VISTA — Major General Raymond Murray and Alta Vista high schools, two continuation institutions in the Vista Unified School District, are known for offering a tailored, flexible approach that can be transformative for students.
However, several teachers have raised concerns that when it comes to academic rigor, the school is creating a low-expectation environment with inconsistent standards.
At both high schools, social-emotional learning and alternative education are a principal focus. Students who have previously struggled academically are given the opportunity to explore various alternative education pathways while receiving tailored support from teachers and flexibility to complete schoolwork, balancing work and family responsibilities.
Many of them, who had previously wondered how they would be able to graduate, were able to walk across the stage to cheering parents last week to receive their diplomas.
Murray senior Haide Lopez realized a passion for teaching while visiting local elementary schools as part of a professional development opportunity, and wants to pursue it as a career path.
“There are so many career options out there, my mind was only stuck on one. My mind is made open to new things,” said Lopez, who graduated last week.
Another senior, Gael Garcia, said he came to the school as a junior and struggled to connect with peers and school staff. Now, Garcia has a paid internship through the welding program at Rancho Buena Vista, as well as an internship where he assists younger students in classrooms at Bobier Elementary School.
“This year, I feel like I can be more of a mentor to all of the kids,” Garcia said. “Without doing summer school and a little bit of Edgenuity, I wouldn’t have graduated.”
While the schools laud their student accomplishments, a group of around eight teachers and staff from the two schools have outlined issues to The Coast News, with the majority requesting to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation and harm to their careers.
These staff members worry that, at worst, this lack of oversight is creating a situation where vulnerable youth can be fast-tracked through high school without gaining basic competency in core subjects.
Teachers said they began to express concerns about students cheating during online classes in 2022. Over time, they raised additional concerns as schools decreased in-person instructional time and overall class attendance began to drop, while reported attendance increased, and students simultaneously began to earn high amounts of credits in short periods of time.
As they raised these concerns and asked for clarification, several teachers reported they began to face retaliation from Joel Miller, principal of both Murray and Alta Vista, and Dean of Students Juliet Royer Ross-Ma’u, including reprimands and attempted disciplinary action. It became clear that going along with what campus leaders wanted was the most important thing.
“We’ve been bringing this up for two years, and they’ve never mentioned, ever, that they were investigating. They just pushed us down,” said a Murray teacher. “It’s less important that we ask questions, and more important that we support the process.”
Since these issues arose, several teachers have quit or left the school, and several complaints and grievances have been filed with the Vista Teachers Association against Ross-Ma’u and Miller.
They have also contacted Vista Unified school board members, Superintendent Matthew Doyle, the San Diego County Office of Education, and the California Department of Education, sharing their concerns in hopes of bringing about change.
The state Education Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A representative for the county Office of Education was unable to confirm whether they had responded to these specific complaints, but said the office generally does not have authority over district operations and has only limited authority when it comes to financial or credential concerns.
The big picture
Campus administrators and district leaders say the two schools are adopting a new model of learning that prioritizes real-world experiences and practical demonstrations of mastery over traditional in-person classroom learning and assessments.
In this way, the school is focusing on the whole child rather than just academics, said Assistant Superintendent of Human Relations Rachel D’Ambroso. She responded on behalf of Miller, Ross-Ma’u and Doyle, to whom The Coast News sent detailed questions.
“Students are not solely assessed based on how many hours they spend sitting in a classroom or engaging with an online course. Instead, we emphasize mastery of content and skills, which can be demonstrated through multiple avenues. This includes, but is not limited to, traditional assessments, real-world application projects and assignments, or even informal demonstrations of mastery, such as class discussions or presentations,” D’Ambroso said.
Many students enter MGM and Alta Vista as a last resort, after failing classes or otherwise not having their needs met at the district’s comprehensive high schools.
According to educators, many of them are balancing academic or behavioral issues or are facing difficulties at home. Some individuals must work in addition to attending school to support their families or are responsible for caring for younger siblings, family members, or their own children.
Under a recently established program called Big Picture Learning, led mainly by Ross-Ma’u, the two schools have prioritized alternative means of learning and credit recovery outside of traditional class time.
This includes the introduction of PM school, in which students from across the district can earn credits through various assignments after school hours, and “advisory days” during the week, where students work on career preparation or go off campus for professional development instead of being in regular classroom instruction.
Murray has one advisory day per week, and students at Alta Vista have two.
The schools also focus on helping students secure internships, jobs and other professional opportunities where they can earn credit. Several school staff members say this approach is incredibly beneficial to students.
“Most credits at our school come from real-world experiences — internships, job training, and other alternative methods. This is exactly what our Big Picture Learning Community School is built for. Our students often come to us on the edge of dropping out. They need a different approach, and we provide it,” said Community School Lead Rebekka Kinder.
Other teachers, however, say the expectations for Big Picture Learning are unclear, and that the schools are bypassing typical learning standards for core general requirement subjects.
Some staff members say that while some students are in legitimate internships with organizations such as the community garden nonprofit Garden 31 or the City of Vista, others appear to be given credit for doing various tangential activities or assignments.
“Most of the kids aren’t actually in internships. They’re just killing time in the class. They’ve learned to play the game, they know they can just get the credits,” said one staff member at Alta Vista.
‘Murray miracle’
Teachers at Murray say students are generally assigned five five-credit classes per semester, with the potential of earning 25 credits. They stated that one credit requires approximately 12 hours of work, making it effectively impossible for even the most accomplished students to start and complete more than 45 credits in a single semester while truly absorbing the material.
Anonymized student transcripts from the 2023-24 school year, obtained by The Coast News, reveal that several students earned a substantial number of credits in their final semester.
In the second semester last year, transcripts show one student at Murray completed 83 credits, including eight English courses, one American government course, three math courses, six science courses, and a visual arts course.
Many other students have racked up 50 or more credits in their final semester.
Several teachers referred to this as the “Murray miracle,” where seniors can complete a substantial number of credits in their final semester to graduate on time.
“There’s an incredible amount of credits being handed out in a short amount of time,” said one teacher at Murray. “I don’t really put the onus on the kids, it’s more the administration for allowing this to happen.”
According to the district, courses are included on transcripts in the semester that they were completed, and sometimes students have been working on them for much longer. D’Ambroso also said all transcripts showing an unusual number of credits have been investigated, and all issued credits could be accounted for by a certificated teacher.
One way schools make it easier for students to earn credits is by asking teachers to create lessons and assign projects across various subject areas — not just the area in which they are credentialed — and for teachers in each credentialed subject area to agree to sign off on the credits.
For example, teachers say that administrators expect them to be willing to issue English credits if a math or art teacher believes that an assignment or project a student has completed should earn English credits.
Several teachers at Murray said they have refused to sign off on credits for students whom they do not directly supervise and assess, fearing loss of their teaching credentials.
“Any teacher, regardless of what they’re credentialed in, is supposed to be able to teach whatever they want, and whoever has that credential for that subject, admin wants us to sign off and say ‘yeah, that kid did those English credits,’” one teacher said.
Under Murray’s Learning Through Internships program this past school year, English teachers have been asked to sign off on half a credit for various student activities, including completing a resume and participating in a mock interview, and one credit for writing a reflection on an internship.
In another situation, a P.E. teacher was asked to grant credits to students for working in a garden, participating in a dance class, or walking on field trips, activities that the teacher had no involvement in monitoring or assessing.
In some cases, these requests were made during whole-staff meetings or after students had already been informed that they could earn P.E. credits this way.
Administrators’ response has been that teachers need to collaborate with and trust one another. D’Ambroso said credits are only issued by teachers with the proper credentials.
“No administrator is directing them to award credits outside of the subjects they are properly credentialed to teach, but we are actively encouraging staff to collaborate within their departments to refine essential standards, identify key competencies, and develop rubrics that will aid colleagues in the creation of projects, experiences, and opportunities for students,” D’Ambroso said.
“This collaborative approach is new and uncomfortable for some staff, but is intended to provide students with a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning and earn credit, always within the framework of the teacher’s credential and the content area they are certified to teach,” she continued.
Concerned teachers say they aren’t opposed to collaboration or interdisciplinary learning, and they aren’t trying to avoid doing more work.
They said they are only willing to approve credits where they have been able to ensure that the curriculum and structure are up to par, such as when it is taught by a credentialed teacher like themselves or another qualified instructor in a recognized program at a college or other organization.
Several teachers said they also believe it’s more appropriate for internships to count as elective credits, rather than general graduation requirement credits for subjects like English, science, social science, and math.
“We owe these students and their families and the community a rigorous curriculum, with reasonable expectations for grade-level performance. And if we don’t provide that, we’re not doing our jobs,” one English teacher said.
Keri Avila, president of the Vista Teachers Association, which represents teachers across the district, said it’s important that teachers are not pressured into situations that they feel are unethical.
“Giving out credits could be a serious implication on someone’s credential. We want to support staff so they make sure they aren’t in an unethical situation,” Avila said.
Edgenuity concerns
Teachers have also raised concerns about a lack of proper monitoring for students using the digital education platform Edgenuity, as students are being permitted to speed through units in subjects that they previously failed.
At the continuation schools, Edgenuity is primarily used as a means of credit recovery for students who have failed a class in that subject. School and district leaders reported that the overall number of students using Edgenuity at Murray is significantly lower than in past years, with approximately 50 students using it in the past year, compared to over 100 in recent years.
Without proper monitoring, students can easily cheat on Edgenuity, especially when completing assignments and tests at home. A quick search on Google yields Quizlets with answers for quizzes and assignments, as well as videos on TikTok offering tips for mastering the platform.
This cheating risk has been a concern for teachers throughout California, including at Murray, where just one teacher oversees all students taking Edgenuity courses.
One Murray math teacher said that there have been students who performed very poorly in their regular math classes, but then completed the same courses in Edgenuity at unrealistically fast speeds, including completing tests designed to take around 40 minutes in 10 minutes or less.
Some transcripts indicate that students complete as many as nine Edgenuity courses in one semester.
“There’s no real need to come to class, when they can, in hours, complete 16 weeks worth of class,” the math teacher said.
There are other Edgenuity records showing assignments or tests being completed in a matter of seconds. D’Ambroso said the system logs completion in this manner when students pass a pretest for the unit, allowing them to opt out of certain subsequent assignments or tests depending on the concepts they already know.
Teachers can also manually mark lessons or activities as complete when students “demonstrate prior knowledge, whether through a separate assignment, conversation, or real-world application,” according to D’Ambroso.
D’Ambroso stated that all records of unusual pacing or progress on Edgenuity have been thoroughly investigated by site leadership, district leadership, and the Vista Teachers Association (VTA), and that no instances of wrongdoing have been found.
However, Avila said the VTA is still in the process of reviewing how Edgenuity is used throughout the district and its impact on members’ working conditions and the integrity of instruction.
“With respect to the district’s statement that no wrongdoing or misuse of Edgenuity has been found, VTA has not concluded its own review. We are continuing to gather information and support our members as part of that ongoing process,” Avila said.
VTA has also initiated a demand to bargain with the district regarding the use of Edgenuity to prevent teachers’ jobs from being supplanted, Avila said.
D’Ambroso initially stated that all quizzes, tests and exams on Edgenuity are monitored by a teacher with no phones allowed.
Later, in response to evidence of two incidents where tests were completed on the weekends, D’Ambroso said exceptions are made for students whose unique circumstances necessitate independent study.
“In cases where there are concerns about academic integrity or suspected cheating, teachers are encouraged to ask students to demonstrate their mastery in another way, such as through an alternate assessment or project. If the teacher of record does not suspect cheating, we defer to the professional judgment of the educator, trusting their expertise in determining whether the work completed was legitimate,” D’Ambroso said.
Edgenuity’s usage recommendations suggest that, as a general guideline, a five-credit course should require approximately 80 hours of active work when used for credit recovery. However, D’Ambroso said Murray and Alta Vista are not defining competency based on the number of hours put in.
“The exact number of hours for alternate credit recovery can vary based on the scope and depth of the project or activity, but the goal is always competency, not clocking in hours,” D’Ambroso said.
Retaliation
As they have escalated their concerns, teachers and staff have said they have faced increasing backlash and admonition from administrators, including being passed over for grant, committee, and conference opportunities.
Some have also been called into meetings with Miller, where he reportedly berated them for not supporting him. Avila said that teachers are reminded of their rights to have a union representative in a meeting with a supervisor that they believe could be disciplinary in nature.
A large point of contention has been attendance data, with Murray reporting attendance of up to 90% despite teachers reporting that over half the seats in their classrooms are empty. Several teachers said administrators have repeatedly refused to provide data showing how they calculate attendance.
D’Ambroso stated that the state education code mandates a minimum of 15 hours of instruction per week for continuation high schools, and that Murray and Alta Vista exceed this requirement to provide additional learning opportunities for students.
In late 2023, teachers alleged that Miller had inquired with the district about the process of de-tenuring two teachers who had repeatedly raised concerns about academic practices at Murray.
Additionally, in early 2024, teachers who had been attempting to collect data about attendance and other issues reported receiving letters of discipline from Miller. He allegedly told them the letters would be placed in their permanent files, a decision that was eventually overruled by a higher-level administrator.
D’Ambroso said no teachers have faced formal discipline for raising their concerns.
Earlier this year, several teachers reported being temporarily locked out of viewing Edgenuity data after continuing to raise questions about scores and completion times.
Ian Brant, who worked at Murray as a college and career tech from the fall of 2023 to early 2024, said administrators want staff who will not question the “why” behind their decisions. He said the work was chaotic and unfocused, and that he felt like a cog in a machine that was not helping students.
“The situation was absolutely terrible, and it just seemed that they wanted people who were going to follow exactly what they said at that moment,” said Brant, who quit in March 2024.
Ultimately, teachers want to feel confident that children are being prepared academically for the real world.
“Why am I working so hard if the kids can just skip out of my class and earn their math credits or English credits or whatever credits so much faster? Why would the kid work to push harder if there’s an easy out, and some adults are facilitating that easy out,” an English teacher at Murray said.
Despite their concerns, teachers acknowledged that Murray and Alta Vista are ahead of the game when it comes to social-emotional learning. They said that many students do thrive at the school and work hard to obtain their credits, and they don’t want their concerns to detract from that.
Senior Moises Sanchez said he struggled at Rancho Buena Vista High School before coming to Murray to complete high school. With the support of teachers and staff, he came to enjoy certain parts of school and became more motivated.
Like his peer, Gael, he eventually got a chance to participate in the welding program back at his old high school, a class that he had previously attempted but not taken seriously at the time. That opportunity has since developed into a paid internship.
“Back when I was at Rancho, I was struggling a little bit more. I would give up, just try to get through my days,” said Sanchez. “Having these programs, it helps you stay focused on what you want to do and stay out of trouble … It helps me figure out what I want to do with my life.”
