Huntington Beach Union High School District Supt. Ron Bennett

When Ron Bennett, 54, joined the Huntington Beach Union High School District six months ago as superintendent, he said his first goal would be to identify areas for improvement. That has been done, and committees are now studying how to make needed changes. Bennett, who was previously superintendent of Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, spoke with Times correspondent Jennifer Leuer about the district’s focus.

Q: How did you figure out the district’s needs?

A: Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses ended up as part of the strategic planning process, because we were working on the strategic plan at the same time. We revisited the mission statement and came up with objective statements. Now we have more than 100 people working on plans to turn that vision into strategies. . . . You need to have clearly defined educational outcomes for students.

Q: On which areas will you concentrate first?

A: Every child needs to be able to communicate effectively by being able to write and listen well. You can’t measure those with a paper and a pencil. Kids need to learn to work cooperatively with each other to solve problems. We’re developing what are called Essential Schoolwide Learning Results. What do kids need to be able to do well when they graduate high school, and how can you teach in a way that helps kids communicate more effectively? The whole area of kids learning differently was also identified. We know if kids see logical connections, they learn faster and retain longer. The challenge as educators is how to help kids see those connections. We’re looking for ways to make curriculum relevant and meaningful. . . . We want to work on how to communicate more effectively, and involve students, parents and employees in significant ways in decisions that affect them. Facilities are a concern. We have about $76 million worth of facilities needs to fix schools, which are old and worn out. That includes technology.

Q: You have talked about fostering creative- problem solving in the past. What areas do you think could benefit from such an approach?

A: We need to develop nontraditional programs for students who don’t want or need traditional programs. We should look at school-within- a-school programs that emphasize career paths and business partnerships. If a student is interested in going into the medical profession, you can teach history in a way that looks at the medical advances during certain periods of time. Let kids go out and try various jobs and positions through career internships. Also, let’s look at creative ways to reduce student-teacher ratios. They’re doing it in primary schools, but nobody’s talking about it at the high school level.