Sunnyside Unified spotlights national wrestling champions and outlines AVID expansion

The Sunnyside Unified School District governing board opened its April meeting by recognizing a run of recent wrestling achievements and hearing an in‑depth presentation on the district's AVID college‑and‑career readiness program.

Board members lauded Sunnyside athletes for recent successes, including Oklahoma State national champion Sergio Vega and Audrey Jimenez, the inaugural women's NCAA champion. Coach Leon told the board the program is supported by broad community and district investment. "I feel like this is a wrestling district," Coach Leon said during the recognition, calling the program "a perennial powerhouse" and thanking parents, assistant coaches and district leaders for support. Audrey Jimenez, interviewed at the dais, credited her Sunnyside experience: "It's a special place there at Sunnyside. I learned so much... I love them so much," she said.

The recognition portion also included a brief update that the district plans a roughly $2,000,000 renovation of the high‑school wrestling room to expand mat space and modernize the facility; the superintendent and board tied the project to recent overrides and an approved bond.

The meeting then shifted to AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination). Mona Mendez, AVID implementation strategist with AVID Center, described AVID's mission as "to close the opportunity gap by preparing all students for college and career readiness and success in a global society." Mendez walked the board through WICOR instructional strategies (writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading) and the supports AVID membership provides, including year‑round professional learning and implementation coaching.

District AVID co‑director Ms. Gutierrez outlined Sunnyside's local rollout: AVID operates in middle and high schools across the district, with site‑level variations in sections and elective offerings. Gutierrez said Sunnyside currently lists about 205 AVID students at Sunnyside High and that Desert View and Sunnyside AVID seniors showed high completion/acceptance rates in the prior year (Desert View AVID seniors: 90% completed college entrance requirements and 93% accepted to four‑year colleges; Sunnyside AVID seniors: 96% completed requirements and 91% accepted to four‑year colleges). "When we think about our mission as our North Star, how do we put that into action?" Gutierrez asked the board, describing alignments between AVID and district instructional priorities.

Board members pressed for cost details. Gutierrez and Mendez estimated summer professional learning for AVID at about $30,000 for a typical cohort and said district‑funded tutors typically cost in the range of $14,000–$20,000 depending on usage; exact annual spending for the current year was said to be retrievable from business services. "Sometimes one tutor works at many schools; sometimes they work one or two days," Mendez said, adding the district could provide an itemized figure for last year on request.

Lawford Middle School principal Matt Craft described site‑level implementation and the school’s recent designation as a national AVID demonstration site, saying the work produced a measurable culture shift and improved formative instruction. Craft said Lawford’s model mixes school‑wide AVID strategies in advisory periods and dedicated elective sections to reach students broadly while preserving the elective's expectations and entrance process.

The board thanked presenters and had no immediate votes tied to the AVID presentation; follow‑up requests included a detailed district cost breakdown and comparative data on AVID vs. non‑AVID students, which administration agreed to provide.