Principal Elsa Mendoza is finding new ways to turn Venice High School into a California Distinguished School.

A distinguished school is a public school that is honored by the California State Board of Education for having most of their students succeed. Normally schools must be nominated in order to receive this award. This year because there are no CST scores, the process is open to any school to apply.

Dr. Mendoza is trying to achieve this by adding new programs to Venice High School. A meeting was held on Nov. 6 where interested staff members and community members were informed about this new idea. Together they are trying to be strategic on how money is spent and what programs to bring to the school so that all students are successful.

According to the data, Asian students are the top achieving sub group at Venice. Dr. Mendoza’s goal is to increase the achievement level of all the sub groups, like special education and African-American students, by bringing new programs to Venice.

Another strategy Dr. Mendoza wants to introduce is Saturday school for special ed students. This will help them prepare for the CAHSEE and help improve their scores. The special ed kids who attend the Saturday classes will get elective credit for it.

“I think we are on the right path to be indentified as a great school by the state,” said Dr. Mendoza. She hopes that Venice High School will achieve this goal by the spring of next year.