Partnership Principal
Blanca Cavazos

Listen to Blanca!

    
   The biggest challenge facing Blanca Cavazos as principal of California’s Arvin High School is helping her 2,642 students and their families understand they are just as capable as other young people when provided opportunities. While that hasn’t always been an easy task in her 10 years at the school, there is increasing evidence that she and the Arvin staff are succeeding.

  “Our students have the same aspirations as other teenagers,” she said. “They want a better life than what their parents have. Many want to continue their education after high school, and they want to go into a field that is not seasonal.”

   While the aspirations of Arvin High students are similar to other young people, the road that faces them in reaching their goals can be more challenging. Living in a farming, rural, migrant community, they encounter a number of obstacles ranging from high poverty to having to contribute to their family income.

  “Many of our youngsters are forced to work after school—not to purchase designer clothes and cars, but to assist their families,” Cavazos said. “Two years ago when California’s Central Valley was hit with an extended freeze that destroyed crops, many families were unemployed. Some of our students were working to support their entire family.”

  With these challenges the Arvin staff has developed a “very clear focus on students.” Whenever an idea is raised, whether it deals with parent involvement or staff development, the first question we always ask is ‘How will students benefit from this?’.”

  That focus has brought an increase in the graduation rate That is now higher than the district, county and state averages, an AP program that has doubled in the number of classes during the past decade, and a number of honors for students at the region and state levels.

   “When I came here, our AP/honors program was weak,” Cavazos explained. “We had one AP calculus class with 12 students in the first semester. By the end of that semester, the number of students had dropped to six. When I went to the head of the math department to ask why we had so few students in the class and then experienced such a drop in the number, he told me ‘These students just can’t handle the curriculum.’ We had a new department head the next year and started working on a plan that not only would add classes but also would prepare students for the rigor of the AP program.”

   Arvin now has eight AP classes including four sections of calculus and two of statistics, and is adding AP offerings in computer science and chemistry.

  In addition to a rigorous academic program, Arvin also offers its students a number of opportunities after school.

  “Our school is a central focus of the community. It’s a safe haven for young people, and many of our students stay for additional activities or simply to hang out with friends. We look for teachers who don’t want to go home as soon as their class schedule is completed, but who are willing to help young people beyond the regular program.”

  Arvin offers an “ASSETs program” where students can engage in a number of after school activities, ranging from using the weight room to taking classes in scrap booking and hip-hop dancing to studying creative writing. There also is tutoring available and classes for students who can’t attend during the regular school day for various reasons.

  “Some of our students come to school from 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. because they have to work or have other responsibilities,” Cavazos said.

  After school at Arvin High is also a time when students are demonstrating that programs are working at their school. One example is the “We the People” competition, which revolves around a mock Congressional hearing. The Arvin team was won the competition in its Congressional district for 14 of the last 15 years, was regional champion in 2005, and last year finished second in the state.

  “When our students see they are competing successfully against schools where their peers have every possible economic advantage, it’s a huge, huge eye opener for them,” she pointed out. “People are starting to ask ‘What’s going on out there? This school keeps poking its head up in areas where traditionally it shouldn’t be’.”

     Other recent honors have come in Math Filed Day competition, the state honors choir, the Academic Decathlon, and the state automotive competition. This year Arvin High exited the “Program Improvement” category under No Child Left Behind.

    Cavazos believes that among the keys to the success at Arvin is moving to a block schedule and hiring teachers who are “passionate about teaching students and will go above and beyond because of that passion.”

   She also sees the Principals Partnership as a great resource for school leaders.

  “I love the Partnership. I always look forward to the Summer Institute. It’s an incredible opportunity to network with other principals and see that while schools can be very different in demographics we all have very similar challenges. The consultants are also great, and I’m able to use them as a sounding board for ideas we are considering.

Further information about Arvin High School can be found at www.kernhigh.org/arvin/, and Cavazos can be contacted at bcavazos@khsd.k12.ca.us.

  
Past Focus Principals:

Focus - Gene Haynes
Focus- Dan Besett
Focus- Rodney Matheney
Focus- Catherine Guy
Focus- Bob Rodriguez
Focus- John Brumley
Focus- Nancy York
Focus- Jerrylyn Jones
Focus- Gloria Erkins
Focus- Ron Sing
Focus- Bill Hittman
Focus- Jeanene Sampson
Focus- David Gilligan
Focus - Joy Walton
Focus- William Roberts
Focus- Franklyn Wesley
Focus- Magdalena Gutierrez
Focus- Kent Bergum
Focus- William "Rick" Johnson
Focus- Ken Ball
Focus- Dan Tenuta
Focus- Charlesetta Deason
Focus- Rene Posey
Focus- Stuart Baker
Focus- Paul Smith
Focus- Christie Gestvang
Focus- John A. Butterfield
Focus- Janie Hill Hatton
Focus- Steve Warmack
Focus- Glen Clark
Focus- Kittie D. Weston-Knauer
Focus- William Dunn
Focus - Richard Pemberton
Focus- Dr. Anthony Spivey
Focus - John Weigel