As the Superintendent of the Palo Verde Unified School District, I would like to thank you for visiting our website. The district is comprised of an Early Childhood Program, which is made up of a Headstart Program as well as a Child Development Center. This program serves as a strong catalyst for students entering into our K-12 system.   

Our K-12 system is made up of three (3) elementary schools, one middle school, a comprehensive high school, a continuation high school, and a community day school.  Throughout our K-12 program, we utilize a Professional Learning Community (PLC) model to educate our 3,600 students.  The PLC model focuses on what students learn as opposed to what is being taught.  To enable teachers to know the effectiveness of their instructional strategies, teachers have common planning time, early-release days or late-start days to analyze data, collaborate, and modify what is being taught to improve student learning.

For our special education students, this is the first year that we will be implementing our Learning Center model.  This model continues to educate students in the least-restrictive environment, but has an additional piece that allows students to receive interventions prior to being placed on an Individualized Education Program (IEP).  The philosophy behind this paradigm is that students don’t have to “fail” before getting help.  Because motivation and perception of school has so much to do with student learning, catching students before they give up on school, they will persevere, have better self-esteem, and subsequently reduce student drop-out rates (to name a few of the benefits).

The District as well as the community is very excited about the many recent developments in the area of facilities as well.  Last year, we finalized the building of a world-class stadium.  We also completed the building of a very large swimming pool.  Please take a moment to click on the links to see them.  Our newest construction is the Felix J. Appleby Elementary School.  We will move into that facility after Thanksgiving (November, 2009). The next project we are investigating is a “solar farm”.  Adjacent to Felix J. Appleby Elementary is an additional 10 acres of land.  On this land, we would like to install many solar panels.  We are hopeful that this project will not only result in a significant, ongoing, cost-savings measure for the district, but also result in an environmentally-friendly facility.  

Despite the precarious state of California’s budget, the District has a balanced budget going into the 2009-2010 academic year.  With the forecast of continued shortfalls with the states budget, the District is committed to channeling all resources (fiscal and human) toward efficiently raising student achievement.  We will continue to be rich in our resources toward student achievement and reduce spending on items that do not result in increasing student learning. 

Again, thank you for visiting our website.  If you have any questions or suggestions, do not hesitate in contacting my office.  I hope you take the time to visit the various links on this page to give you a more comprehensive picture of our district.  In doing so, you will soon understand why we take so much pride in our district.

Dr. Yul D. Whitney
Superintendent of Schools