California School News Radio

Keith Nuthall, principal and co-founder of Odyssey STEM Academy, discusses how he worked with Paramount Unified School District to create a new, non-charter, STEM-focused high school in Paramount through an iterative design process that re-imagines high school by transforming students into scholars who pursue internships in their community, becoming active participants in their school curriculum.

In 2015, Holland Middle School in Baldwin Park Unified School District partnered with Project Lead the Way to provide Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum for its students. Holland Principal Mike Rust talks about the growth of the program, Holland’s award-winning robotics team, the Femineer Club and the changing nature of STEM education in the classroom.

Guest 2: Joe Quintero, Adam Kalesperis – Co-founders, Directors, B.R.I.D.G.E Theater Project In 2014, Lynwood Unified School District began a partnership with BRIDGE Theatre Project, an L.A.-based arts education provider. In four years, BRIDGE has overseen more than 100 student-written and performed plays and in July 2018 traveled with two Cesar Chavez Middle School students to the Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Rwanda. BRIDGE co-founders Adam Kalesperis and Joe Quintero discuss the origins of the program and its impact on the Lynwood community.    

Guest 1: Dr. Edward Zuniga – El Monte Union High School District Superintendent When El Monte Union High School District Superintendent Dr. Edward Zuniga graduated from El Monte High School in 1991, he never dreamed he would someday return as the District’s top administrator. In a wide-ranging conversation, Dr. Zuniga details El Monte Union’s commitment to providing a path to college and career for every student, STEM education, civic engagement, and the educational journey he took that brought him full circle with the El Monte community.

VMA Communications president and CEO Valerie Martinez discusses the history of the outreach firm she created in 1996 to highlight academic success in school districts across California, outlining VMA’s goals and successes with their education clients, the tremendous growth of the firm, and the launch and development of California School News.

Bassett High School Principal Gabriel Fernandez and Design School X (DSX) founder and executive director David Clifford have begun a learning partnership that seeks to redesign high school so that it is more centered on student equity and inclusion. Fernandez and Clifford discuss the formative steps they are taking at the classroom level to provide Bassett High faculty and staff with student and parent feedback, and their surprising results on the first day of school.