Meet Madera Unified School Districts (MUSD) 2024-2025 school year senior student trustees. These young leaders represent their peers from Madera, Madera South, Torres, and Furman High Schools. As representatives, the student trustees play an essential role in voicing the concerns and ideas of their classmates to MUSD’s administration and the community.
Blog
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Welcoming New Staff
With the new 2024 school year underway, Madera Unified School District (MUSD) is proud to announce a series of strategic leadership appointments that will continue to drive the district’s success.
The district appointed two highly experienced Area Assistant Superintendents, Dr. May Moua, who will represent the Purple Pyramid, and Anthony Catalan, who will represent the Blue Pyramid. Their proven track record in fostering academic excellence and cultivating positive school cultures will be valuable to MUSD.
Complementing these new appointees are newly appointed directors for various departments, including Tina teNyenhuis as Director of Secondary Curriculum Instruction and Assessment and Miravel Navarro as Director of Health and Wellness.
To round out this new leadership, MUSD also open its doors to a cohort of new principals, each bringing a unique perspective to community-focused initiatives.
- Matt Tobin – Principal, Mountain Vista High School
- Michelle Angus – Principal, Furman TK-12 grade
- Jill Derkalousdian – Principal Madera Technical Exploration Center
- Alejandro Juarez – Principal Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School
- Amanda Garcia – Principal, Thomas Jefferson Middle School
- Jennifer Burns-Sauceda – Principal, Alpha Elementary School
- Amanda Musso – Principal, Pershing Elementary School
With a collective vision, passion, and commitment to student’s success, the district is set to reach new heights and deliver an exceptional educational experience for its community.
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Superintendent’s Message
Dear Parents,
We want to inform you about upcoming changes to California law regarding cell phone use in schools, and how our district will implement these changes ahead of the legislative deadline. Starting in January, we will be restricting cell phone use during the school day in our elementary and middle schools. Research shows that schools across the nation that have limited cell phone access have seen improved academic growth, reduced disciplinary issues, and stronger student relationships. We believe these changes will foster a more positive learning environment for your children.
We also want to remind parents that everything happening on your child’s cell phone is within your rights and responsibilities to know. You pay thousands of dollars annually for devices that research indicates can diminish your child’s learning and social outcomes. We encourage you to monitor their phone usage and engage with them about responsible digital habits.
To support you through these changes, we will offer parents education on managing cell phone use and be here to ensure your child has an even healthier experience each day at school. We are committed to working with you, and there will be more information to come as we develop our plan.
Thank you for your partnership in making our schools safer and more focused on learning.
Sincerely,
Todd Lile
SuperintendentMadera Unified School District
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Madera FFA Members Selected As Regional Stars
Two Madera FFA members were selected to represent the San Joaquin FFA Region in the State Star awards this spring. The State Star Award recognizes students who have excellent Supervised Agricultural Experience Projects in one of four areas; Farmer, Placement, Agriscience, and Agribusiness. Members complete an application and record book detailing their SAE projects at the sectional and regional level. If they are chosen at the regional level, they compete as one of the six regional representatives. The members interview with industry professionals and the California State FFA Officers in the spring with the winners announced on stage at the California FFA State Convention.
William Thompson was selected as the region’s Star in Agribusiness. The Star in Agribusiness award recognizes students who have developed a business that is related to agriculture but not involved in the production of any commodities. Will’s project is WillBilly’s Landscape, a project he started when he was younger as a way to help pay for his Little League expenses. Will continued to develop his project throughout high school, having a customer base of 28 and specializing in acreage maintenance as well as landscape installments. Will was named the 2023 California State Proficiency Award Winner in Turfgrass for his SAE and will be competing again in the area of Diversified Horticulture and Landscaping.
Morelia Vieyra Santana will be representing the region in the Star Placement Area. The Star in Placement award recognizes students who work in an agriculture business. Morelia works at Allegre Stables, where she helps start young horses in their groundwork and prepares them to saddle broke. Morelia’s passion for horses and the horse industry started at a young age and led to her involvement in the stables. Morelia was named the 2023 National Proficiency Winner in the Equine Science Placement area in October.
Image Credit: Brian Montano
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Madera FFA Triumphs at National Convention
Madera FFA members have a tradition of working hard and continuously raising the bar for each other to reach year after year. This year was no exception as our chapter traveled to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, to compete for numerous National Championships.
The meats evaluation team won the California state championship in May and spent their summer preparing for the national contest. Their team was coached by Mr. George and made up of senior Anita Giron, juniors Caleb Fant and Oswaldo Montes, and sophomore Mathew Machado. The Meats Evaluation contest consists of multiple parts the team members had to learn, including evaluating beef carcasses for quality and yield grade, identifying various meat cuts and place carcasses, and identifying wholesale and/or retail cuts. They competed during the convention and received 9th place in the contest.
Our chapter had five members win their proficiency areas at the state level and move on to the national contest this summer. Will Thompson received a Silver award for his project, and Alexsis Delgadillo received a Gold in his proficiency area. Morelia Vieyra, Juan Rojas, and Johnathan Spraggins were all selected as National Finalists in their proficiency areas, naming them as one of the top four projects in the country.
As finalists, they interviewed over Zoom with judges from across the country, explaining their projects and how they impacted them as FFA members. They were each recognized on stage at the convention in front of the 72,954 members in attendance and amongst the other finalists in their areas.
This year, our chapter was honored to have Morelia Vieyra Santana named the National Champion in the proficiency area of Equine Science Placement. Morelia works for her family’s horse stables helping to care for the animals boarded there, and has recently started to assist in their training programs.
The convention ended with 20 members earning their American FFA Degrees, a chapter record!
Madera students proudly honored at the convention, showcasing their achievements on the national stage. 
The Madera FFA Meats Evaluation Team showcases their awards at the FFA state finals 
The Meats Team basks in national recognition, a testament to their excellence on the grand stage -
Madera FFA Prepares for Ag Literacy Days
October 11-13th the Madera FFA chapter hosted their annual Ag Literacy Days. Throughout the 3 days over 1,600 preschool through 1st graders from the Madera Unified School District come to the Madera South School Farm to learn about the importance of agriculture in their lives. Madera FFA members work together to create stations that teach students about agriculture in different ways. The day starts with a hay ride from their bus to the farm. They then follow their group leader to one of four stations. The first is Oranges Journey, where they learn about how Madera FFA grows the oranges that they eat with their lunch. When they get to the station, the students are handed the Orange Journey coloring book, written by the Ag Leadership class, so they can color while listening to the story. Then they move to the Fun Zone and learn about agriculture through play. In the third station, the groups learn how to grow food and plant a pumpkin seed to take home and grow. The last station is the petting zoo. Here students learn how to handle different animals found on farms. Before leaving the students visit the pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin to take home. For many students, this is their first look into the agriculture industry and we strive to make sure it is a fun experience for them as well as the FFA members who work the event.