In recent days, we have watched peaceful protests call for justice and equality after the killing of George Floyd. We have seen thousands of people engage in nonviolent peaceful protests. We have also witnessed media images of violence in our communities and across America.Our children will seek to understand these events. As adults and educators, we must listen and respond with honesty and empathy. We also must teach them to stand up against racism, injustice, and inequity through non-violent m...

As the nation responds to the death of George Floyd, important and difficult conversations about racism and social inequities are taking place across the county. We are providing the following resources for parents and educators to help guide these discussions.

It’s safe to say there has never been a senior year quite like this one. In March, the coronavirus crisis abruptly forced students from their schools and into a strange new world of distance learning. Then at the end of May, the death of George Floyd and resulting protests threw important and difficult issues of racism and equity into the spotlight in a way most students have never experienced. This is the time of year when graduating seniors are usually celebrating with friends, atte...

Newbury Park High School track and cross country star Nico Young isn’t used to standing still. In the past two years, he’s racked up an incredible series of victories, shattering records along the way. As a junior, he set a meet record in the 3,200 meters at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational. And at the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) in Portland in December, he set a course record and led his team to a national championship. He’s widely considered one of the best high school runners in the nat...

For Jonah and Kelsie Hoj, high school was a family affair. They both attended Nordhoff High School in Ojai along with their older sister. And both of their parents are teachers at the school – dad teaches history and drama, mom teaches dance. “I’ve had the whole Hoj experience,” Kelsie says. In addition to having classes with her brother and sister, “I was in class with my dad all four years and with my mom in my freshman and senior years.”

Things were going great in Diego Mosqueda’s life until the start of his junior year when his dad became seriously ill without warning. “I was thinking that my life can’t get any better than this as far as work and school, friends, football,” he says. “Then it all went downhill.”

Conejo Valley Unified School DistrictDr. Mark McLaughlinTo the Class of 2020…you did it! This is not the way we imagined we would celebrate your thirteen years of growth, hard work, and mastery of academic and extra-curricular interests. However, none of that takes away from the accomplishment you have achieved today…culmination. And how did we get here? TOGETHER. Together with the support of family, friends, teachers, administrators, coaches, community partners, and countless...

By the time she was sixteen, Destiny Sausedo had lived through the death of her brother in a drive-by shooting and the loss of her mother to a drug overdose. Before she died, her mom was often incapacitated by drugs and Destiny was her primary caregiver. “I was a little girl taking care of my mom when it was supposed to be my mom taking care of me,” she says. “I would have to feed her, bathe her, change her. She was there, but she wasn’t all there.”

Jesus Martinez remembers taking trips to Malibu with his mom when he was younger – not to enjoy the beach or the restaurants, but to help with her job cleaning houses and hotel rooms. “I grew up fast and I lost a lot of my childhood because I had to work at a really young age,” he says.

When Jamie Gregory was 11, her beloved uncle Jimmy died of a heroin overdose at the young age of 31. "I was super close to my uncle," she says. "It was really hard for my whole family because he was battling drug addiction for years. He would get better and then he would relapse so many times. It was a hard hit when he passed away."