The new Newhall School District superintendent, Jeff Pelzel, sat down with KHTS to discuss his goals for the upcoming school year.

On July 1 of this year, Pelzel stepped into his new role as the head of the Newhall School District after serving as the assistant superintendent since 2014, being passed the baton from his predecessor Paul Cordeiro.

Although only a month into his tenure, Pelzel and his office are already facing one of the greatest challenges for any school district in California: declining enrollment.

“We’ve worked very hard as a district to provide opportunities for families to join our district and that has been successful,” Pelzel said in a live radio interview at the KHTS station last week. “(But we’re) still seeing a steady decrease in our enrollment over the last three or four years now, with the predicted end to (that trend in) 2021.”

Pelzel stated that the district has projected that enrollment numbers should begin to grow after future Santa Clarita housing developments are completed.

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Housing projects — such as the 15,000-acre FivePoint development being built near the intersection of State Route 126 and I-5 — could potentially bring thousands of new families to the district, Pelzel stated.

But in spite of the funding-related issues associated with enrollment, the superintendent stated that his office will continue to provide the “premium education” that the Newhall School District has become known for.

“We have been spending the last three years rolling out our ‘Next Generation’ science standards,” said Pelzel. “We have two district science coaches in place, and they support the implementation of the new science standards across the district.”

Pelzel stated that those new science standards will begin this year for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Additionally, each school will have a student lab that can be used for various lessons and activities.

In terms of mathematics, Pelzel stated that the Newhall School District has been a primary focus over the last three years, and that their latest curriculum has given them positive results.

“It’s very rare for districts to have mathematics data to be equivalent to the English (and) language arts data,” Pelzel said. “But our data, if I put the numbers in front of you, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between them. They’re that good.”

Pelzel also said that while the “Core Courses” such as mathematics or English and language arts are critical to a student’s success, he also said that the Newhall School District “refuses to leave the arts behind.”

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While elementary school districts around the country are seeing their performing arts become the primary victims of budget cuts, the Newhall School District has been able to bolster their curriculum by hiring district-wide music and art teachers, in addition to completing the refurbishment on the Newhall Family Theatre.

“It is absolutely a beautiful facility and we are using it more and more with different events and even outside programming,” said Pelzel. “The taxpayers paid for this and we want them to see what a great resource that they have funded as a school district.”

In addition to the district-wide performing arts teachers and refurbished Newhall Family Theatre, Pelzel also announced that the Newhall School District is planning to hold a two-day course for all teachers that will give each classroom a series of arts integration strategies.

Classes begin for the Newhall School District this Thursday, Aug. 16. For more information about the district, visit their website here.

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