Fontana Unified
School District
November 18, 2025 Meeting - Don Day Center
- To open the meeting, Superintendent Miki Inbody provided a district update:
- Open to dialogue with the community portion included the following comments and discussions:
- Comment Cards that were received included the following questions:
To open the meeting, Superintendent Miki Inbody provided a district update:
Open to dialogue with the community portion included the following comments and discussions:
Q: When will the new secondary school open? What grades will be included? When can we apply to have our student go there?
A: The new secondary academy is on schedule to open in Fall 2026 and we will have grades 6th to 9th for the first year to help with overcrowding at some of the elementary schools until the new elementary school is open, which is slated for 2027-2028 school year. For 6th to 8th grade, the new boundaries will determine what schools are assigned to that school. For 9th grade it will be an application and possible lottery process for intra-district transfers. Applications will be opening soon, and an email will go out once that is open. This school will focus on accelerated education so middle school students will have access to high school classes, and high schoolers will have the opportunity to take dual enrollment classes for college credit.
Q: How will sports work and how will students get their PE requirement completed?
A: The new secondary academy will not have athletic teams, but will have a small gym and locker rooms that will allow us to conduct PE classes. Students interested in playing sports will have to get CIF approval to play the sport at their home school and the district will work with the student to give them 6th period athletics PE at that school so they can take classes at the new academy, but PE and sports at their home school.
Q: Regarding special education at the new academy, will students be bussed in if they live far and will there be an adult transition program at the new school so they don't have to commute to the south end for that program?
A: We will need to review which programs will be offered at the new academy. That hasn't been finalized yet, so depending on what is offered we would then confirm what kind of transportation would be offered.
Q: With the development of new homes nearby, is there any planning in the way of increasing capacity at our schools (i.e., as a contingency plan at Southridge, Canyon Crest, and Kaiser HS)?
A: When the district worked on redoing the boundaries, the demographer kept this in mind and that is why the boundaries did not change for this side of town. Our schools on the south end all have capacity for more students, but when those homes are closer to opening, we will be able to review boundaries on this side of town to make adjustments if needed.
Q: With 7th and 8th graders going to school with 9-12 graders, kids are still kids, and there are a lot of concerns. These are children barely in their teens going to school with nearly adult-age students. Will there be heightened security and boundaries when it comes to the academy? Will there be preventative measures in place so kids can still be kids where they won’t be infiltrated with the older kids?
A: We are looking at having middle school separate from the high school and ways to do it. We want to protect the younger students and keep them separated from older students when appropriate and ensure there is balance between nurturing, protecting and growth. There will be supervised interaction in safe manners and designated areas for grade levels and different lunches. We have visited other secondary academies to learn best practices for this type of learning environment.
Q: Regarding the traffic, transportation, and warehouses, can we ensure folks have transportation for kids to go up north to the academy?
A: It will be up to the parents to provide transportation to the new academy since they would be choosing to transfer their student(s) to the new academy, similarly to the way it is for Dolores Huerta International Academy students who opt to attend that school instead of their home school. However, the District does have a partnership with Omni Trans through its “Free Rides” program. Students only need to show their ID to use that bus system. We will be working with them to see if a more direct bus path can be established to get students to that school from this side of town. We are also working to make sure that our schools on the south end can provide strong academic programs for those not wanting their students to have to go to the north side. Jurupa Hills offers a really strong IB program and Kaiser has many dual enrollment classes for college credit.
Q: Wayne Ruble is overcrowded and has bullying problems. It has 400 more students than other middle schools, and I’m being told they don’t have the staff to have eyes on all of its students. It is a big safety issue with no locker room supervision. There are a lot of blind spots and a lot of excuses. Summit HS has a program where the 12th graders rally for the incoming 9th graders and show them around the campus (This program is called link crew). Wayne Ruble would benefit from this type of program for their 6th graders (with 8th graders showing them around).
A: Because of the housing growth on the north end, we know that Wayne Ruble is over crowded. That is why we have been working hard to open this new 7-12 academy. This school will take pressure off of Wayne Ruble. In the meantime, we deliberately provided extra staffing support. We will review with the administration at the school to determine if additional staffing is needed for this year. They do have an extra counselor and an extra DSO, but we can definitely look into any other support they may need.
Q: The speakers aren’t working in FOHI’s gym/locker room area. Is there an update on when those will be fixed? I believe it is a safety issue that our student's can't hear announcements in case of an emergency.
A: We are working on trying to get the speaker issue corrected at FOHI and will follow up with them on the status of that project. Additionally, the district is piloting an app-based security system called Centegix at four of our schools. It is a badge every adult wears on campus. If there is a big emergency, they press it and it alerts police, fire, etc. There are strobe lights that go off, as well. The pilot will give us feedback on next steps to roll it out to more schools, but we feel this will help with any safety communication concerns.
Q: Did we finally decide if families are applying for an intra-district transfer every year or if once students are in a school, they’re in?
A: The way it’s designed, parents submit a new transfer at the grade break, so you would submit an application to transfer to a different elementary school one time. Then when your child is going to middle school, they will be assigned to their home middle school unless you choose to reapply for middle school, and the same when they transition to high school.
Q: With the Centegix pilot ending soon, when and how soon would you get the data to implement the program at more schools?
A: We are looking into it now and identify the cost to expand it further. One question is whether or not we need to go to bid for this. At the very least, we anticipate expanding piloting the program at the high schools. As we have more updates on the next steps we will be sure to share with the community.
Q: Is there any news on the new elementary school?
A: We know there is a need to help some of the overcrowding at a couple of our schools on the north end, so that is why we will have 6th grade included for the first year at the secondary school. However, currently the plan for the new elementary school is to open for the 2027-28 school year.
Q: Is there a transportation committee for parents to advocate since we don’t have a good, rapid transportation system or enough bus routes in the city, and the bus stops are dangerous? Is there a way the district could empower the transportation department to work hand in hand with the city to make the bus system more accessible for the betterment of the entire city?
A: This is a good suggestion. We do work closely with the city for these kinds of needs. We can have the Associate Superintendent, Business Services, and School Police Chief share this needs with the city to see about a committee for community voice.
Comment Cards that were received included the following questions:
Q: For north Fontana, why was that area chosen for this school? Will there be more bus routes to transport children?
A: In Fontana, we are seeing more housing growth migrating to the north part of town. As a result, our schools on that side of town have been impacted, meaning there are at capacity. Because of that need, we are building the new schools up there. About 15-20 years ago, Fontana Unified added more schools on the south end of town to accommodate the growing community on this part of town. As that has shifted, our schools on this end do have space to accommodate more students at this time. While we won't offer district bus routes to transport students from this end of town all the way up north, we continue to add strong academic opportunities for our schools on this side of town. Our Middle and High School IB schools are in the Southridge area. We also offer a wide variety of career technical education programs at both south end high schools.