Dear Ramona School Community,

Welcome to 2023-24 school year!  It is a tremendous honor for me to be serving this community as principal of Ramona Junior High! I am so pleased to work alongside dedicated teachers, staff and supportive parents/guardians, working together, to forge a culture of excellence on campus and in the community. 

With the unprecedented circumstances and challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, our educational community has been preparing a path to best support staff, students, and families while ensuring a safe learning environment. Whether in a distance learning, blended learning, or traditional school program, our Ramona staff will continue focusing on student growth and success by establishing high expectations, delivering rigorous instruction, and providing strategic levels of support so that our students can rebound from the temporary school closures and develop the resiliency necessary for overcoming these challenges and accomplishing long-term goals. We are very  fortunate to have such an amazing group of professionals, supportive parents/guardians, and dedicated students that truly represent excellence in education!

It is with great pride that I share that Ramona Jr High has made some amazing growth in the past few years on the State’s SBAC assessments in both Language Arts and Math. We have also implemented a well structured social-emotional support plan for our students. This past year we received a second year of Silver Recognition from CA PBIS Coalition, and during school closures were recognized with a “Community Cares” emblem. We are also thrilled to be one of the district’s AVID Certified schools, this is a foundational schoolwide program that empowers students with College Readiness in which; Instructional strategies, Culture, Leadership, Advocacy Skills and Systems are embedded into daily instruction throughout students classrooms. 

Our Administrative Team and staff are committed to student success. The environment at Ramona is supportive, safe, and goal-centered in maximizing student achievement. Using Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS), we will continue with our school-wide expectations to foster positive behaviors. Our goal with PBIS Expectations is to improve the school climate, increase campus safety, engage in community building and maximize academic achievement. Students will continue to be encouraged through positive feedback and recognition when they demonstrate these expected behaviors. Since implementing PBIS with fidelity, we have reduced the number of disruptions and disciplinary issues on our campus. We have also increased student focus & engagement with the learning and academic achievement

Our adopted Ramona Pride expectations are, Be Respectful, Be Responsible & Be Safe. Students learn more about these expectations through classroom lessons, modeling, and practice. In addition, Expectation posters are placed around our campus & in our classrooms. We have even created Distance Learning Expectations for students and guardians which can be found on our website and on individual teacher web pages!  Our goal is to acknowledge students who are doing the right thing. 

Ramona also provides many learning and leadership opportunities for our Parent/Guardians and  community members. Our school has been selected as CVUSD’s school representative on the State of California’s Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) for the outreach, empowerment and leadership opportunities offered to our families. I urge families to become active members of our leadership committees. 

Students, staff, and community members are dedicated to working in partnership with you to develop and support your child in being a capable, responsible, and productive member of society. I pledge to work tirelessly to ensure we accomplish this goal! 

Respectfully,

Gabriela Rivas-López

Proud Principal of Ramona Jr. High 

Gabriela_RivasLopez@chino.k12.ca.us

"Success is no accident.  It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do." - Pele