Copyright Santa Clarita Valley Signal
Arroyo Seco Junior High School was one of 31 California schools nominated as a 2025 National Blue Ribbon School, an honor that recognizes public and private elementary, middle, and high schools for closing achievement and opportunity gaps and for demonstrating high levels of academic success. The nominees are also recognized as California Blue Ribbon Schools. Arroyo Seco has the largest student population among the junior high schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District, said Superintendent Michael Vierra, and to earn the prestigious recognition out of 10,000 schools across the state is “quite an honor,” he said. According to a news release from the California Department of Education, the recognition is based on overall academic performance or progress in closing opportunity gaps among student subgroups. Blue Ribbon Schools are among the state’s highest-performing based on all students’ scores, subgroups scores and graduation rates, the news release added. Over the past few years, the junior high school has successfully improved its test scores in the English and math categories and Vierra believes it’s due to the team effort from all involved striving to ensure students achieve academic milestones. All junior high schools within the Hart district have teams and all students within a team have the same set of teachers, Vierra said, which has helped students receive the additional assistance when needed because teachers are able to “not only connect the academic work between the courses but also really able to follow up with students,” he said. Arroyo Seco Principal Brian Necessary, who took on the role just this year, gave credit to the teachers and staff for the recognition. “There’s just really a dedication to moving students forward, solving problems, and making the school a better functional place,” he said. “There’s just a really high level of investment to kids and commitment to making things better every day.” English has always been one of the stronger subjects for the Arroyo Seco student population and with the math category, teachers developed a collaborative approach and explored different support models, where at times there were two teachers working in a classroom to allow smaller rotations and one-on-one support, Necessary said. “Arroyo Seco have a staff, I’d say really dedicated to creative, incremental progress,” he added. “The recognition 100% goes to the staff and the partnership that we have with families. Families really support us and work with us here.” “We’re proud of the work that everybody does across the district, but it’s really great that Arroyo Seco is being recognized, it’s well deserved,” Vierra said, adding that all schools strive for academic success and “having support structures in place so nobody falls through the cracks.”
