John Vierra High accredited

John Vierra independent study high school in Vallecito has gained its first-ever accreditation.

The accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges “sets the stage for kids applying to college” from John Vierra, said Bret Harte Union High School District Superintendent Michael Chimente.
   

The association granted the school, which opened in 1997, its accreditation after just the initial visit in March by an evaluating team that included Sonora Union High School Superintendent Michael McCoy.

Chimente credited John Vierra High School’s administrators and staff, plus parents and community members, for preparing the school for the accreditation microscope.

“Hats off to them,” he said.

The 20-page report from the accreditation team notes the school showed “substantial gain over the last two years” in API test scores.

The district has given substantial support for improving the John Vierra program through the years, Chimente said, noting “one size no longer fits all” in the education realm.

The district wants students to be able to “move seamlessly from a comprehensive high school (Bret Harte) to independent study and vice-versa,” Chimente said. “(Vierra) allows kids to work at their own pace and that suits a lot of students well.”

The school served an enrollment of 45 students, according to a count taken during the first semester of the 2008-09 school year.

John Vierra students are “well-rounded” like their Bret Harte counterparts, Chimente said, and some are involved in sports and enroll in classes at Columbia College.

The latter opportunity is highly praised in the WASC report.

“This strengthened the school’s ability to meet the needs of such a diverse group of students and to move them along their individual pathways toward high school completion,” the report stated.

John Vierra Principal Catherine Jones, credited with overseeing many improvements at the campus, retired at the end of the school year and will be replaced by Matt Strahl, most recently an assistant principal at Bret Harte High School in Angels Camp.