I taught at Alta Vista for 10 years, and even as a teacher, I can say that the school changed MY life. The staff there (particularly the two mentioned in the article) provide everything that kids need to succeed- educational/emotional support, a helping hand, and a reality check when they need it. The post-graduation plan in the article that is mentioned is SO unique, and should be required for ALL schools. Congrats to the class of 2018, and to the staff of Alta Vista for yet another successful year in changing the lives of those who need you.

My Daughter is on staff at Alta Vesta. I am so proud of her and the sacrifices she has made to work at Alta Vista. Still, when this story reminded me of the perseverance required of every member of this graduating class, it was so powerful that it brought of tears of joy to my eyes.

My personal views on public education aside, Alta Vista has many lessons to teach our community and our public educational system of the future. For me, the most significant element in the story above was the REAL effort of the school to connect to the individual students immediate future.

I guess I was emotional because I know the example set by Alta Vista itself will inspire many of the graduates to far greater heights than we can know.

I wonder how much, per student, the MVLA district is spending to educate these students? UNKNOWN, not publicly entered in the required SARCs (School Accountability Report Card).

I would expect, there are a higher percentage of LCAP Target students at this school, than at either MVHS or LAHS. So, hit would be really desirable to know - how much extra funding these students are getting, an see it in the SARC, rather than "N/A". How is it possible to be Not Applicable?

So, helping these high needs students, is going to cost a higher percentage than the "district average", but the MVLA administration does not publish the numbers or percentages? Helping these students is well worth any extra cost, they will have much happier lives as HS graduates, and if they take the opportunity to get more education.

[all 3 schools are 'reported' as $15,252 Total Expenditures per student and all sites have the exact same reported Average Teacher Salary of $119,208.29 ] very "odd" accounting to the public