Principal loves helping students at Oasis, Ivy high schools

Rick Monroe

Special to the Village News

What's it like to be principal at two high schools – at the same time – that are as different as black and white? Mike Gray has the perfect last name as well as the perfect personality to handle the jobs.

The Menifee resident is the top man at Ivy and Oasis high schools in the Fallbrook Union High School District. Ivy is the district's continuation school. Oasis is the independent study option for students.

The student population at Oasis fluctuates throughout the year. "Students come and go," Gray explained. The school is full at about 65 students. With Ivy, it varies from 90 to 110 students.

"Both are schools of choice," Gray said. "Students are at Ivy because they have a school credit deficiency and we're here to help them figure things out. The students are at Oasis because they find it a better way of achieving their goals."

This is Gray's third year in the Fallbrook district after serving as a principal at a different type of continuation school in the Jurupa Unified School District.

When Gray arrived at Ivy, a week after classes started three years ago, he found it to be quite a contrast from his experience in the Riverside County district. The Jurupa school had students in middle school through high school who had been expelled, most for disciplinary reasons.

"It was so peaceful here," he recalled. "The environment was so fantastic; it was quiet and respectful."

The Ivy campus is located behind Fallbrook High School, separated by a fence, on Winterhaven Drive. There is a green lawn separating the eight classrooms and fruit trees lined up near the covered outside lunch area.

Oasis is also located nearby, next to the district administrative offices. It has two buildings where students meet once a week with their teacher for an hour, then do their assignments at home. It's primarily a college prep school with self-motivated students.

"Teachers at both schools are doing a great job with the kids," the principal said. There are six full- and one part-time teachers at Ivy, and currently three full-time at Oasis.

Gray said he takes no credit for the positive learning format at Ivy.

"It was set up to be phenomenal," he recalled. "It's just the culture of the campus. One of the things that stood out to me that first week here was seeing doors open at lunchtime, with students talking to their teachers. That was just different."

"The teachers are what makes this special," he added. "They laugh together and enjoy what they are doing. They really care and they see change – progress – in the students. They have a lot of satisfaction in teaching here."

Gray said that when a new teacher is assigned, he tells them, "Welcome to heaven."

"I also tell them that they have to teach," he added. "We don't just do handouts. They need to really work with the kids."

Gray explained that the main purpose is to help the students earn credits so they can graduate.

Students at the continuation school need 200 class units to graduate, compared to 230 at FHS and Oasis. To attend Ivy, a student must be 16 years or older and be deficient in credits, so there are no freshmen.

Gray said that most of the seniors at Ivy transfer at the leading of FHS counselors, who explain the move may be the only way left to graduate in four years.

In January, 18 students transferred from Ivy High School back to Fallbrook High School so they could graduate from FHS. Others may prefer to graduate from Ivy.

Some students at the continuation school have discipline issues, but for the most part students are there by choice.

What does a student's visit to the principal's office look like? Gray, father of six children, has an effective style:

"All students are the same in the sense that they don't want to be talked to, but I talk with them to understand where an individual may be having a problem, and how together they can fix things. I'll ask, 'What can we do to straighten things out?'"

The approach seems to work. "If we do our job, it's a win-win situation," he said.

College is not in the picture for most of the Ivy students, with most graduates instead going into the workforce. However, the principal said counselors are making a greater emphasis in opening that possibility for students.

Some students go to community college and Gray said they are taking advantage of the Palomar Promise at Palomar College. The program gives all first-time college students up to two years of free tuition, textbook assistance, and access to specialized academic and career planning.

Gray said it hasn't been difficult working with two extreme styles of education, both sides of the spectrum.

With Ivy students, he said the focus is on recovering credits and the social and emotional aspects of learning.

The mission statement for Ivy explains its goal: "The Mission of Ivy High School is to maintain an educational environment that is flexible and personal which allows all students the opportunity to grow educationally and socially while acquiring the essential skills needed for careers in a global society."

Gray said Oasis students can participate in the Fallbrook High School athletic teams, but CIF rules do not allow continuation school students the same opportunity.

Gray said teachers stay at both schools because they achieve satisfaction in seeing students thrive in their own way.

"Both Ivy and Oasis are underestimated for what they do for students," Gray said. "They are really great programs."

Gray's final comment after a two-hour interview at the Ivy campus: "This is the best job I've ever had in education."