(Eureka)— Pacific View Charter School 2.0 (PVCS 2.0) has been honored by receiving a 2022 California Pivotal Practice Award. The newly created award winners were announced this week by California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond. The award is in place of the California Distinguished Schools Program. It celebrates schools that implemented an innovative practice during the 2020-21 school year, when schools were required to offer distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. PVCS 2.0 is among 727 schools and 121 districts in California recognized for their demonstrated efforts to support students in the areas of student engagement, distribution of technology, nutrition services and social emotional well-being of students.

When contacted about the award, PVCS 2.0 Principal Silas Radcliffe, Ed.D. said, “The staff and educational partners for Pacific View Charter are thrilled to have been selected for the California Pivotal Practice Award. As a small alternative education high school with high levels of student trauma, the staff overcame, pivoted, and adapted to the continuous change of COVID-19 while accomplishing its shared mission and vision to serve the students. As an independent study charter, we had the flexibility to create an innovative master schedule and virtual classrooms designed to provide in-person, distance, and hybrid learning that set student social and emotional learning first, resulting in deeper student engagement and achievement.”

PVCS 2.0 was the only Humboldt County school to receive the award in 2022. In order to qualify for consideration, schools completed an online application highlighting an innovative practice in one of the four target areas implemented during the 2020-21 school year. It is anticipated that the California Department of Education will transition back to the Distinguished Schools program in 2023.