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Fontana Unified School District

  • Fontana Unified Educator Selected as Finalist for California State Teacher of the Year Award

    Live Oak Elementary School teacher Michelle Vazquez discovered her calling for teaching and advocacy at a young age, growing up in a family that ran a foster home for adults with special needs. Vazquez credits her childhood for teaching her the importance of dignity, patience, and creating spaces where everyone feels valued. It’s a lesson the Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher has carried with her throughout her 16-plus years in education. That dedication helped lead to her recognition as Live Oak Elementary and Fontana Unified School District’s (FUSD) 2024-25 Teacher of the Year, as well as one of the 2026 San Bernardino Countywide Teachers of the Year. With the county recognition, Vazquez is now a finalist for the 2026 California Department of Education Teacher of the Year award.

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  • Fontana Unified to Expand Student Services by Uniting Award-Winning Continuation Schools

    Fontana Unified School District (FUSD) will strengthen and broaden academic and support services for its continuation high school students as it merges its two Model Continuation High Schools, Citrus and Eric Birch, beginning in the 2025-26 school year. Both continuation schools will consolidate under the name Eric Birch High School, relocating to the former Citrus High site at 10760 Cypress Ave., and adopting the Citrus Jaguars mascot. The FUSD Board of Education approved the merger and an estimated $150,000 cost associated with renaming the Citrus campus to Eric Birch High School during its June 18 meeting. Fontana Unified’s continuation school instruction has been recognized by the California Department of Education (CDE) for its comprehensive excellence. Both Citrus and Eric Birch earned Model Continuation School designations from the CDE for their innovative approach to alternative education, with Citrus earning the three-year status in 2023 and Eric Birch securing recognition in 2024, which extends into the 2025-26 school year.

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  • Fontana Unified to Celebrate Renaming of O’Day Short Elementary School, Honor Family’s Legacy

    Fontana Unified will host a renaming ceremony as Randall Pepper Elementary School officially transitions to O’Day Short Elementary in the 2025-26 school year, honoring the O’Day Short Family, which is remembered for breaking Fontana’s color barrier 80 years ago. District middle school student Cyrus Moss championed the renaming of O’Day Short Elementary. Moss submitted a petition with 132 signatures to rename Randall Pepper Elementary to the Fontana Unified Board of Education in March 2024. The Board unanimously voted to rename the school in September 2024 after all administrative regulations were met.

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Fontana Unified Middle School Student Recognized for Leadership with ACSA Every Student Succeeding Award

Sequoia Middle School eighth-grader Matthew Barrera was recognized by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region 12 Board of Directors with the 2021 Every Student Succeeding Award, celebrating his academic achievement and leadership in the classroom. Barrera has risen to the challenges posed by the death of his mother when he was 11 years old and a relocation from Idaho to California to live with relatives, becoming a straight-A student and distance learning mentor. Barrera will receive a $1,000 scholarship and be recognized in the ACSA Region 12 online award ceremony in May.

Fontana Unified Elementary School to Bolster Personal Connections through Care Package, Teddy Bear Distribution

Redwood Elementary School counselor Eduardo Valencia has seen firsthand the socio-emotional toll that COVID-19 has taken on his students and their families, hearing countless stories of personal and financial loss that are causing students to disengage from their studies. To assist in providing comfort to Redwood families and to reestablish much-needed personal connections, Valencia and Redwood Elementary distributed teddy bears and care packages to every student, teacher, and staff member – 600 in all – during a weeklong, after-school event from Feb. 22-26.

Fontana Unified to Partner with Paper Education, Provide Students with 24/7 Online Tutoring

Fontana Unified students will receive live, 24/7 aid in core subjects and an array of electives through a new District partnership with digital tutoring service Paper Education. The service will launch in March, providing students in grades three to 12 with access to one-on-one tutoring 24 hours a day, seven days a week in English and Spanish. The partnership is the latest effort in the District’s longtime mission to ensure equity in education, aided by initiatives that tackle the digital divide and achievement gap. The service will launch in March, providing students in grades three to 12 with access to one-on-one tutoring 24 hours a day, seven days a week in English and Spanish.

Fontana Unified to Host Virtual Session on Health and Wellness

Fontana Unified will host a virtual Parent University session from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday

Three Fontana Unified Administrators Advance to New Leadership Positions

A commitment to student achievement and professional development distinguishes three Fontana Unified administrators who are advancing to new positions within the District. Kaiser High School Principal Terry Abernathy has been named Fontana Unified’s new Director of Secondary Education, Redwood Elementary School Principal Eduardo Gomez will become Administrator of Dual Language Immersion and Global Competencies, and A.B. Miller High School Assistant Principal Melissa Weber will move to Alder Middle School as its new principal.

Fontana Unified Opens Applications for Spanish Dual-Language Program

Fontana Unified School District is accepting applications for 2021-22 enrollment in its Spanish Dual-Language Immersion (DLI) program, which begins in kindergarten and is offered at Redwood Elementary School and Dolores Huerta International Academy. The DLI program aims to foster bilingualism and biliteracy, sociocultural competency and high levels of academic achievement. For more information, visit www.fusd.net/enrollment.

Fontana Unified High School Recognized for Diversity in AP Program

The College Board has honored A.B. Miller High School for expanding young women’s access to Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science classes, recognizing the school with its 2020 AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award. A.B. Miller High received the award for achieving 50% or greater female exam taker participation in its AP Computer Science (CS) Principles class. A.B. Miller High is one of 1,119 schools across the United States recognized for fostering equal gender representation during the 2019-20 school year. This is the second year in a row that the school’s AP CS Principles has been over 50% female. The course has proven so successful that students asked for an additional AP computer science course to be added to the curriculum.

Fontana Unified Schools Named to California Honor Roll for Narrowing the Achievement Gap

Dorothy Grant Innovations Academy and Wayne Ruble Middle School have been named to the Educational Results Partnership (ERP) Honor Roll in recognition of their overall performance and narrowing of the achievement gap on California standardized tests. The Fontana Unified schools were named Star Schools, a category for high-performing schools that have significant populations of students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. This is the ninth time the Dorothy Grant Innovations Academy has been named to the ERP Honor Roll and the first time for Wayne Ruble Middle School.

Fontana Unified Opens 2021-22 TK/Kindergarten Enrollment

Fontana Unified School District will conclude 2021-22 open enrollment for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten on Friday, April 2. Fontana Unified offers comprehensive early learning opportunities that include coding and robotics, dual language immersion and leadership development. Families may begin the enrollment process online; for more information, visit www.fusd.net/enrollment.