By China Cassidy Beginning a new year and kicking off the second semester, the Holbrook Unified School District (HUSD) will continue its primary mission to help unique students develop while modifying some of the health and safety procedures in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The district will continue to offer as many programs and opportunities through leadership, financial support and commitment to helping each student succeed. Superintendent Dr. Robbie Koerperich stated, “Success is a cornerstone for HUSD and the district remains committed to helping each student develop to their fullest potential.” Remediation and acceleration programs such as tutorial and dual/concurrent enrollment, career and technical education opportunities, social and emotional learning platforms and more, will continue to be a focus at HUSD. The district will continue the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program, provide opportunities for continuous learning platforms and internet connectivity to all students, and continue to create opportunities like the mobile learning unit that allows the district to take learning to the students. HUSD will also continue to create college and career readiness programs and evaluate the programs and opportunities already offered to help all students display their talents. Dr. Koerperich offered, “Education in the 21st century is about focusing on developing how students are smart. We know all students have unique talents and abilities. It is (the district’s) role to develop those talents and not evaluate whether students are smart, but rather, how our students are smart. The reality that 21st century is less reliant on being book smart and more reliant on being skill smart must drive education systems to rethink ‘smartness.’ HUSD will focus on rebranding the way we evaluate smartness amongst our student body.” According to Koerperich, to ensure success throughout the district, the district remains committed to the continual development of the teachers, leaders and high-quality employees at the district. The district will continue to create high quality professional development systems, create competitive salary and benefits for recruitment and retainment; and create opportunities for professional fulfillment at HUSD. While health and wellness have always been a focus within the education system, COVID-19 has called for some of those practices and procedures to be modified. That includes adding handless systems where possible, enforcing sanitation practices and creating “healthy buildings” throughout the district, as far as air quality, water quality, sanitation, occupant management and education and signage. Koerperich explained, “We have a solid ‘Healthy Holbrook’ system in place; however, we have been exposed to a new level of health and wellness protocols. The COVID-19 disruption has brought to light advanced measures that HUSD can take every year to make our overall environment healthier for students and staff.” Because the majority of the buildings throughout the district are more than 50 years old, upkeep and maintenance will also be a focus for 2021. New roof systems will be installed at Holbrook High School (HHS), Park Elementary School and Holbrook Junior High School (HJHS). Heating and cooling systems at Hulet Elementary School will receive upgrades. Upgrades will be also done on school campuses to aging infrastructure and parking lot remodels will be done at Indian Wells Elementary School and HJHS. The district also plans to focus on security enhancements such as entry points, safety procedures throughout the district and cameras, as well as, facility beautification projects.
