Rosamond High receives accreditation

ROSAMOND — Rosamond High School Early College Campus recently received a six-year accreditation from the Accrediting Commission of Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

The accrediting commission, also known as WASC, is one of six regional accrediting agencies in the United States. Accreditation is a process where schools demonstrate they provide high-quality learning and continual self-improvement. Schools must meet some basic requirements to achieve accreditation.

Rosamond High got a sixyear accreditation with a two-day visit mid-cycle.

“This shows that WASC and our visiting team has confidence in us that we can do the things that we need to do to push the school forward,” Principal Lisa Aqenenni said. “It really is quite a great validation to what we have going here.”

As part of the accreditation process Rosamond High will add more rigor to its curriculum. Starting next year the school will bring Advanced Placement classes back to the campus. There will be five classes in different areas including math, science, and English. There will also be AP classes in Spanish and government.

Rosamond High dropped its Advanced Placement classes a few years ago as administrators at the time focused more on promoting

the college classes students could take after school.

“What we’re trying to do is offer the AP classes also for the student athletes that can’t make it after school to college classes,” Aqenenni said. “There’s some kids who want to have the rigor, and they want to have the challenge. They’re going to a four-year and they want to get those classes ready.”

Rosamond High will also offer choir next year and hope to add psychology and sociology.

The school has five periods of Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, and looks to send its entire AVID team, about 11 teachers, to training this summer.

“We’re trying to push to make sure they go so when they come back they can starting training other people,” Aqenenni said.

The school has a student population of about 810 students.