Principal's Message
2024-25 SCHOOL YEAR
2023-24 SCHOOL YEAR
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- February 2024
- December 2023
- October 2023
- November 2023
- September 2023
- AUGUST 2023
June 2024
Dear Homestead,
Once again, it is the time of year when we look back fondly at all that has happened this past year, and sadly say goodbye to our amazing Senior Class of 2024. There was much to celebrate this year as we had our first year free of construction in my 11 years as principal so we definitely enjoyed the silence. Our extracurriculars were in full swing and brought statewide, national and even international recognition with our FBLA, Robotics, and Music Programs. I am also proud to announce that the Homestead Marching Band will once again participate in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on New Year’s Day 2025. Our sports teams earned numerous team and individual honors and awards this year, here are just a few highlights:
- Boys Water Polo League Champs, CCS Appearance
- Girls Volleyball, League Champs, CCS loss in Semi-Finals
- Girls Tennis, CCS Appearance
- Boys Soccer, CCS Appearance
- Girls soccer CCS DII Champs
- Boys Tennis CCS DI Champs and NorCal Runner-Up
- Baseball, CCS DIV Runner Up
- Softball, CCS loss in Semi-Finals
- Badminton, League Champs
- Boys Volleyball, CCS Appearance
We had many individual accomplishments from both students as they continued to show why Homestead graduates literally change the world for the better. And now, we bid them all a fond farewell to pursue their dreams and goals after high school. So thank you to all the students and families who have spent the past four years making Homestead a great place to learn and work. This class started in remote learning and made a huge splash on campus in the short time they were here. All the best to the Class of 2024!
Besides nearly 600 graduates, we also have staff who are moving on from us for new opportunities both inside or outside the district. Here is a list of staff who are ending their time at Homestead this year:
Leaving Homestead for other Pastures:
- Norma Abarca -- Spanish Teacher, returning to MVHS
- Axel Amzallag -- Student teacher, math
- Dustin Beard -- Student teacher, music
- Fabian Gutierrez - Student Teacher, Music
- Alex Han -- English teacher
- Antonio Jen - Student Teacher, PE
- Jessica Kirby -- Resource/Leadership teacher (heading to become New Teacher Mentor)
- Ellen Lain -- School Psychologist
- Kirsten Tasker -- Long Term Sub for French
- Laura Vasquez -- Long Term Sub, English/ELD
And finally, a huge thank you and best wishes to our retirees this year. They have served Homestead well and they are now ready to return to their regularly scheduled lives:
Graduating Class of Staff:
- Tsegay Biadgo – Resource Paraeducator
- Lupe Martinez -- Cafeteria (retired in December)
- Susan Mrozack – Science teacher
- Manjula Shankar -- Resource Paraeducator
- Harry Unsinger – Social Studies teacher
- Gary Yoshida – English/Culinary (retired in December)
I would like to let our new principal, Dr. Denae Nurnberg, have the final say on the year:
Message from your new Principal:
Hello Homestead Families,
It is very exciting to get to return to a campus that I considered my home for 9 years. I have been at the District Office for the past 4 years but my love for Homestead never waned. For 9th-11th grade families, I look forward to supporting your students over the next several years and meeting each of you during our time together. For 12th grade families, congratulations on this chapter ending and the beginning of a new and wonderful time in your family. I wish you all the best!
I hope that each of your families are able to rest and relax and enjoy the summer to catch up on reading, exercising, TV binge-watching, hanging out with friends and family or whatever makes you happy. I will be spending time with my three little kids and husband in South Lake Tahoe, Seascape, and watching the Olympics. I hope to finish a couple of books over the summer as well.
I will share a far more extensive introduction with you all in the fall, but for now, congratulations on a great school year and I very much look forward to reacquainting myself with the campus and community in the coming months.
Go Mustangs!
Denae Nurnberg
Upcoming HHS Principal Beginning July 1st
May 2024
Dear Homestead,
Welcome to May, the last full month of the 23-24 school year! Time sure does fly when you are having fun, and for me the past 11 years have raced by quickly. By now, you have most likely heard the news that I will be leaving Homestead at the end of June for our District Office as the Director of Human Resources. It is hard to believe that next year will be the first year in the past 26 years that I will not be reporting to a school campus, but I am excited to be serving all of our high schools and programs throughout our district in the HR role. I will be sad to leave the students, the staff, and the excitement of Homestead High School as this place has truly been a meaningful and important part of my life since 2013.
I first came to the Fremont Union High School District as I was looking for a place where I could learn and grow. Previously I had taught English at Berkeley High School before moving to Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton in the same role. I was fortunate to become a vice principal at the same school and be mentored by a truly wonderful group of leaders including the Amador principal at the time, Bill Coupe. I was encouraged by him and others to apply to be principal of Village High School, the continuation school for the district which also included the Teen Parent Program, Independent Study Program, and Opportunity Middle School Program. I was overjoyed to be chosen and spent 7 years working with the district’s most at risk students. At the end of my time at Village, I knew it was time to make a change as I wanted more and varied experiences where I could broaden my perspectives and skills.
While it was hard to leave the students and staff there, I was welcomed here with open arms by our former superintendent Polly Bove and former Deputy Superintendent Kate Jamentz, who have become my mentors and lifelong friends. FUHSD has afforded me the opportunity to not only work with amazing students and their families as well as dedicated staff members, but also provided me with the tools to grow as a leader. In the meantime, my wife started teaching in the district as a special education teacher for moderate to severe students, aged 18 to 22 and my youngest daughter graduated from Homestead in 2022.
And now I am finding myself in a similar situation where I have spent a good portion of time doing something I love and working with great people, only to prepare myself to move to the next chapter. There are many great memories and experiences, too many to name honestly, so I will cherish those as I prepare to make new ones. I just want to thank you all for sending your children to Homestead and for allowing me to be part of their lives these past 11 years. And while I may not be on campus for your children who are not yet Mustangs, I take comfort in knowing that my new position in HR will directly impact the quality and consistency of their education.
As I start to write this, the process for choosing the next Homestead principal is already well underway. Our district has reached out to families and staff to gather feedback on what they would like to see in the next principal, the job posting has closed, and applications and candidates are being reviewed. Here is the link to the parent/student survey if you have not had the chance to submit your feedback yet. If all goes well, the successful candidate will be announced sometime in Mid May, and then I will begin helping onboard that person. I am so proud to have been a part of the amazing tradition and history of Homestead where I like to brag that our students have literally been changing the world for the better since 1962. I know this is true because they have done as much for me, and I know they will continue to do so in the years to come.
Thank you Homestead!
April 2024
Dear Homestead,
Spring has officially arrived so I hope that you have been able to enjoy some of this nicer weather as well as the longer evenings as we head into the final months of the 2023-2024 school year. While many of you have your eye on the finish line, we are already looking ahead to 2024-2025.
We are gazing forward because this is the time of year when we really start crunching numbers on the courses that your students have selected for the upcoming school year as well as confirming how many students and staff will be on campus next year. At the beginning of every April, we send home a course verification letter so that you and your student can review the courses that you selected in February to confirm for us that you still intend to take those classes in ‘24-’25. The list you receive is not a schedule as it does not include teachers or periods yet because we do not start building the overall schedule until all of the confirmation letters have been returned. As part of this process, we ask that you either confirm that the listed courses are the ones you want or notify us of any changes or corrections that are needed. These letters help us get a firm grip on how many students and sections are needed which in turn dictates the number and type of staff that we need. By having more accurate numbers, we can build a schedule that is more likely to allow every student to get their first choices in courses.
This accuracy is especially important as we continue to experience declining enrollment in our school, our district, and our state. Looking back to five years ago, Homestead had over 2500 students but we have slowly started to decline while other schools have more rapidly declined. We are predicted to have around 2100 students for ‘24-’25, which is a decline of over 100 students from this current school year. While this may not sound like a big number, it does start to affect the number of courses that get put on the overall schedule because fewer students means fewer classes. It is important that we neither over schedule nor underestimate the courses needed as this could affect your student getting the classes that they want and need. It is also important fiscally to allocate our resources appropriately. Many things can change between now and the start of school next year so that is the main reason this process takes so long. We continue to adjust and tweak as needed up until school starts, so we try to wait until the week before school to give you your schedule.
Spring isn’t just about course selection, we also have many exciting events and activities planned . We just finished the Battle of the Classes where the Sophomores pulled off a surprise victory of the other three classes. We will also be hosting a Multicultural Week in the beginning of April, which is a great event to showcase the diversity and community of our school. April is also the month when we begin selling prom tickets, so be sure that your student is cleaning up their attendance if they are on the “Cannot Attend” list. Our deans have already sent and will continue to send home status updates for those students on the list. New this year, we are piloting a combined Junior and Senior Prom. While some may balk at this idea, many schools already do this and we have some good reasons to give it a try. The first is that we are limited in facility locations when it is one class versus two as the combined possible attendance will allow us to rent a much bigger facility, thereby making it more likely that everyone who wants to attend and who are eligible to go can do so. This combination also helps to keep costs down, which have spiraled like the cost of everything else these days. Tickets go on sale on April 23rd so there is still time to get ready and get eligible for this awesome event.
Finally, we are looking forward to our annual site Board Meeting on April 2nd and hope that you can join us (or did join us) in person or on zoom to honor our the following amazing students and staff members:
- Students of the Year: Lauryn Blake and Grace McGoran
- Foundation Student: Aiana Young
- Student Team or Club: our CCS Champion Girls Soccer Team lead by SCVAL Coach of the Year, Raquel DeJesus
- Teacher of the Year: Kyle Bonvechio
- Classified Staff Member of the Year: Martha Muruato
- And our four retirees: Lupe Martinez (Cafeteria Staff), Manjula Shankar (Paraprofessional), Harry Unsinger (Social Studies Teacher), and Gary Yoshida (English/Culinary Teacher)
- We will also have a year-in-review presentation from our ASB Leadership Students.
If we don’t see you at the April 2nd board meeting, hopefully we will run into each other at one of our Spring sporting events or any other after school activities that come up in April such as Multicultural Night on April 5th or the Foundation’s Spring for Education event that same night. We also have the Educational Wellness Fair on April 10th. Until then, enjoy your Spring but get ready as graduation is just around the corner.
February 2024
Dear Homestead,
Welcome to February and Black History Month. We are excited to celebrate this month as the newly reformed Black Student Union (BSU) has been working hard to provide information and inspiration to our students through activities, decorations, and historical facts in our morning announcements. A big thank you to the advisor Shay Bellamy and the support from Edith McNeal and Maria Trejo. I am also working with the president of the BSU to create this month’s advisory about making sure that Homestead is a safer and more inclusive place.
This month is certainly a busy one as it includes Valentine’s Day, leap year, the start of the Course Selection Process, and the kick off of our WASC accreditation self study process. It is a good thing that we have an extra day this month to get all this work done, and thankfully we have February break inserted in there starting on 2/19 to get some well deserved rest.
The week of February 5th is National School Counselors Week, which is fitting since our counselors are busy making presentations to students and parents as we get ready for course selection time. A big thank you to our five counselors: Mari Alanis, Marisa Amezquita, Derek Chan, Raquel DeJesus, and Wilma Wu as they work with Terri Hannigan, our Assistant Principal in charge of Scheduling, Cori Esquivel, our assistant to the department, and Tricia Palomino, Data Tech to organize and build the schedule. The process of selecting courses, building the course schedule, and the communication needed to go out to students and families is a huge undertaking, and our counselors do an amazing job. Students should be sure to reach out to a counselor to get advice on classes for next year by either stopping by the counseling department or using their QR codes to schedule an appointment. You may have also heard that the teachers association has voted in support of an 8 period schedule (as opposed to our current 7 period schedule). This will not go into effect until the 25-26 school year, as the next steps involve the district and teachers association negotiating the impacts of such a schedule before sending a proposal to the school board for final approval. More information will be coming to gather your opinion so stay tuned for that.
The WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) Accreditation process is something that all schools go through in order to self-assess strengths as an educational organization as well as to identify needs then build an action plan to help improve the service and support of students. Our last full visit was in Spring of 2019 with a midterm visit in Spring of 2022. We are once again embarking on a full review under the teacher leadership of Christina Graham and Ashley Pitta (both English teachers) who are working with focus group leads of Junko Birdsong (Japanese Teacher), Derek Chan (School Counselor), Verna Grant (Library Media Teacher), Lisa Nakamatsu (PE/Japanese Teacher), and Kathleen Shreve (Science Teacher). This process does require the participation of all of Homestead’s staff as well as input from students and families. We will be holding our first staff meeting on Valentine’s Day to kick off the process and will be reaching out to students and parents in the near future to get your opinions and ideas to help us create this report. Our visit is scheduled for March 2025 so we do have a good amount of time to complete the process, write the report, and prepare for the accreditation team’s visit. We look forward to partnering with you in this important process in order to make Homestead an even better place than it already is.
We also have a few new staff members that I would like to welcome to the Homestead family. In January, we were fortunate to have Edith McNeal return as an instructional aid, and this month we have two long term substitute teachers starting: Kirsten Tasker in French and Laura Vasquez in English. We also have a student teacher, Fabian Gutierrez, joining us in choir. Welcome everyone!
Have a wonderful month of February!
Greg Giglio
Homestead Principal
December 2023
Happy Holidays Mustangs! We have made it to December, which means the semester is almost over, finals are approaching, and the holiday season is in full swing. We have had a great first semester, so I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate the amazing work that our students, staff, and parents have contributed to over the first four months of the school year.
The year started with some dire news that Homestead, along with our other district high schools, were facing steep declines in enrollment. This decline is being felt statewide with only a couple of districts in California experiencing growth. Homestead has been slowly declining over the years but the prediction for this year was severe with nearly 150 students fewer expected than last year, but this number was higher than estimated. In the end, we declined about half that number so we currently sit at 2,219 students. While we are still the largest school in the district we have shrunk since our year of highest enrollment in 18-19 with over 2,500 students. This has been felt by Homestead in two different ways, first we did not replace most of the teachers who left or retired at the end of last year. Second, we actually have a few classrooms that are not being used regularly (that is a first in my 11 years here). Although, we did hire new staff this year with the lower than expected decline as we were able to welcome nearly 20 new staff members to campus. Roughly half were classroom teachers while the other half were office staff or classroom aides. Most of this new staff came from a new Resource Department program, ACT 2, that was moved from Lynbrook to here.
One major issue facing the district with declining enrollment, that has since been resolved in a positive way, is the question of sustainability for four World Languages at each of our high schools. The district asked each school to name the smallest program on each campus and that program would then be scheduled for a gradual phase out until it was eliminated.
At Homestead, the smallest program is Chinese but our program is thriving and not in the same position as some of our other schools since our enrollment has not declined as significantly as other sites. Our World Language staff, students, and parents rallied around the Chinese program, and I am happy to say that our program is not being considered for reduction next school year. The district is moving forward with the phase out for three programs at Fremont (French), Cupertino (Japanese), and Monta Vista (Japanese), but they have agreed to wait another year to see if Homestead’s enrollment remains steady or does indeed decline as predicted.
This 23-24 school year is one to remember as it is the first one since I started here in 2013 where we do not have any major construction projects happening or planned until the summer. We had a high volume of construction happening as we finished the A Building remodel at the start of the 22-23 school year then brought online the newly remodeled B and S buildings along with the newly revamped Library Quad. This summer we also refinished the large gym floor and replastered the pool. While it is always exciting to have new buildings and upgrades to our campus, we are enjoying the silence of no projects.
As I write this, the Fall Sports Season (including Football, Field Hockey, Water Polo, Girls Tennis, Girls Volleyball, and Cross Country) has ended (with the exception of a few runners on our Cross Country team who are still in the postseason) and we are now starting up with our Winter Sports of Boys and Girls Basketball, Boys and Girls Soccer, and Wrestling. Our new Athletic Director, Chris Grossman, has been doing a great job supporting our coaches and athletes to ensure that all have a wonderful sports experience.
Second semester starts on Monday, January 8th and is shaping up to be a good one. In February, we will be kicking off our WASC self study report. WASC stands for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and this process is a full school evaluation of all that we do well, what we need to improve upon, and then creating an action plan over the next six years to implement these improvements. Christina Graham and Ashley Pitta, both English teachers, will be our teacher leads and we will soon engage with staff, students, and parents to gather data, information, and experiences so that we can continue to provide the outstanding educational experience that we have become known for. More details to come, so please keep an eye and ear out for our calls for help.
Just prior to the WASC kick off, we will be launching into the months-long process of course selection for the 24-25 school year as well as to prepare our future class of 2028 for entry onto our campus. This process does take a long time and a huge amount of energy as we want to make sure that students are choosing the courses that they want and need, and that we are able to provide those opportunities with a purposeful school course schedule. It is never too early to begin thinking about the courses you need in order to make your post secondary plans a reality, so feel free to reach out to our school counselors now to begin thinking about next year. Speaking of course selection, we are a couple of years away from the state mandate of all students taking Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement, but our district has been working on a semester-long Ethnic Studies class that is to be paired with a semester's worth of Health. In year’s past, we have fulfilled the health requirements through the nutrition and drug/alcohol prevention units in PE as well as the sex education unit in Biology but with the upcoming requirement, our district decided to make both classes available. Right now, we are fine tuning the classes, and they are available to take for all students but starting in the 26-27 school year, all 9th grade students after that will be required to take both semesters in order to earn their diploma
Finally, I wanted to announce that Lupe Martinez, our long time cook/baker in the cafeteria will be retiring in December. Lupe has been on our site for the past 13 years, and has seen a lot of changes in that time. She will be greatly missed! We are excited to welcome back to the Homestead family, Rayna Javier who will be taking over the cook position starting second semester.
This month tends to fly by with all the holiday fun, so here is wishing you and your family all the best this holiday season. May you find joy and peace in the New Year.
Happy New Year!
Greg Giglio, HHS Principal
October 2023
Dear Homestead,
Thank you to everyone who reached out to our students and staff after the sad news regarding the passing of an 11th grade Homestead student. As I mentioned in the email home, the family wishes to remain anonymous and asks that you respect their privacy. In keeping with their decision, we cannot and will not be releasing any other information. I do want to acknowledge the difficulty this may present for you and your family, but at times like this it is better to think about what we can do for those around us who may be hurting or to find ways to solidify our community bonds.
Our support staff is still available for students or staff in order to provide resources, respite, or reflection. I do want to take a moment to publicly thank the members of our mental wellness team and school counselors as they have been doing a lot of great work in a terrible situation. Those staff members are our School Based Therapists (Sarah Loyd, Shabbie Afshar, and Dawn Predium), School Psychologists (Emily Bersaglia and Ellen Lain), and our School Counselors (Mari Alanis, Marisa Amezquita, Derek Chan, Raquel DeJesus, and Wilma Wu). Of course, many of our staff members have spent time this past week talking with students or with each other to provide safe spaces to listen, console, and answer questions. I also want to thank Dr. Trudy Gross, Associate Superintendent, who spent time with our team and helped us develop a plan to support our students and staff. As we progress through this year, this death as well as other incidents may find us in the position of looking for answers on how to support our students or each other so I wanted to remind you of the extensive list of resources that can be found at this link on our district webpage. You can also find it by going to the Parent Portal on our HHS website, and clicking on the button marked “Prevention and Intervention Resources”. There is also a long list of available resources under our Guidance and Student Support page by clicking the button labeled Student Wellness & Resources.
And to give another shout out to one of our community partners, I just wanted to thank Janet and Art from the Center for Living with Dying who have made themselves available to our campus and invite you to reach out if you have questions or need support at this time or in the future. You can find out all about their services by clicking this link.
Coincidentally, the September advisory was one that focused on building a positive community, and used the example of the South African term of “Ubuntu” which loosely translates to ‘I am because we are” or “I am because you are” underlining the basic belief in the universal bond that sharing connects all humanity. As I was working to finish this already late message, I awoke to the news of the horrifying event in Israel this past weekend. Since the start of advisories, we have held schoolwide conversations on how to combat hate and encourage students to be upstanders for each other to make Homestead a safe and welcoming school community. While we talked about battling hate against all people and groups, we sought to raise awareness about such injustices by sharing the experiences of many of our students and some adults through a lens of Anti-Racism/Anti-Bias. With war breaking out between Israel and Palestine over the weekend, tensions will undoubtedly be running high. Hopefully, some of the lessons shared these past few years will resonate with students and will guide their actions towards each other.
These two events, the death of a student and outbreak of war, surely test our connections and community, but it is also during times like these when we need to remember how we are connected and how we can provide a safe and inclusive space for everyone. Our hearts reach out to those Homestead community members whose families and friends are affected by these tragedies, and it is our hope that our words and deeds will show that share in their pain as well as in their wish for peace to triumph.
I would just like to restate that at Homestead we do not tolerate bullying, discrimination, or any form of harm to others. We believe in treating everyone with kindness and empathy. We also encourage every member of our community to be a part of our efforts to create a respectful and supportive community. Please stand up against bullying or discrimination whenever you witness it. Your actions contribute to a culture of responsibility among peers, and together, we can make a positive difference in the lives of those around us.
November 2023
Dear Homestead,
Every November I try to start my monthly message with a quote about gratitude and then make a list of things for which I am grateful. While I do have much to be thankful for and I truly believe that all of our staff members and students are wonderful, I thought I would highlight a group of people that often get overlooked except for when something goes wrong: the Homestead Administration Team. These eight people are the glue that holds this place together and are the reason our teachers are able to provide a high quality educational program and create a safe and welcoming environment for our students. They are also the reason that I am able to do my job as these individuals have their hands on every single thing that goes on at Homestead, usually some of the first to come and the last to leave.
Starting with Tricia Crane, my executive assistant and classified manager. She is the center that we gather around as she keeps us organized and moving forward. Tricia has been at Homestead nearly 15 years and has three sons who have graced our halls.
Elder Fagundes is our Facilities Manager, and he has just had his one year anniversary with us. He oversees all 40+ acres of our campus with two teams (day crew and night crew). Elder and crew help set up every event or activity on our campus plus keep the site looking good and properly running. Elder also speaks Portuguese!
Our Cafeteria Manager is Terri Fortson, and she has beenleading that department for over 20 years. Her team consists of six members and a crew of student volunteers who help out at various times to prepare food and set up brunch or lunch. Terri is Bilingual in Spanish and English.
Terri Hannigan is our Guidance and Scheduling Assistant Principal. Prior to coming to Homestead in 2019, Terri was a chemistry teacher at Cupertino High School where she was also the Department Lead and a district New Teacher Mentor. Terri’s oldest daughter Emily, was also an HHS math teacher for a few years before moving to Southern California.
Susan Rocha joined us at the start of the 22-23 school year as our Interventions Assistant Principal then took over as our Athletics/Activities Assistant Principal at this time last year. Susan graduated from Cupertino High School and taught English there for over 20 years. She also served as a Department Lead during her time there then moved on to administration where she has served Fremont and Lynbrook High Schools before becoming a Mustang. Fun Fact, her mother was an Assistant Principal at Homestead too.
Paula Mockler has a long history as a Mustang as she was a Resource Department paraprofessional over 10 years ago before earning her Special Ed Science credential, teaching at Cupertino High School and Fremont where she was also the Department Lead before becoming a Dean with the Firebirds. Paula is also celebrating her one year anniversary with us as she came over to be our Interventions Assistant Principal. Her husband Toby was our Facilities Manager before Elder, and she has a brother and sister-in-law who teach in our district too.
Maria Trejo is half of our Dean Team and has been with us for five years now, one of my longest serving deans by the way. Maria came to us from East Side San Jose where she held a plethora of positions from Migrant Ed Aide, Spanish Teacher, and the East Side equivalent to a Dean before joining our team. Maria is bilingual in Spanish and English.
Anthony Nguyen is the other half of our Dean Team, and has four years of experience with Homestead. She and Maria are my longest serving Dean Team in my 11 years at Homestead. Anthony was a Science Teacher in East Side, was also a department lead there and also held the position of Athletic Director before becoming a Mustang. Anthony is bilingual in Vietnamese and English.
I thought it would be helpful for you to see and learn a little more about these amazing individuals, and even more important for me to publicly state my appreciation for their hard work and dedication.
Have a great November everyone!
Greg Giglio
Homestead Principal
September 2023
Dear Homestead,
The 2023-2024 school year is off to a great start. As predicted and promised, all construction projects were substantially completed and have allowed students and staff to have full access to the campus. You will still see some small crews on campus working on landscaping around the library quad or painting at the S Building, but these tasks are simple and not blocking access. I would like to thank the workers at both of our construction companies, Blach and Lathrop, for working so diligently to deliver the campus for the start of school. We have no scheduled construction projects until after graduation when we will replace the turf for two of our three fields.
Believe it or not, the fields are nearly 15 years old and are ready for upgrades. We are working with the vendors to improve our fields by using materials that will reduce the amount of heat reflected as well as replacing the infill with crushed coconut husks. Overall, we have seen a reduction in injuries when we switched from natural grass to artificial turf as well as a significant reduction in water usage. These fields were extremely helpful as we battled the drought of the past few years and then last year’s intense rainfall. In previous years, either type of extreme weather would have made the fields unusable to our PE classes, athletic teams, and band. Since installing the turf fields, we have not lost a single day of class, practice, rehearsal, game, or performance due to weather or field conditions.
While it is sometimes easy to complain about the noise and chaos of construction, we are extremely grateful for all the work that has been done on our campus over the past 15 years to transform our campus into a modern facility that is ready for another 60 years of educational excellence. None of this would have been possible without the generosity of our parents and neighbors passing several Bond Measures. And while we are enjoying the silence at the moment, we are also thankful for all of the following improvements that you have made possible these past 15 years:
- New football stadium with lights
- Three multi use turf fields
- Solar Panels in Staff and Student Lots
- Field House
- Innovation Hub
- Cafeteria and classrooms in the K Building
- New Main Quad
- New Guidance Student Services Building
- Modernized A, B, and S Buildings
- Numerous upgrades and improves to utilities such as electrical, plumbing, and technology
- New Library Quad
On the future work list for Homestead on our existing Measure G Bond are new C and L Buildings but there is no definitive date yet for that work.
We will be hosting a grand opening for the A, B, and S Buildings in our new Library Quad on Wednesday, September 6th at 4pm just prior to our first in person Back to School Night. We hope to see you at both events as we celebrate our 61st year of operation and welcome the Class of 2027 to our Mustang Family.
Until then, please remember that our 23-24 Parent/Guardian &Student Survey is live and waiting for your questions, concerns, suggestions, ideas, shout outs, and recognitions. Here is looking forward to the rest of year!
Greg Giglio
Homestead Principal
AUGUST 2023
Dear Homestead,
Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! We look forward to welcoming our newest students from the class of 2027 as we continue our tradition of excellence. Whether it is in the classroom, on the athletic fields, in the performing arts, or through our outstanding extracurricular clubs like Future Business Leaders of America, Robotics, Speech and Debate, or any other of our over 90 student run clubs; Homestead is a great place to learn and work.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome these new staff members to our Homestead family:
- Maricarmen Alanis -- School Counselor for last names Ve-Z
- Norma Abarca -- Spanish Teacher
- Tsegay Biadgo -- ACT Paraeducator
- Melissa Chavez -- ACT Paraeducator
- Pratibha Gopal -- Math (welcome back, Pratibha!)
- Alex Han -- English Teacher
- Kris Hughes -- Behaviorist
- Robert Igoe -- Math Teacher
- Jodi Johnson -- Art Teacher
- Phil Lee -- Math Teacher (welcome back, Phil!)
- Teresa Lunnon -- Social Studies Teacher
- Manisha Mangla -- ACT Paraeducator
- Andres Mendez -- EL Paraeducator Bilingual
- Nancy Ngyuen -- ACT Paraeducator
- Marlon Portillo -- Intervention Paraprofessional
- Dylan Remahl – ACT Paraeducator
- Amy Scruggs -- ACT Paraeducator
- Josh Uribe -- ACT Paraeducator
We also have several current staff members who will be taking on new roles on our campus, so we would like to welcome them to their new positions as well:
- Alana Caires -- Drama/Theater Arts
- Chris Grossman -- Athletic Director
- Luis Mayorga -- Bilingual Aid
Construction Update: All projects have been completed or are nearing on time completion, so we are very excited to have a project free 23-24 school year! We are excited about opening up the newly modernized B and Science Buildings as well as our new Library Quad. Our pool was also replastered, and the Large Gym floor refinished and painted. Please enjoy our newly renovated areas on campus as well as the silence! We will be hosting a Grand Opening at our Back to School Night on September 6th
Here are a few other pieces of information that will be helpful for a successful start of the school year:
Important Opening of School Dates:
- Homestead Orientation Program or ‘HOP’ Wednesday, August 14th. Freshmen and all new students to Homestead High School are encouraged to participate
- Parent Orientation Day or ‘POP’ will be held virtually on Wednesday, August 14th from 6:00 to 7:30 pm so that we can take you through expectations for the year and answer your questions as you meet the Homestead staff and administration
- Round-Up will be held on Monday, August 14th and Tuesday, August 15th
- First day of School is August 21st
- Back to School Night – Will be held in-person on Wednesday, September 6th
Here is also a quick at a glance view of important dates for the entire 23-24 school year:
- August 21 First Day of School
- September 4 Labor Day - no classes
- October 9 Teacher Non-Duty Day - no classes
- November 10 Veterans Day - no classes
- Nov. 23 to 24 Thanksgiving Break - no classes
- December 22 Teacher Work Day - no classes
- Dec. 25 to Jan. 5 Mid-Year Break - no classes
- January 8 School resumes for second semester
- January 15 Martin Luther King Day - no classes
- Feb. 19 to 23 President's Week - no classes
- March 18 Non-Duty Day - no classes
- April 15 to 19 Spring Break - no classes
- May 27 Memorial Day - no classes
- June 6 Last day of the school year/Graduation
Weekly Video Messages/Parent Survey: Every week I send out a Weekly Video Message to help you stay connected with news and events on our campus. You can use this survey to send in questions, comments, concerns, and suggestions as well as send in shout outs and recognitions for staff and students. You may send in as many submissions as you wish, and I will answer your questions and respond to comments and suggestions in the video messages as well as bring in “guest stars”.
Our staff has been hard at work this summer improving lesson plans, coordinating curriculum, and creating relevant and rigorous content to keep your students engaged and learning at the highest levels. We look forward to getting the year started with you and your students!
Happy New Year!
Greg Giglio
Homestead Principal