AUHSD outlines districtwide "redesign" plan, cites site pilots and a shared Redesign Ed grant

Anaheim Union High School District officials used a board study session to summarize years of redesign work at multiple sites and to announce the district's participation in a statewide Redesign Ed partnership, which presenters described as a shared grant award intended to scale redesigned-school practices.

Assistant Superintendent Amy Quan framed "redesign" as a continuation and coordination of AUHSD's existing work — including the Anaheim Collaborative Pledge and LCAP priorities — rather than a separate initiative. She told the board redesign fits inside an "equity transformation cycle" of listening, uncovering barriers, reimagining, and moving to change, and that collaborative leadership and whole-child practices inform those changes.

The presentation laid out several instructional and structural approaches sites are piloting or considering. Quan described three bell-schedule models: a 4x4 block (about 90-minute daily classes for one semester), an AB/rotating block (90-minute periods alternating days across a year), and modified expansions from six to seven or eight periods to create space for advisory or electives. She said advisory periods are site-designed and intended for "community building, intervention, academic monitoring, social and emotional support, and/or college and career development."

Orange View Western co-principals Lorena Moreno and Bendy Crawford described their school's redesign after consolidation: a house model that cohorts roughly 190 students with a consistent teacher team, a second late-start day for teacher collaboration, and a formal "kid talk" process to coordinate student supports. Crawford said the pilot aims to increase pathway or CTE completers and A-G completers; she cited a target "to improve our percentage of CT completers by 20% in three years" and said preliminary local data show early gains.

A principal who identified himself in the transcript as "Revenos," speaking for Anaheim High School and partner sites, said site teams used needs-and-assets assessments and student voice circles; he said that, in a self-assessment of about 800 students, "about almost 300" reported not being connected to a single adult on campus, and that advisory structures are a primary strategy to address that gap.

Carlos Hernandez, executive director of culture and engagement, outlined AUHSD's selection for a Redesign Ed partnership: he described Redesign Ed as a statewide network of seven educational service agencies partnered with Inflection and said the award is "a two-year pilot" with "$750,000" shared among the partners. Hernandez also characterized Anaheim High School as a demonstration site and emphasized sustainability, district-office changes, and professional development as central to scaling redesigned practices.

Presenters cited the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) executive report as a national framing for redesign and provided QR links to the report and AUHSD's timeline. A student quoted near the close of the presentation said, "we want to be taught, not worked," which presenters used to illustrate the student-centered emphasis of the work. The presentation concluded with presenters inviting questions from the board.

Reporting notes: the transcript contains two places where the presentation describes the Redesign Ed award with differing multi-year language (Hernandez initially calls it a "two-year pilot" and elsewhere the presentation refers to a longer, five-year perspective on sustainability). The transcript also shows inconsistent spellings/identifiers for an Anaheim High principal (earlier named "Ruben Cyros" among introduced presenters; later a principal spoke identifying himself as "Revenos"). The article uses those transcript spellings and flags the inconsistency rather than reconciling them without documentary confirmation.

Next steps noted in the presentation: presenters said site leadership teams will continue implementation work and that resources linked in the slide materials (LPI executive report and AUHSD timeline) are available; the board opened the floor to questions at the end of the presentation.