In an effort to keep its staff and students safe, the Durham Unified School District worked with the County of Butte to install new pedestrian warning signs on both sides of the crosswalk in front of Durham Elementary School on Durham-Dayton Highway.

The signs are now installed and operational (see attached pictures). Pedestrians can now push the button on the new signs and lights on both signs will flash in an attempt to warn drivers that there are pedestrians crossing the street. 

It is still imperative that anyone crossing the street looks both directions before crossing the street. Hopefully, drivers will see the signs and it will help keep anyone crossing the street safer.

American Legion essay winners

The American Legion Auxiliary judged its annual Americanism Essay contest recently. 

The topic for essays in the fifth grade division was “Why Do We Say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.” 

Adelynn Noey in Mr. Martin’s fifth grade class took first place. Cameron McMann, also in Mr. Martin’s class finished in second place. Grayson Meyer from Mrs. Corrales’ class finished third.

At the high school level the top was "What the Bill of Rights Means to Me." Chloe Cox from Ms. Biro’s class finished in first place.

Staff Dress up fun at DHS

The high school staff held an underground homecoming this week with dress up days each day of the week. The dress up days included Anything but a cup day, blackout day, Hat Day, Adam Sandler Day and holiday day. Check out the attached pictures!

DHS Ag Department adds fabrication trailer

For several years, the DHS Agriculture Department has been taking student teams to welding fabrication competitions.

The Durham Unified Board of Trustees approved the purchase of the new trailer for these events. The Ag Department now has the trailer (see attached pictures) and will work to set it up to support students in fabrication competitions for the foreseeable future.

Updates from Principals

DES (from Samantha Brown)

On Monday during Early Release Collaboration, the teachers worked on their grade level curriculum mapping and planned for upcoming end of the year activities and events. Our kindergarten classes took a field trip to Laxson Auditorium at Chico State to watch the "Wild Things" performance. Our third - fifth grade classes continued CAASPP testing this week with the ELA assessments; next week we will have make-ups and our fifth grade will take the science assessment. Today we had a "Stay" in place practice safety drill, and this afternoon many deserving students met with Principal Brown for Popsicles with the Principal.

DIS (From Joanne Parsley

A big congratulations to our student teacher Danielle Schnitzius who has taken a position as an English teacher and Sabrina Skelly, who has been filling in for Mrs Lash as our long term sub, who has accepted a 6th Grade position with Durham Intermediate School for the 2025-26 school year.  We have enjoyed getting to know both of you this year, and we are so happy and excited to welcome both of you and look forward to working together in the coming years. 

Durham Intermediate has completed our first week of testing. Our 7th and 8th grade students took the English portion of the State Test this week, while 6th grade took English and Math.  We will continue with Math next week as well as make-ups.  We appreciate the parents getting their students to school on time and our students being well rested.

Seventh Grade Science has been learning about the outer layer of body systems this week, including the Skin, Muscles and Skeleton.

Eighth Grade Science has wrapped up our Forces and Motion unit and are kicking off one of our favorite projects: The Egg Safety Cars! Students are challenged to design and build a cardboard safety frame to protect a raw egg riding on a wooden car. Students will be challenged to showcase their knowledge of Newton’s Laws and the engineering design process. Their goal is to prevent the egg from cracking during a crash test next week. Stay tuned for some "egg"citing results!

Seventh Grade Math has spent the week reviewing all standards learned this year to prepare and refresh for the SBAC test next week.

Sixth grade is done with state testing and moving forward to our final units. Our calendar projects are coming along nicely and soon our students will have 12 research-based paragraphs about all sorts of interesting topics to hang on their walls. In room 2 we will soon be moving on to Ancient Greece in history and Climate Change and then Solar System in science. Our math focus is currently algebra and creating equations/expressions to represent real-world situations. We're all beyond excited for the announcement of the penny wars winners! 

PE has kicked off track and field with a bang! Students are putting their speed, strength and endurance to the test. Running, jumping and throwing their way to our big grandparents day field day!

DHS (From Marty Wilkes)

Counseling:
This week in Advisory students participated in Chalk Day. Everyone was able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather while it lasts. Students worked in teams to create artwork around chosen themes such as kindness, community, acceptance, and friendship. Music was playing, creativity was flowing and students enjoyed time with their peers during this great community-building activity.

17 students took the SAT on Wednesday.

Reg2Go: We will be taking 42 seniors to Butte College next week to go through orientation, tour the campus, meet with counselors and register for fall classes. The Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS) program will come to campus the following week to provide additional assistance to students.

Reminder: Scholarships are in full swing! The DHS Common Scholarship Application was due today April 11th. 

Mrs. Ladd and Mrs. Spade attended the Butte College Counselor Conference this week and will be going to the Chico State Counseling Conference next week.

The AG Department:

Congratulations to Liam Edson, Jonathon Gore, Jack Johansson, Daisy Knowles, Bryce Landon, Josie Landon. James Osbon and Ashley Spence for being elected to the 25-26 Durham Chapter officer team.

April 17 - Easter Arrangement Pick up
April 29 - Spring Section Meeting
May 2 -  Cal Poly Field Day
May 10 -  May Day Parade

Athletics:

The Baseball Varsity team has an overall recorded of 7-4 and is 3-0 in the SVL picking up 8-4 win over Paradise. Durham plays a doubleheader vs Willows at home today with the first game at 1:30.

April 14 - vs Hamilton
April 17 - vs Los Molinos
April 22 -  at Winters

The Softball varsity team  has an 11-5-1 record and is 4-2 in the SVL picking up wins over Willows and Winters this week.

April 9 - at Winters
April 1 - vs Willows
April 16 -  vs Willows

Golf

Golf played in the PV Invitational on Monday. Coby Gausemel and Max Pignataro took 5th place overall with a Two-Man Best Ball score of 74. The team took 5th out of 20 teams. Then, on Wednesday we had a league match in Colusa. Max Pignataro had the low round of the day with a score of 76. Durham took home first place again and is currently in first place in league standings ahead of Willows. Next week we are in Arbuckle on Monday and Oroville on Thursday.

April 14 at Pierce (Arbuckle Golf Club)

Student Services and Supports (from Marilyn Bertolucci)

Health and Wellness Team 

• Weekly meetings to address student needs such as attendance, social emotional learning and referrals to community support. 

  • Absenteeism

  • Social Emotional Supports

  • Supports for students experiencing homelessness

Special Education Services

• Weekly departmental meetings with psychologist and interns, speech pathologist and director to discuss upcoming assessments, ongoing cases and student/staff support. 

• IEP  Implementation Monitoring window is 3/3/2025-4/30/2025

  • This is a monitoring activity put in place by CDE to ensure that students are receiving the services as per their IEP. 

  • We will have no issues and have been compliant in all years past

Help Spread the News!

• Discover What’s Possible, 2nd Annual Parent University & Resource Fair

• It is survey time!! The California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) is an anonymous, confidential survey of school climate and safety, student wellness, and youth resiliency. It is administered to students at grades 3-12. It enables schools and communities to collect and analyze data regarding local youth health risks and behaviors, school connectedness, school climate, protective factors, and school violence. The CHKS is part of a comprehensive data-driven decision-making process on improving school climate and student learning environment for overall school improvements. At the heart of the CHKS is a research-based core module that provides valid indicators to promote student engagement and achievement, safety, positive development, health, and overall well being.

• What will the survey ask? Parents and Community members can review what questions are being asked on the survey. Copies will be available on the DUSD website and paper copies at each school site office. 

• Why is the CHKS important to DUSD? This survey data is needed by DUSD for the LCAP compliance and is used to measure progress on LCAP goals. 

• We Need Your Voice! We need your help to ensure that we have enough participation in the surveys offered to students, staff and parents. 

• Look for more information via Parent Square!

Weekly Update Archive