Hayfork High School Gymnasium to Be Named After Clifford Freer

The May board meeting started off with the announcement of employment of a special education teacher at the high school as well as the new elementary school principal. Anmarie Swanstrom, superintendent of Hayfork schools, says she is “thrilled of the new hires.” There has been a big increase in parent participation.

At the elementary school, students are wrapping up California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) testing, leaving just 11th and 12th grades to take the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress which will take place May 16 through the 25. The elementary students will be competing in track days May 25, 26, 27. On May 25 and 27 the track meets will take place at Hayfork High School’s football field. The May 26 primary track meet will take place at the elementary school. Open House will take place May 18 with the Book Fair happening simultaneously.

The junior prom was a huge success with “decorations [that] looked beautiful,” said Anmarie Swanstrom. “It was crazy to watch the new teachers do it, I did it for so many years and it was nice to hand off the mantle.”

In other events at the high school, the 60th annual Scholastic Awards ceremony will be held on May 26 at 6 p.m in the high school cafeteria. And the play 1984 will take place May 20, 21, 27, 28 at 7 p.m in the high school cafeteria. Tickets are $10 at the door.

The juniors and a few seniors will be traveling to visit Chico State, UC Davis, Universal Technical Institute, and Butte Community College. The senior class will be taking their Senior Trip June 3 through June 5 to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Great America.

Hayfork High’s softball team finished their season May 11 and unfortunately did not make the playoffs. However, Hayfork High’s Baseball team made the playoffs and will travel to Loyalton Friday, May 13 for their first playoff game. The end of the year sports banquet will be held May 24 at 6 p.m for all sports of the 2021-22 school year.

The Agriculture Mechanics team placed 10th in the state at their last competition. The Agriculture Department will be holding a Plant Sale Friday, May 20 from 11 a.m to 4 p.m or by appointment at the Agricultural Greenhouse at Hayfork High.

A few concerns addressed at the board meeting include the acoustics in the new gyms at both campuses, as coaches feel it is hard to give out instructions. Another issue brought up was needing to revise the superintendent evaluation form to be more fair in scoring.

The 2021-22 state audit is almost ready and the district office is about to start the 2022-23 Local Control and Accountability Plan Budget. This year's Local Control and Accountability Plan is almost complete.

Graduations have been planned and will take place in the beginning of June. The 8th grade class will graduate June 9 at 6 p.m at the Hayfork Elementary gym. The senior class will graduate June 10 at 7:30 p.m at the Hayfork High Football Field.

The agriculture program taught by Morgan Rourke received the Career and Technical Education Incentive Grant, which was originally for $42,000 but has increased to around $50,000.

The board approved all the action items listed on the meeting agenda. These include the acceptance of the 2020/21 Fiscal Year Annual Financial Report (audit), approval of the Food Nutrition Specialist Job Description, the approval of Hayfork High School's updated graduation requirements, the agreement renewal from Lozano Smith for the 2022-23 school year, approval to name the high school gym, and approval of the date, time and location of the adoption of the LCAP and Budget to the June 29 Special Meeting of the Board at 4:15 at Hayfork High. To detail further:

• The new food and nutrition specialist job will get rid of the old hierarchy, in which cooks were referred to as Cook 1, 2 and so on.

• The Hayfork High gymnasium will be named after Clifford Freer, a beloved community member who taught and was involved in Hayfork for 28 years. Cliff coached the boys basketball team for 28 years. “Coach Freer” traveled thousands of miles during his coaching years and as a driver’s training instructor.

• The new Hayfork High School graduation requirements were upgraded to focus on classes now offered, such as how the "integrated" math and science programs were replaced by the traditional math and science pathways.

There are currently 220 students enrolled in Hayfork Elementary, 82 in Hayfork High and 3 in Valley High.