The Last Days of Del Oro

The girl with the blue hair did not want the award. Eyes cast downward, she reluctantly moved forward through the lunchtime group of students clustered in the sun around the picnic tables in the school quad. Sunk deep into her denim jacket, she accepted her certificate, shyly said her thanks and sat down.

Other students were not so modest. They pumped their fists in the air and took their bows. They clapped and cheered for one another. 

These were no ordinary awards.  They were for achievements such as improved attendance, making insightful contributions in class, being a positive influence, and showing excellent follow-through and a good attitude.

These are no ordinary students. Walnut Creek's Del Oro Continuation High School has long been the place for students who, for whatever reason, don't thrive in any of the mainstream high schools in the Acalanes Union School District.

Sadly, this awards ceremony at Del Oro would be the school's last one, not just for the year but forever.

After it graduates its class of 2010 on Thursday, Del Oro will cease to exist. After 43 years as the Acalanes districts' continuation high school, the district is ending this program. 

"This year we will graduate only 26 students," comments Del Oro Principal Rae Eckholm. "But that is because we stopped accepting kids since we knew we were closing. Last year we graduated 40 kids; that was our biggest year."

This past year, just before the district's board decided to close Del Oro, the school received statewide recognition. Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell named Del Oro one of California's 14 Model Continuation High Schools "for their programs designed to help struggling students stay in school."

In spite of the red ink flowing out of Sacramento, money, or the shortage thereof, was not the main reason the district decided that Del Oro should fade to black.

Rather, the district decided Del Oro's identity as a "continuation high school" had had for too long been synonymous with "bad seed. Parents of kids who might benefit from this smaller school program wouldn't let them enroll. 

In the new 2010-11 school year, the Acalanes Union High School District will launch a new program, a hybrid that merges Del Oro's structure with a new independent study program. It is based on the district's current Center for Independent Study, which now has 100 students. And, like the soon-to- be-defunct Del Oro, it too will be housed at the Del Valle campus, another former high school that also is now part of Walnut Creek academic history. About 30 current Del Oro students will transfer into the new program.

Dennis Regalado, director of the Del Valle Education Center explained, "We are building a brand new $23 million campus here for adult education, alternative education and technology.  The independent study program will be housed on this campus."

He added: "We have seen the number of students in continuation schools declining. But the number of students opting for some type of independent study program is on the rise. Technology plays a big part of that.  It offers more flexibility for kids."

In this new hybrid model, the first of its kind in the United States, according to Regalado, students will still need to go to their classes only once or twice a week.

"We are excited about being on the cutting edge and building a hybrid model," he said. "It will take the best of our continuation school and combine it with the best of our independent study.  This merger will give us an economy of scale that in these budget-conscious times makes more sense. This new program will give us more bang for the buck and meet needs of more students. Some kids are not permitted [by their parents] to come to Del Oro because of the stigma.  We may get more kids who are floundering [in a regular school setting] because we are giving them a school where they will have the chance to succeed without the stigma of going to a continuation high school."

Eckholm, who has been Del Oro's principal for seven years,will officially retire after she hands out Del Oro's last diploma at Thursday's graduation. She is proud of Del Oro's successes--not just of its graduates who have gone on to top-ranked four -year colleges like UC Berkeley and UC Davis, but also of the kids who have found their niche. There was the sharp-talking student who became a top salesman, and the stylish girl who went on to to fashion school.

"In a regular high school, a kid is just one out of 1400 students. Here, every kid is known. Hopefully we will be keep that when we go into this new program," she said.

Award ceremonies like the one taking place that sunny day were part of what made Del Oro work. So were ice cream socials and teachers handing out gift cards for Jamba Juice and Starbucks – paid for with parent donations. It is uncertain whether those traditions will continue.

"One of the things we tried to do for kids here is to build a culture of success," explained Eckholm.  "It is that idea of catching kids doing something good because these kids have certainly been caught being naughty."

For Del Oro students, doing something good has meant turning all their work in on time and not getting kicked out of class.  Eckholm, who hopes to volunteer with the new program, seems confident that the new independent study hybrid program will offer tutoring, and opportunities for students to stay at the school site and do their homework there if the structured environment works better for them.

"These kids are not being dumped," she said. "You dump garbage, you do not dump human beings. These are the community's children. I firmly believe that the district is not forgetting these kids, and that the program being developed for them may turn out to be really great."

That day back on the quad, as the lunchtime award ceremony ended, the girl with the blue hair sidled up to the teacher who had nominated her for the prize. "Thank you," she said to him. Her smile indicated that the award had brightened her day. The teacher smiled back. "You deserved it," he said.

Will the new hybrid independent study program similarly build the sense of community and recognition that has been so meaningful to Del Oro's students?

"We hope so," Eckholm said with a sad smile.