Principal's Message

Lydia Jackson Elementary School is located on the eastern edge of the Whittier City School District in the City of Whittier. Our school is a K-5 school that serves a population of 500 students and is primarily Latino/Hispanic. Of our students, 60% are English Learners. We have 25 teachers on staff and 15 classified personnel.

Our school was named in honor of community member Lydia Jackson who was active in the formation of Whittier College and other educational pursuits in Whittier. Our school neighborhood is in close proximity to Whittier College and the educational department supports reading in our school with tutors who work with our students.

Our school has many wonderful programs that support students and learning. We have a Wonder of Reading Library which opened in February of 2006. Our library is an enticing place, with a beautiful atmosphere for reading. Our parent volunteers support learning at our school with morning reading clubs in our school library.

Jackson has an active set of parent groups including Parent Teacher Association, School Site Council, and English Language Advisory Council. Our parent groups contribute to learning by raising funds for our library, 5th Grade Camp Trip, field trips, and school beautification. Our parent groups also give feedback and ideas for improving our school program and use of school funds.

Our school has a very positive climate that is created by use of a school wide discipline plan, and our word of the month helps focus our students towards a team spirit.  Our consistent use of rewards and consequences helps students be successful academically, have regular attendance, and good behavior. We recognize student success with assemblies and rewards each month.  Our school motto is:

Success, Success,
Let's Soar to Success,
Jackson Students Soar to Success

We are a community that is committed to professional and effective instructional practices that result in high quality student products. We teach at Benchmark, intervene when needed, and expect student products and behavior that are at benchmark or above.

Our school goals are to improve our academic program for all learners.  Our school met 14 of the 17 criteria set by NCLB.  We continue to focus various resources on our English Learners to improve their scores on the STAR test and help our school succeed.

We have many wonderful school wide programs including our reading incentive program California Reads.  This programs allows students to log their reading and earn incentives as well as allows the entire student body to participate in earning a school wide prize if they read 25,000 books in a school year.

We have a PE program that helps students learn Peaceful Playgrounds games in a structured class, then they can use those same games at recess.

We have a Visual Arts program that was implemented this year.  We are working with the company  Art Masters to create a school wide program that allows students to study 6 artists per year and complete 6 works of art per year.  

We have an after school program called Reaching for the Stars which provides a safe place after school for 100 of our students.  We also have the WYN Club Program on site, and a Boys & Girls Club walking group.  Our school is served by the YMCA and the Whittier Village childcare groups.