The Horizon

Welcome back to the third edition of “Education in Action with Dr. Hansen.” Dr. Hansen attended a Parent University class in November held by our Parent Involvement and Community Outreach (P.I.C.O.) Department.

Our families are essential community partners who play a vital role in our students’ success. Thank you to our parents for their active engagement in our community and to our Teachers on Special Assignment for facilitating this series of classes.

In the fourth edition of “Education in Action with Dr. Hansen”, Dr. Hansen highlights Jurupa Unified's music program and their holiday performance at the Education Center.

Thank you to the choir students and teachers from Pacific Avenue Academy of Music, Jurupa Valley, Patriot, and Rubidoux High Schools.

November is recognized as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month

Every day, Mariana Lopez Ramos, Foster and McKinney-Vento Counselor, spends time in the Educational Equity department's filing room assembling hygiene kits containing shampoo, toothbrushes, mittens, socks, and other essential hygiene products.

For many homeless or foster families, these simple kits are a lifeline. When their belongings are stolen at a housing shelter, they know Ms. Lopez Ramos will provide them with a bag of items that most of us take for granted.

November is recognized as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, but the Educational Equity team supports our families in need year-round. Currently, 232 families are considered homeless in the Jurupa Unified School District.

“We want to bring awareness that there are different forms of (homelessness),” said Ms. Lopez Ramos. “The importance of this month is to highlight the support that our students and families can receive through the district.”

Homelessness does not only mean living on the streets or out of a vehicle; it’s also our families who live doubled up with another family due to financial hardships, or those living in shelters due to natural disasters.

Ms. Lopez Ramos works with families by managing their cases and connecting them to housing and services such as social, behavioral, and counseling through the Parent Involvement and Parent Outreach (P.I.C.O.) department to help end their cycle of homelessness.

“There might be fears around (homelessness). We are here to support. We are not here to add more pressure on the family,” said Ms. Lopez Ramos. “We want to provide resources – that is our main and primary intention.”

Jurupa Valley High School's Automotive Technology class

It is not unusual to see a variety of cars parked with their hoods open and students changing their oil in the Jurupa Valley High School auto garage.

This year, two cars parked there don’t ever require an oil change.

Auto II students in Richard Leach’s class are the first cohort in Jurupa Unified to build a fully-functional electric vehicle (EV) from the ground up. The cars drive a maximum speed of 50 miles per hour.

“I feel very fortunate that we are working on the (electric vehicle),” said Jesus Moreno, Jurupa Valley High School 11th grader. “We are the first (class) to work on a project like this (at) this school.”

Students learned how to assemble and install hydraulic brake systems, work on a vehicle’s low- and high-voltage systems, and, most importantly, think critically as a team. Under the supervision of Mr. Leach, students learned how to work safely with electricity.

“This is an effort to keep up with the rapidly changing landscape of the autotechnology industry,” said Jenna Saugstad, Coordinator of Career Technical Education (CTE). “Students are learning the entry-level of EV technology.”

JUSD Reprographics & Records department

Each month, the Jurupa Unified School District’s print shop produces about 1.2 million impressions. That’s just over 25 million a year. For over 20 years, the print shop has supported staff, schools, and students throughout the district.

The print shop plays a vital role in cost savings, reducing workload for schools, and ensuring students have the materials they need. Recently, the print shop opened its doors to all JUSD staff and provided guided tours.

“The print shop is part of the purchasing department. Here at Jurupa, we’re fortunate enough to have a really expansive print shop,” said Jeffrey Lewis, Director of Purchasing, Business Services.

JUSD’s print shop has seen tremendous growth throughout its years in operation.

“It goes back to the days of old printing presses, dyes, dark rooms, so we’ve been able to expand and upgrade the print shop as new technologies become available and provide additional services.” Mr. Lewis said.

Thanks to those investments, JUSD has expanded its printing capabilities.

“We’ve made a lot of investments, and right now we have some extra capacity,” Mr. Lewis said. “We’ve been printing for some other school districts, which has been great because we’re able to share and pass on some savings to them, but also bring in some additional revenue to the district, and that allows us to take that money, and it goes back into the general fund, to support the district as a whole.”

Cost savings are among the most beneficial aspects of keeping printing in-house.

“If we were to outsource it, farm it out to a commercial shop or something, obviously, the cost of our printing would be astronomical,” said Alex Cruz, Print Technician, Reprographics and Records. “Doing it in-house, it's a lot cheaper, and we get to customize it to whichever school sites that we’re working with.”

The print shop makes a wide range of materials for the JUSD school sites and departments.

“We produce all the consumable textbooks for school sites (such as) teacher packets, homework packets, reader books,” said Sylvia Palmer, Supervisor, Reprographics and Records.

Jurupa Unified is proud to announce that we have earned our 14th Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association (CSBA) for our JUSD Leadership Institute! This marks the district’s 4th consecutive Golden Bell.

The Golden Bell awards honor exemplary programs throughout California, and serve as models of excellence and best practices that can be replicated by school districts statewide.

The JUSD Leadership Institute provides professional learning and growth opportunities for all employees. Specific, customized educational and leadership opportunities are offered to support classified, certificated, and administrative staff.

Through a series of academies, workshops, seminars, and cohorts, staff are encouraged to continue their professional growth. The Jurupa Unified School District Leadership Institute allows employees to explore new career opportunities and interests and to build confidence and skills that will help them provide exceptional service to our students and community.

To learn more about the Golden Bell Awards and to see the full list of honorees, please visit https://publications.csba.org/golden-bell/golden-bell-awards-2025/.

Congratulations to our 2025 JUSD​​​ Employees of the Year. Thank you to our extraordinary employees for their dedication to our Jurupa Unified students and community.​​​

Our Employees of the Year are:

• Classified Employee of the Year – Daniel Whitman, Database Analyst, Education-Information Technology

• Confidential Employee of the Year – Jessica Ascencio, Human Resources Technician

• Counselor of the Year – Christine Fanous, Mira Loma Middle School Counselor

• Site Support Employee of the Year – Valerie Linamen, Program Specialist, Special Education

• Co-Administrator of the Year – Shawn Brandon, Sunnyslope Elementary, Assistant Principal

• Principal of the Year – Kevin Corridan, Rubidoux High School Principal

• Classified Administrator of the Year – Crystal Garcia Ruacho, Behavioral Health Clinical Supervisor, Parent Involvement and Community Outreach

• Certificated Administrator of the Year – Dr. Karina Becerra-Murillo, Director, Human Resources

Employees of the Year will be recognized at the Celebrating JUSD Educators celebration in March. Teachers of the Year will be announced soon.

What are we learning in JUSD? TK and kindergarten students from Pacific Avenue Academy of Music participated in a ABC Fashion Show as they learn the alphabet in class.

Using the initial of their first name, each student crafted a unique look by creating a vest from a paper bag, then decorating it with images that begin with their letter. Parents were invited to watch the students strut down the “runway” wearing their designs.

Watch the rest of the "What Are We Learning in JUSD" video series here to get a glimpse into what our students are learning.