An Introduction to Jackson, Johnson Elementary

Throughout the past several months as our students have first worked in a virtual classroom, then enjoyed summer vacation, and are returning to a new way of learning, Desert Sands Unified School District has been introducing our schools to the community. We first featured our high schools and followed with our middle schools. We are now providing an opportunity for readers to learn more about the elementary schools in Desert Sands. As a district of choice school descriptions are provided for families wanting to know more about individual schools. Two schools are being featured each week.

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Dragon Pride

By Principal José Montaño, Ed. D.

Andrew Jackson Elementary School in Indio is a neighborhood school with 650 students and deep roots in the community. It is not uncommon to hear the pride-filled phrase “I’m a Jackson Dragon” whenever I meet someone from the community. District leaders, teachers, parents, and community members often share treasured memories they lived at Jackson.

This past school year we successfully launched a new dual language Spanish/English immersion program and will continue to grow the program in the coming years. The school boasts a beautiful garden, supported and maintained by students, teachers, and community members. Jackson has a brand new STEM (science, technology, engineering math) lab with numerous robotics platforms, 3D printers, and makerspace products.

We are a Playworks school which supports our four tenets of being “Safe, Kind, Respectful and Responsible Students” while keeping our students positively engaged on the playground. The Playworks program is supported by our entire school staff and provides our student leadership opportunities by training them to become “Junior Coaches”.

Jackson was recently recognized with a silver medal by the California PBIS Coalition for our work associated with our Multiple Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) during the 2018/2019 school year.

Because of the wonderful opportunities that the school offers our students and community, happy and engaged students are what you’ll see on campus. It is no surprise that Dragon Pride runs deep in DSUSD. Once a Dragon, always a Dragon!

Success is POWER at Johnson Elementary

By Principal Brad Fisher

Lyndon B Johnson Elementary is a school that teaches our students that Success is POWER. But what does that mean? We want our students to understand that, in order to be successful, they must persevere, be open-minded, well-balanced, excellent, and respectful at all times.

Our school has partnered with the Harper for Kids Foundation to include John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success to ensure that we are teaching the building blocks of achieving one’s personal best. During the2019-2020 school year we witnessed Longhorns achieve success in and out of our school. Johnson earned a silver medal for our implementation of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). Allison Cyr, third grade teacher, was named VFW Post 3699 Elementary Teacher of the Year. She was also recognized by the Los Angeles Clippers as an outstanding educator and, most recently, she was named Riverside County Teacher of the Year.

In our first year of having a site science fair, our school had two students earn first place at the district level. Johnson was selected to host and perform a local play titled Space School Musical with our fifth-grade students. Our athletic teams were in the finals in football, basketball, and girls soccer proving we have some outstanding student athletes.

Johnson definitely has the POWER!

For more information on Desert Sands Unified School District, Andrew Jackson Elementary School, or Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School click here.