Though reforms were happening at every level of the Vallejo City Unified School District last year, a large part of the focus was on Vallejo and Jesse Bethel high schools.
The district’s two comprehensive high schools, whittled down by the closure of Hogan High, had to cope with an influx of students from that school while at the same time establishing ninth-grade academies and adjusting to new principals at each.
This year, the reforms are targeted at the three remaining middle schools, which will be realigned to a model emphasizing science, technology, education, arts and mathematics — STEAM.
“When we developed the program, we started first with what students needed. … It was very student-driven,” said LaTonya Derbigny, the district’s director of school and student accountability, at last week’s school board meeting.