Earlier in August, the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District announced its district-wide Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Jessica Lingenfelter from Green Valley High School.  Following the District’s selection, Mrs. Lingenfelter’s application was forwarded to the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools for consideration in the county-wide contest, and was selected as a San Bernardino County Teacher of the Year. 

Mrs. Lingenfelter is a veteran educator with 25 years of experience who has taught in Yucaipa-Calimesa schools for  10 years.  She currently teaches English 11 and 12 at Green Valley High School while also leading Link Crew for one period a day.  In addition to her teaching duties, she is also a book club advisor, the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) lead, and the site coordinator for the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC).  

Mrs. Lingenfelter’s passion for teaching goes beyond curriculum or reading.  She generates a caring, supportive, and oftentimes challenging culture in her classroom where she strives to make every student feel welcome.  Mrs. Lingenfelter makes a conscious effort to greet her students as they enter her classroom and ensure they leave feeling included, seen, challenged, and accomplished.  

She firmly believes that as educators, one must continually refine their own skills to inspire a new generation of innovative teachers who value the voices of their students, embrace their own mistakes, and support one another.     

YCJUSD Superintendent Cali Binks commended Mrs. Lingenfelter, saying, "Jessica is an excellent teacher, an inspiring leader, and a truly impactful individual. Her infectious positive attitude and incredible spirit set her apart. The Board of Education and I are immensely proud of her for achieving this recognition, and we have every confidence that she will continue to inspire students and fellow educators to believe in themselves for years to come."

Mrs. Lingenfelter's application will now advance to the California Teacher of the Year competition. For further details regarding the San Bernardino County Teacher of the Year program, please visit sbcss.k12.ca.us, and for additional information about the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, please visit yucaipaschools.com.

Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District

Yucaipa-Calimesa Teacher Earns County Teacher of the Year

Each year the California Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Coalition (CPC) recognizes schools that effectively implement support for students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health.  The CPC has recognized and awarded eight Yucaipa-Calimesa schools for their implementation of the evidence-based, tiered framework outlined in PBIS.  The highest award achievable, Platinum, was awarded to Valley and Calimesa Elementary Schools while Mesa View Middle School, Dunlap and Wildwood Elementary Schools received Gold level awards, Park View Middle School received a Silver level award, and Yucaipa and Green Valley High Schools received Bronze level awards. 

“It is such an honor and I am so proud of our two newly recognized schools as well as our other six who have done an outstanding job of implementing the PBIS framework.  Thank you to the CPC for recognizing the hard work and dedication of our students and employees,” Cali Binks, Superintendent.

To learn more about the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, please visit yucaipaschools.com.

Eight Yucaipa-Calimesa Schools Recognized

On August 15, 2023, the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District Board of Education voted to enhance school safety by adopting a new panic button system and partnering with the City of Yucaipa and the Yucaipa Police Department to bring an additional deputy on board as a School Resource Officer.

In December 2022, the Board of Education approved a new partnership with STOPit Solutions to bring an anonymous reporting platform to the District.  Due to the improvements this platform brought to schools, the District explored another module within the STOPit Solutions family that brings highly customizable panic buttons into the pockets of every employee.  

STOPit Solutions’ 911-Direct Panic Alert System is an effective and discreet way for employees to report emergency and non-emergency situations to the appropriate parties from a smartphone or computer.  Housed within the program will also be the District’s safety plans that have been reviewed by law enforcement.  If an employee activates one of the many alerts, they will be prompted with the steps to properly report and respond to the crisis in real time.  In addition, depending on the type of alert, local dispatch will be notified of the crisis along with pertinent information to respond effectively.  The District will begin onboarding the program soon and will be ready for full implementation before the end of the calendar year.  

The Board of Education, in collaboration with the City of Yucaipa and the Yucaipa Police Department, also approved the addition of a second School Resource Officer (SRO).  The existing SRO program has been an effective collaboration of mentoring, teaching, and strengthening partnerships with law enforcement ultimately aiding in enhancing school safety.  A second SRO will greatly expand and refine current capabilities and provide a greater level of services to students, employees, families, and the public. 

Board President Mike Snellings while presenting the agenda item for an additional SRO, directed comments toward the City of Yucaipa and Councilman Chris Venable, who was in attendance.  “Thank you for supporting our efforts to truly make our schools safer and develop a relationship with not only the Sherrif’s Department but the City as well.  Your presence here tonight means a lot.”   

The Board of Education’s actions over the past few years have demonstrated a commitment to the safety and well-being of students, families, employees, and the community.  To learn more about the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, please visit www.yucaipaschools.com or find them on social media.

School Board Takes Action to Enhance School Safety

The Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District Board of Education approved the District’s 2023-2024 budget on Tuesday, June 20th, 2023.



     The budget for the 2023-2024 school year is just over $135.3 million which is close to a 4% decrease from the 2022-2023 school year due to a combination of declining enrollment, lower attendance rates, expiring federal and state COVID-19 funds, and market volatility.  While declining enrollment has affected schools state-wide, lower attendance rates have had a much greater impact on funding because school districts are funded based on Average Daily Attendance (ADA).  State-wide school attendance is down an average of 4% and has only rebounded slightly since the pandemic.



     In addition to overall revenue being down, the estimated 8.22% Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase will be almost entirely used to support overall operating expenses such as employee compensation, special education services, and increased cost of goods and services.



     Between revenues and planned expenditures, the Board of Education approved a balanced budget that positively satisfies a State requirement to maintain at least a 3% reserve for economic uncertainty.



     Although the State’s enactment of the State budget will not occur until around the end of the month, pending negotiations between the Governor and Legislature, the Board of Education must adopt a budget by July 1st.  As was the case in previous years, the District’s budget will be revised once the State’s budget is enacted.



     The final step of the District’s budget process is the required approval by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.



     For more information about the approved 2023-2024 budget, please visit yucaipaschools.com.

YCJUSD Budget Passes

**YUCAIPA, CALIFORNIA, MAY 2023** — At a regularly scheduled Board meeting on May 17th, the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District Board of Education recognized the District’s School Site Teachers of the Year.\
Every school year each of the 13 schools in the District selects its most exemplary teachers for the chance to be nominated for the Teacher of the Year program which is sponsored by the California Department of Education and facilitated by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.  The nominee will be chosen from the 13 teachers listed below and the announcement will be made at the District’s annual Kickoff event on August 7th.

Assistant Superintendent Jim Stolze introduced the teachers to the Board one by one while sharing quotes from the nomination forms.  Each contained stories of unique ways the teachers support their students both in and out of the classroom but all maintained the same themes. Goes above and beyond, powerful and versatile, heart for kids, multi-talented, compassionate, inspiring, and loving are just some of the phrases and words found within the nomination forms to describe the teachers.  The Board echoed the same sentiment while highlighting the lifelong impacts teachers have on their students.

Congratulations to each of the teachers who were selected!

|                                                                                                                                        |                                                                                                                     |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| *   Amanda Pullinger
*   Darah Cleary
*   David Domena
*   Ingrid Villalobos
*   Steven Stockman
*   Shane Buechler
*   Susana Ramirez | *   Amanda Parisi
*   Sherri Fountain
*   Lindsey Gilsen
*   Paul Kane
*   Steve Mulvihill
*   Jessica Lingenfelter |

Be sure to visit yucaipaschools.com to learn more about the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District or to enroll your child for the 2023-24 school year.

Board of Education Recognizes Teachers of the Year

The Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District recognized the District’s school and behavioral health counselors at a regularly scheduled Board meeting on Tuesday, February 21st, 2023.  The recognition follows the February 6th National School Counseling Week sponsored by the American School Counselor Association which highlights the tremendous impact school counselors have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career.

The District employs 30 of these professionals who, across all grade levels, provide academic guidance, social-emotional support, career information, class schedules, and so much more.

Assistant Superintendent Jim Stolze introduced the counselors to be recognized by sharing that, “counselors are immeasurably important to what we do in our schools.  As an administrator in the District, I can’t tell you how many times my counselor saved me… We all extremely value what counselors bring to the team.”

The Board echoed the same sentiment as Mr. Stolze highlighting the importance and impact of school and behavioral health counselors.  Below are each of the amazing counselors serving students across the District:

|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| *   Brenda Arevalo
*   Taylor Beach
*   Natalie Brasher
*   Jennifer Brasher
*   Karen Brossia
*   Janet Curtis
*   Angelica Echauregui
*   Danielle Elgan
*   Melissa Fashempour
*   Janet Gutierrez
*   Rebecca Islas
*   Marisa Kwappenberg
*   Denise LaForcade
*   Tasha MacQueen
*   Gina Mairena | *   Katie McKee
*   Marielena Miranda
*   Wendy Montgomery
*   Rafael Ocampo
*   Victoria Orozco-Sapp
*   Michelle Pauls
*   Xochitl Perez
*   Brittany Perisits
*   Lisa Reyes
*   Cassy Samel
*   Pamela Sibley
*   Michelle Torres
*   Tiffany Wagner
*   Lauren Wiley
*   Diana Williams |

School and behavioral health counselors are a vital support system for all students often guiding them through difficult personal and academic situations to ensure they have the tools needed to succeed from transitional kindergarten to college, career, and beyond.  These individuals make significant contributions to the District’s mission of “Making a Difference in the Life of Each Child.”

To get in contact with your child’s counselor, please contact your child’s school.  Be sure to visit yucaipaschools.com to learn more about the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District or to enroll your child for the 2023-24 school year.

Board of Education Recognizes School Counselors

The Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District (YCJUSD) is now accepting student registrations for the 2023-2024 school year.  The District serves the Yucaipa and Calimesa communities and is home to six elementary schools, two middle schools, and three high schools as well as a charter school, preschool, and adult school.  School placement is determined by the student’s residential address with the exception of the Competitive Edge Charter Academy (CECA) and the three high schools.

Registration is open for all grade levels and schools and the process can be completed either online or in person.  There are five verification requirements to successfully complete the process including; proof of age, immunization records, current residence, current parent/guardian photo identification, and an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and/or 504 Plan, if applicable.  If a student attended YCJUSD for the 2022-23 school year, registration does not need to be completed again unless the student attended Transitional Kindergarten at CECA.  Registration for new students and current Transitional Kindergarten students at CECA requires an additional step.

Families interested in enrolling their students into CECA must enter their information into a survey.  Depending on the number of entries, a lottery process may be used to randomly select new students until enrollment in the charter school is full.  Students not selected in the lottery process will be placed on a waitlist in the order they registered.  Students placed on the waitlist are not automatically enrolled in their school of residence.  Enrollment must be completed for their school of residence unless they are a current YCJUSD student.

There is space for all students, current and new, to attend their assigned school of attendance however, the District encourages parents/guardians to complete the registration process early.  If your child turns four before the 2023-24 school year begins (August 10, 2023), they are eligible for Transitional Kindergarten.  If they turn five on or before September 1, 2023, they are eligible for Kindergarten.  All children ages 6 to 18 must attend school as prescribed by California law.

To register your child or to learn more about the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, please visit YucaipaSchools.com.

Open Enrollment is Here!

The Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District (YCJUSD) has formed a new partnership with the Breathmobile Program to help better serve youth with respiratory illnesses in the eastern region of the Inland Empire

The Breathmobile Program was implemented by Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and San Bernardino County in association with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to bring respiratory care directly to those who need it most.  YCJUSD is now one of over a dozen school districts in San Bernardino County to partner with the Breathmobile and is the closest ally in the East Valley.

The fully staffed Breathmobile offers cost-free appointments for children, including a complete evaluation, examination, care plan, and extensive patient-family education.  While medical insurance is not required to use the Breathmobile, it is recommended to bring proof of insurance to assist the team in writing prescriptions.

District Nurse, Dr. Heather O’Bier, DNP, RN, has worked with the program in the past stating, “I have seen firsthand how the Breathmobile helped to get students’ asthma under better control.  I am so excited we can offer this to our school community.”

The Breathmobile will be in the Yucaipa-Calimesa area every six weeks beginning in February but you can make an appointment with them at any time at any location.  To make an appointment, please call the Breathmobile 1 at 909-498-6277.  To learn more about the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, visit YucaipaSchools.com or email them at Contact_Us@ycjusd.us.

School District Brings Respiratory Care to the Community

YUCAIPA, CALIFORNIA, JANUARY 2023 — The Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District Board of Education held a special meeting on Tuesday, January 24th to participate in a facilitated workshop with the goal of collaboratively setting a vision and building a strategic focus for the School District.

Board President Mike Snellings, Clerk Cathy Bogh Coate, and Members Sharon Bannister, Debbie Miller, and Bob Miller worked with professional facilitators Dr. Emma Diaz and Becky Foreman to lay out their individual objectives for district success ultimately consolidating the goals into an overall vision and strategic plan for the District.

Facilitator Dr. Diaz shared, “we use a very specific method called the technology of participation to draw information from the Board collaboratively.  As facilitators, Becky and I ask the right questions while the Board comes up with the answers.  Sometimes it isn’t about the answer, it is about the journey.  The magic happens in the dialog.”

After Board President Snellings called the meeting to order, Ms. Foreman and Dr. Diaz started the facilitation process by asking the Board to select specific accomplishments they hope to celebrate over the next year. The importance of inclusion was highlighted by each of the Board Members with veteran Board Member Sharon Bannister sharing the value of ensuring that all voices matter.  Board Clerk Cathy Bogh Coate further expanded that, “\[the District] has a large population of socio-economically disadvantaged students.  I want to make the individuals in this category flourish.”

Over the course of the workshop, the Board actively engaged with each other and was led by the facilitators to continue building on the foundational ideas curated after being asked a single question.  “How do we demonstrate that every student matters?”

The answers held overarching themes that were very much rooted in the District’s existing principles of equitable academic success, meaningful parent and community engagement, and maintaining a valued effective team of educators.

While discussing how to more effectively exhibit support for the District’s team, Board President Snellings turned to the crowd of administrators and bargaining unit leadership to share, “you’re all really important.  You are doing the work and we truly do value what you do.”

Member Bob Miller also called attention to the significance of school safety and his desire for the District to be recognized at the national level for implementing measures to protect students, families, and employees.

As the meeting came to a close, the facilitators summarized the purpose and outcomes of the meeting ultimately giving everyone in attendance the direction needed to move forward in achieving unified success in the name of demonstrating that every student in the Yucaipa-Calimesa community matters.  In the coming weeks and months, school administrators and bargaining unit leadership will be working closely with each other to employ the direction given by the Board during the workshop to further build on the foundational principle of, “making a difference in the life of each child.”

The workshop offered a rare opportunity for the Board to have an open discussion with one another and solidify a vision for enhancing achievement and success for all students in the District with Board Member Debbie Miller emphasizing that, “in the end, all students matter.”

To learn more about the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District and the Board of Education, please visit yucaipaschools.com or contact the District via email at Contact_Us@ycjusd.us

Board of Education Sets Vision for District

The Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District has officially launched its partnership with STOPit Solutions to provide a conduit for anonymous incident reporting in the name of school safety

On January 17th, the anonymous reporting platform went live to begin receiving reports from students, families, employees, and members of the community.  STOPit allows individuals to anonymously report safety, misconduct, or compliance concerns to help others or connect with trained crisis counselors from the Crisis Text Line to help themselves.  There are multiple methods to submit information that will be monitored 24/7 to enable timely incident response from the appropriate source.

To submit a report online, anyone can visit appweb.stopitsolutions.com/directory, search for “Yucaipa-Calimesa,” and then begin completing an easy to fill out form.  To submit a report via telephone, dial 909-363-3306.  There are also mobile reporting applications available for Android and iOS devices.  Search “STOPit” in your mobile devices app store to download it today.

The School District is inviting everyone in the Yucaipa-Calimesa area to participate in using the platform to help enhance the safety of the community and its schools.  For more information about STOPit, please visit yucaipaschools.com or email the District at Contact_Us@ycjusd.us

District Launches Anonymous Reporting App

Earlier in the 2022-23 school year the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District (YCJUSD) Board of Education dedicated $1.5 million to enhance school safety.  As part of that ongoing effort, on December 13th, 2022, the Board took action to approve a new partnership with an anonymous reporting platform created by STOPit Solutions.  The Board and District are encouraging community participation in the new program that officially launches on January 17th, 202

STOPit allows individuals to anonymously report safety, misconduct, or compliance concerns to help others or connect with trained crisis counselors from the Crisis Text Line to help themselves.  There are multiple methods (mobile application, website, and hotline) to submit information that will be monitored 24/7 to enable timely incident response from the appropriate source.

STOPit can be used by anyone.  All families, students, employees, and community members are invited to participate, as needed.  If you have a safety concern for an individual or school, please feel free to visit yucaipaschools.com where you can find the District’s STOPit webpage to report an incident or learn more about the program.

School Board Adopts New Safety Platform

A big change happened recently in the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District.

Patty Ingram, who served on the board of education for 26 years, retired. During her tenure, the district expanded to include Competitive Edge Charter Academy, Chapman Heights Elementary School, Mesa View Middle School, survived the lean years of the Great Recession, established the linked learning academies at Yucaipa High School and navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I really have had a great time,” said Ingram, who served multiple times as board president and clerk, at her final board meeting on Dec. 13. “It was not at all what I expected when I started out, thinking … a meeting a month, big deal.”

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