By Richard Bammer
State schools chief Tom Torlakson on Monday officially accorded Vacaville’s Willis Jepson Middle School an honor local educators have known about for nearly a month.
The Elder Street campus — the daytime home to 43 teachers, 940 students and Principal Kelley Birch — is among 13 high-performing California middle schools that have been newly designated as model middle schools in the 2015–16 Schools to Watch™—Taking Center Stage program.
Schools in the program demonstrate academic excellence, responsiveness to the needs of young adolescents, and social equity, according to California Department of Education officials, who issued a press release.