Schools

San Juan Hills High's Turbulent First Year

The school for students in San Juan Capistrano, Capo Beach and Ladera Ranch had to hit the reset button during its second year.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a four-part series on San Juan Hills High School. It is based on the 239-page report school officials produced as part of their successful bid for accreditation. The school's second-ever class graduates Wednesday.

was established in August 2007 by the school’s first principal, Tony Ferruzzo, after two years of planning. 

He had big hopes, but before the first year was completed, Ferruzzo was out, an interim principal was in and few details were offered.

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But a recent report written to satisfy an accreditation team sheds light on that first, turbulent year, which was characteriezed by racial tensions, truancy and an unacceptable tardiness rate.

"The principal was not prepared for the ethnic tensions that became apparent on the first day of school," the report states. "Staff felt frustrated by the general lack of discipline and poor behavior of many students.  

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Shannon Soto, principal of , finished out the year, and it was Tom Ressler, who was principal at Capistrano Valley High School, who was asked to reverse the trajectory of the school, only months old.

  • Read Part One:

The heart of San Juan Hills' early problems came down to this, Ressler said: Everyone on campus, from the leadership, to the faculty, to the students, had come from middle school. 

San Juan Hills was missing a high school atmosphere, he said.

“I lived my life in high school,” said Ressler, referring to his many years teaching and administrating various high schools in the district. Ressler saw that what changes were needed to make this seemingly middle school extension program into a thriving high school.

Discipline Led to Respect

One of Ressler's first moves was to bring in Darrin Jindra as assistant principal. Jindra is a former Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy.His assignment? Discipline, of course.

Before he took the position, Jindra was the district manager of . The faculty-written accreditation report agrees that Jindra’s presence at San Juan Hills, starting in its second semester, prompted a positive change in the students’ attitudes toward their new school.

“Mr. Jindra is strict on the students,” said Ressler, which was the necessary step to make San Juan Hills a high school, and not a playground.

Before his arrival, the students had much higher-than-normal tardy and truancy rates, according to the report.

"SJH calculated its own truancy rate by examining discipline records," the report states. "It is clear that in the first year of operation, the truancy rate was completely unacceptable, with the average student truant more than 11 days during the school year.

The same held true for tardies. "Our tardiness rate  shows a similar pattern as our truancy rate. The first year students were unacceptably tardy to class," the report reads.  

Jindra began enforcing a "no-tardy tardy policy," which according to Ressler, set an atmosphere that kids responded to, knowing they had to get to class. 

“We are tardy-sweeps on steroids,” said Ressler, who is proud to see how serious the students are now about being in class on time. 

The extra discipline enforced by Jindra, “solidified a sense of responsibility in the kids,” said Ressler.

Against All Resistance

While students were busy copping a 'tude on campus that first year, the contentious political environment that gave birth to the campus endured. Put simply, the report states:

Activists in San Juan Capistrano resisted the building of the school for several years, noting its proximity to a county landfill, to overhead power lines and to an underground fuel line. In addition, the opening and first year of San Juan Hills were complicated by a number of local district problems, which included lawsuits over the actual property lines of the school, well-publicized recalls of school board members, and the 2006 resignation of the long-time superintendent and much of his staff who were responsible for the planning and development of the school.

No doubt, “the first year of San Juan Hill’s existence was a contentious time in the district,” Ressler said.

Ressler compared the school to the addition of an important piece in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The addition of the Louvre Pyramid was at first chastised and ridiculed, but is now the iconic and most recognizable image of the Louvre.

The school was first known as the school by the dump, because of its proximity to Prima Deshecha Landfill. Fortunately the rumors and fears of environmental hazards were false, and the school was able to thrive in its third and fourth years, the report says.

Other troubles were connected to the attendance boundaries. The county plans to punch  through to Talega in San Clemente, but families there said they would rather attend San Clemente High. 

Meanwhile, there was talking of moving 's South Orange County School of the Arts program to San Juan Hills High, because of its beautiful new performing arts center and other facilities.

"Ultimately it would have been wiser to bring SOSCA over to San Juan Hills," said Ressler. The facilities at San Juan Hills were surely the appropriate place for the program.

"The flip side of it though," acknowledged Ressler, "is that you need a large enough student body to support all the classes SOCSA offers." San Juan Hills didn’t yet have the student population to support such a large program.

Upward Momentum

The school began hiring 20 teachers a year, and developing each curriculum with a fresh start, according to the report. The faculty had the luxury of developing successful programs right off the bat.

Teachers who had not taught high school before began learning how to teach AP courses, right from the start. The development of this new school lead to an impressive learning experience not only for the students, but for these young teachers as well, the report states.

“I think that these teachers would have been successful no matter who the principal was, but it really did work,” said Ressler, referring to the process of recovery from the school’s rough start.   

Sharon Spiers, the health and yoga teacher who penned the long report, joined the staff the second year.

“Yes we can do this! This can be a really good school,” Spiers thought during that second year, when test scores improved and students became more serious.

The past few years have been hopeful for the school, with a lot of firsts:

  • The school opened its black-box theater in Year 2 
  •  in March 
  • The  finishing touch to this multimillion-dollar facility
  • Last year, San Juan Hills sent off its

“People are very proud of where we’re at, [and] they are not afraid of where we were,” said Ressler.

NEXT UP TUESDAY: The student body, who are the Stallions?


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