Student and teacher growth continue as the focus at HUSD

According to Koerperich, there will be no shortage of services aimed toward jumpstarting the college and professional careers of the students at HUSD. High school students can attend college while still attending high school with dual enrollment and the Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology (NAVIT).

The district will continue to offer programs that help the students develop their academic careers. According to Koerperich, dual concurrent enrollment will be available for college courses for English 101/102, Calculus MAT 221/233, Navajo Language 171, College Algebra 152, Pre-Calculus 189, American Government POS 110, Economics BUS 140, U.S. History 105 and 106, Physics 113/114 and Advanced Biology 181. All the listed classes are available for the students to take during the school day and apply as college credit.

Also helping district students onto an early college career path is the NAVIT program. NAVIT provides career and technical education through Northland Pioneer College to students who want to get a jump start on their careers. NAVIT offers programs like Certified Nursing Assistant, Construction Technology, Cosmetology, Energy and Industrial Technology, Fire Science, Medical Assistant, Welding, Autos I/II, Business Management II/III, Computer Aided Drafting II/III, Child Development II/III, Construction II/III, Digital Technology II/III, Engineering, Film and TV II/III and Welding II/III.

Koerperich explained that AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) which also provides a level of college readiness will continue. Currently, students who are considered for the program don’t need to maintain a certain GPA to qualify.

According to Koerperich, “There is not a GPA requirement, rather, an aspirational requirement. The focus is also on students that may not have a generational college focus, for example, their parents may not have gone to college.”

The district also partners with Northern Arizona University and Yale University (NAU) to provide a program for teachers that invites culture into the learning environment. According to Koerperich, “Indian Wells Elementary had two teachers participate last year and we hope to expand this professional development program to more teachers this coming year. Teachers are able to work with NAU professors as well as cultural teachers to build state standard-based lessons to implement in the classroom centered upon cultural relevancy.

When asked which teachers are selected for the program Koerperich further explained, “Any teacher can participate. The application is through NAU and is due in February. The training occurs between April and December. Training occurs at NAU and sometimes in specific locations. There is a 10-day residency in late June for all teachers as well at NAU.

“The relevancy for students is to blend culture into the content that is being taught. For example, if a teacher is teaching the water cycle they could teach it in the traditional manner or they can utilize a cultural aspect which might integrate how the water cycle impacts the Navajo Nation, the value of water in the Native culture, etc. Teachers learn about the content from NAU instructors and the cultural relevance from Dine’ educators.”

Koerperich also shared that the Hulet/Park Elementary received a grant from the Arizona Department of Education for an additional counselor. Although it is a three-year grant, Koerperich said there is a shortage of certified counselors and that will present a challenge when the process of looking begins, but he hopes to find one in the coming year that will meet the needs of the students.

“If we can hire a counselor, we will focus on behavior interventions at the two schools. We hope to be able to provide interventions to help with the various behavior issues we experience in the school setting. Some students need emotional and social counseling. We hope our counselor can do this type of work. In addition, we are implementing a new program called the Good Behavior Game, which will be implemented in classrooms in the coming year. We hope the counselor will be able to assist with the Good Behavior Game implementation as well. Social and emotional education is an important part of educating students,” said Koerperich.

Also, on the list to continue is the RoostEd talks hosted inside the Roadrunner Roost at the Holbrook High School library. After the remodel of the library last year, the school began hosting guest speakers to educate students, parents and community members on select topics such as bullying, drug prevention and mental health. Koerperich says he thinks the content provided in the talks are all important and hopes to see more community members get involved. “We choose the topics based on the relevancy of what is happening in our schools and in our communities. We have had decent participation at this point; however, we have capacity for more stakeholders to attend. We want to be a resource for our community so we will continue to offer these EdTalks,” said the superintendent.

Subjects that have already been discussed are human trafficking presentation, juvenile diabetes, dual enrollment, financial literacy a HUSD No. 3 State of the District presentation and an AVID presentation.