hands-on career technical education and professional pathways in high school.
Class of 2020 graduates from A.B. Miller High School’s Conservatory of Dance are receiving national recognition for their excellence – as students and artists – from the National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA). Every Class of 2020 graduate from A.B. Miller High School’s Conservatory of Dance received honors or elevated honors status from the NHSDA, celebrating their outstanding artistic merit, leadership and academic achievement.
Every Class of 2020 graduate from A.B. Miller High School’s Conservatory of Dance received honors or elevated honors status from the NHSDA, celebrating their outstanding artistic merit, leadership and academic achievement.
Fontana Unified Graduates Cross the Finish Line with Speedway Ceremony
Principals from Fontana Unified’s five comprehensive high schools waved the checkered flag as Class of 2020 graduates and their families drove by, honking their horns and signaling the end of their high school journey during drive-thru commencement ceremonies at the Auto Club Speedway. The socially distanced ceremonies, held June 2-4, featured graduates disembarking from their cars in school-branded masks to accept their diplomas in front of classic cars. The ceremonies were accompanied by a virtual presentation of speeches from students and staff, built into a livestream of the diploma conferral. The ceremonies concluded the District’s commencement festivities, which included drive-thru ceremonies for the adult school and continuation schools at Ontario International Airport on May 28.
Summit High School senior Nicole Quinonez-Frias’ raw and emotional approach to highlighting cultural stigmas around depression and suicide, captured in a 60-second film, has earned statewide recognition as a category winner in the Directing Change Program and Film Contest. Quinonez-Frias’ film captured first place in the Through the Lens of Culture – Suicide Prevention category. As a statewide winner, she will receive a $1,000 prize. She is the first Summit High TV Production student to win an event in the competition.
