#WeAreASJUSD Newsletter December 2025

The Holidays are a time for connecting with friends and family.  At Aromas-San Juan Unified, it is also a time for reflection and our recommitting to our vision to ensure that we know every student by name and need.  We are a learning community dedicated to providing what is necessary to help your children reach their full potential, so they can be ready to face the challenges of our complicated world.  I look forward to welcoming them back in January and thank you for your continual support in the days ahead.

Barb Dill-Varga, Ed.D., Superintendent

Holiday Health Resources

As we approach the holiday break, we want to be mindful that time away from school can be challenging for some students who regularly receive counseling services. To help support students and families during this time, we have gathered a list of helpful resources from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Office of School Health (OSH). We hope these resources provide additional support throughout the break.

  • https://solunaapp.com/:

    "Welcome to Soluna – a wellbeing app for teens and young adults. You can handle it. We can help. All yours (all free)".

  • https://www.mirrorjournal.com/:

    "Mirror is a mental health journal, designed by leading experts to support the unique needs of young people".

  • https://childmind.org/positiveparenting/:

    "A series of free videos and print resources with practical, evidence-based information and skills to address your most common parenting challenges".

Interdistrict Transfers

Inter District Transfers (IDTs)

The Board approved revisions to their board policies on IDTs at the December 17, 2025 Board meeting. See Board Policy 5117 and Administrative Regulation 5117. For parents interested in transferring their students to other districts please note the following changes effective for enrollment during the 2026-2027 school year. 

New Application Window:  January through March 31, 2026. 

After March 31, we will not be accepting IDT applications. We need to finalize enrollment counts before April in order to plan educational programming and be able to accurately recruit and hire needed staff for the next school year.

A maximum cap on NEW IDTs has been established

At the recommendation of our county office and after a review by our legal team and alignment with  Ed Code, we are instituting a maximum cap on the percentage of outgoing new applications we will approve. This will assist us in stabilizing our enrollment and enhance our ability to support course offerings and extracurricular programming for all students. 

The Board approved the following that applies to new IDT requests: A formal cap of no more than 4% of total district enrollment with a maximum of 10 students from grade 9-12. 

Tightened Approval Criteria

Clearly defined prioritized list of acceptable reasons for transfer as follows:

  1. Military family status

  2. Documented  bullying or safety concerns

  3. Final-year student continuity

  4. Sibling attendance

  5. Documented health or emotional well-being needs

  6. Unique academic board approved program awarding A-G graduation credit that is not offered in our district. Requests outside of these categories may be denied.

  7. Students’ parent/guardian are physically employed within the boundaries of the desired district.

  8. McKinney-Vento Act (homeless)

Transfer requests falling outside these criteria may be denied to protect distinct stability.

If you have questions, please contact the executive assistant to the superintendent, Marisa Soto at msoto@asjusd.org. Information can also be found on the district website.

Interdistrict Transfer

ASJUSD Music Enrichment

Music Enrichment Program Pilot

One of our goals is to bring music back to ASJUSD. At the December 17 board meeting, the Board approved a pilot program that, if successful , can help us expand this approach.

The  After School Music Enrichment Program will be piloted at San Juan School for students in grades 3–8 during the remainder of the 2025–2026 school year. The program will provide individualized music instruction and ensemble opportunities using district-owned instruments, supporting creative expression, confidence building, and collaborative skills.

This enrichment opportunity aligns with ELOP priorities by ensuring safe, equitable, skill-based learning at no cost to families. Sessions will operate three days per week—Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 3:30–5:30 PM—with the program running January 14 through June 10, 2026 (excluding holidays). Students will receive weekly 30-minute individual lessons and participate in a group master class open to all interested learners. The program will begin with a capacity of 12 students, with the ability to expand through paired lessons, if demand exceeds initial enrollment.  

We are interested in your thoughts on music programming in ASJUSD.  Please complete the brief survey linked HERE

Chronic Absenteeism

While some improvements were made to our attendance, we have once again been designated as needing Differentiated Assistance by the California Department of Education in part because of Chronic Absenteeism. 

It is important that all families realize the responsibility they share with us to have students attend school regularly.  We have and will continue to tighten up our oversight and accurate recordkeeping. We will continue sending home warning letters when students are in danger of being chronically absent.

Please work with us so we do not have to move your student into the SARB (Student Attendance Review Board) process which may involve legal consequences for parents. We do want students to stay home if they are ill, especially with a fever, but we’d ask parents to schedule vacations when school is not in session. 

REMINDER from Principal Angela Crawley:
Anzar Intersession (January 13-23) is mandatory. These courses bear credit and your student is required to attend. 

Chronic Absenteeism

California Dashboard Data at ANZAR

The State of California released dashboard data in November and here are some highlights from Anzar.

  • 76.2% of multilingual learners are making progress toward becoming proficient in English. That’s an increase of 47.2% from last year!

  • 7.8% more students are considered college and career ready.

There are multiple measures to this calculation, including the number of students taking advantage of dual enrollment opportunities, students who are passing AP exams, students who have earned the Seal of Biliteracy, and the number of students who are completing a Career Technical Education (CTE) pathway.

Did you know we offer two CTE Pathways?

  1. Building and Construction Trades

  2. Manufacturing and Product Development

Anzar Dashboard

Attention 8th Grade Parents!

Please mark March 6th on your calendar for Anzar High School’s 8th grade parent orientation and see the attached flyer. 

California public school districts –including some schools and districts that are close to us geographically – are experiencing declining enrollment which may lead to layoffs of teachers and other staff.  This impacts a school’s ability to offer a wide range of programs and extracurricular opportunities.

ASJUSD does not depend on state funding driven by enrollment numbers and so we are fortunately not in this situation.  In many ways we are a public school that functions like a private academy. 

Our secret sauce is our small size that allows us to know each student by name and need and to offer most of the attractive programming larger schools offer such as Hawk Academy, our dual enrollment academy. 

We welcome you to visit Anzar and ask you  to mark March 6 on your calendar to learn more about the high school that US News and World Report ranks as the highest ranked high school in San Benito County!

8th Grade Parent Orientation

Hawk Academy Courses

Hawk Academy continues to be a popular and successful program that provides students with the ability to simultaneously earn college general education credit and high school credit for classes during the school day.  This is called Dual Enrollment and it is our partnership with Gavilan college that supports this program.  It is important to note that these courses are general education college courses–not elective courses–so they will transfer easily to CSU or University of California colleges and likely out-of-state schools as well. This benefits students once in college to more quickly move into their major and upper level coursework and saves them tuition and textbook expenses for a large percentage of general education course requirements that are part of their college program. 

This semester, students had options to take 12 hours of courses at no cost in:

  • Personal Finance (Business 14)

  • Intro to Psychology

  • Communications 1 (Intro to Public Speaking). 

 Next semester, students can choose to take:

  • English 1A

  • History 3 (History of California)

  • Physics 1

Unlike many other high schools, we assign one of our credentialed high school teachers to the classroom alongside the Gavilan professor. Our teacher provides additional support to the class or to individual students who need it on days when the college professor is not teaching or is absent. This is an embedded instructional support that helps our students transition into becoming college students. These dual enrollment courses appear on a college transcript that will follow them into post secondary education, so we want to ensure that they have a successful launch. Anzar’s model has been cited by Gavilan as a model others should follow. 

Gavilan College Dual Enrollment

Anzar Hawks

College and Career Readiness

Upcoming College & Career Readiness Events

ASJUSD continues to strengthen its college and career readiness system by partnering with local colleges and industry partners to provide students with meaningful, real-world learning experiences.

On January 22nd, ASJUSD will host its 2nd Annual College and Career Expo in the Anzar High School Gym, welcoming 45 college and industry partners. All middle and high school students will attend and engage directly with partners to learn more about career pathways and postsecondary options.

This work continues with the Anzar Shake on March 4th, where 7th and 8th-grade students will practice employability skills alongside 40 industry partners.

Additionally, students in Anzar’s CTE Capstone course have been participating in a hands-on internship with Willis Construction, where they are learning practical skills by designing and building concrete bench forms to be installed on campus.

These experiences reflect ASJUSD’s ongoing commitment to expanding work-based learning opportunities across all grade levels, including internships, guest speakers, project-based learning, and industry tours.

Intersession Week with Youth Alliance (January 5–9)

Youth Alliance will be partnering with our district to offer an Intersession Week program from January 5–9 for students who are currently enrolled in the CASA afterschool program. The program will be held at Aromas School and will run daily from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with an early drop-off option beginning at 6:45 a.m. Bus transportation will be provided for participating students.

Did you know that we offer 10.5 hours of free instruction and enrichment daily in our expanded learning program that occurs before and after school? You can contact Alia Rodriguez, alia@youthall.org Youth Alliance program manager for any questions. 

Nutrition Services

Sandra Benzor, our Child Nutrition Coordinator, recently sent a survey to all students and parents to gather data on their experience with our menu and food service.  She is using that data to guide her staff on our journey to healthier and tastier menu selections that are freshly made each day.

In the next two years, a new kitchen will be designed for San Juan school which is our central kitchen for the district.  This kitchen will produce a freshly made daily entree for all sites, supplemented by cold sandwiches and a wide array of salad bar offerings.  She is currently conducting taste testings at each site to see which dishes students will enjoy. Principals report students look forward to these tastings and are giving a huge thumbs up for most of the entrees! Please see the attached flyer. 

Sandra is seeking individuals to be part of her ongoing advisory committee to help us continue this commitment to improvement! Please contact her at sbenzor@asjusd.org if you are interested in being part of the committee.

Nutrition Services

Construction update re: San Juan School and what’s next

Good progress is being made at San Juan School.

The foundation is visible for the new administration building including the principal’s office, teacher workroom and staff room, individual rooms for student services and behavioral health, health office, and the front office assistants who greet parents when they enter the facility.

The classrooms are being completed by AMS in their factory and will be placed on site in late spring. Teachers have chosen furniture and furnishings for their new classrooms and these spaces will be ready for the fall of 2026. Selections have been made for the playground areas.

After these two projects are completed, work will begin on replacing the multi-purpose room/kitchen, preschool /kinder rooms, and the library.  We are on schedule for the total project to be completed by the fall of 2027.


San Juan Construction

SanJuan School Construction

San Juan Construction

Facility Priorities and Next Steps

Peartree+Belli, the architectural firm advising us on projects for Aromas/Anzar made a presentation to the Board at the December 17, 2025 board meeting. The presentation included a review of the possible project opportunities and the data gathered from the Town Hall held in October. In addition, chief business official Daniel Ornelas provided a matrix of weighted factors to assist the board in reviewing the various priorities for projects to be funded with potential Measure D funds leftover after San Juan School is completed. 

For both sites, the top priority is to replace aging portable classrooms.  A variety of other smaller projects  may also be supported with ongoing general funds as appropriate. The Facilities committee will meet on January 22 to review these priorities and make recommendations for the February board meeting.

Toaster - Stay Pawsitive!

Toaster, our ASJUSD Facility Dog donated by Monkey Tail Ranch, has been very busy spreading pawsitivity across our school sites!

He visits classrooms at Aromas School on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at San Juan School on Wednesdays and Fridays. Toaster loves joining in on buddy reading, math, art—you name it!

From the Halloween Parades to the San Juan Lights On Parade, he is bringing smiles wherever he goes. Be on the lookout for Toaster when we return to school in January—you won’t want to miss his next pawsitive visit!

Be Pawsitive

Toaster on Halloween

Toaster Helping