Social media, videos and podcasts are ubiquitous in the life of today’s teenagers, most of whom have only known a world of ever-evolving multimedia choices. Understanding how to create content and navigate that landscape – while having a little fun doing it – is one of the goals of a popular class at Denair High School.

At last week’s meeting of the Denair Unified School District board, trustees and the audience got a peek behind the curtain when the teacher and three of his students delivered a fun presentation about the Denair Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (DESPN).

The goal of DESPN is to provide opportunities for the 21 students in the class to practice their communication skills, exercise their creativity and develop shared responsibility through working collectively to create content and promote events for Denair High. All of the skills used are aimed at preparing students for post-secondary opportunities, explained the students and teacher Anthony Armas.

Videos, the “Coyote Crib” podcast and other content are recorded biweekly and available on Spotify, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Some content also appears within separate videos produced by the student leadership members and shown to the whole campus each Friday during second period.

As its name suggests, DESPN is a not-to-subtle tribute to ESPN, the global sports broadcasting behemoth based in Connecticut. 

And while the main focus of DESPN is on sports broadcasting, it also has a component on athletic leadership and how sports can have a positive impact on a student's overall well-being. One video includes a friendly reminder to Denair students about how to treat athletes and fans from other schools. Another discussion centered around favorite foods. Students frequently wear their team uniforms or dress up to portray specific themes, like the pilgrims on Thanksgiving.

It's clear the students in front of the cameras are having fun, even if the underlying goals are more serious. Students learn about communication skills, video editing, graphics editing, collaborating with classmates, organizational skills and time management – all important traits in whatever career they may pursue later in life.

“I would also say it provides students with an organic way of working on their literacy skills, which is a focus not only at the high school, but across the district,” said DHS Principal Breanne Aguiar.

Armas said all the content is driven by the students, who brainstorm when they meet daily in fifth period. Nothing is off-limits, as long as it’s appropriate for a student audience and not offensive.

“We have a general starting point for each podcast, but try to go wherever the conversation takes us,” he said.

Trustees also heard updates from Daisy Swearingen, the district’s chief business official, on some important building and security projects Thursday night.

She said plans are under way for a major modernization of Denair Elementary Charter Academy. The project includes relocating and upgrading the kitchen and multipurpose room, redesigning the main office, adding new classrooms, fixing existing portable classrooms, and modernizing the older classroom wings shared by DECA and Denair Charter Academy next door. New classrooms also are planned at Denair High School.

Board members also voted unanimously to hire companies to install video security cameras at all campuses, upgrade technology-related cabling throughout the district and create a facilities master plan. 

Swearingen said the projects will be paid for by the Measure Z school bond passed by local voters last fall as well as a combination of state funding sources.

In other action, the board: 

● Applauded with the audience after Kathi Dunham-Filson was sworn in as the newest trustee. She replaces Crystal Sousa, who resigned last month. It is a familiar role for Dunham-Filson, who served on the Denair board from 2013 until November 2024, when she lost her re-election bid. She was chosen by the other four trustees earlier this month after public interviews with three finalists who applied to fill out the remainder of Sousa’s term, which ends in November 2026.

● Listened as Superintendent Terry Metzger outlined the district’s summer school plans. At the elementary and middle school level, there will be 23 days of extended learning for 150 students who will be in kindergarten through seventh grade next fall. High school students who need to make up a class they received an “F” in – a process known as credit recovery – will have up to 20 days at DCA. There also will be 20 days of extra instruction for up to 24 qualifying special education students. All the summer school classes begin May 27.

● Unanimously approved the addition of a one-semester ethnic studies class next year at Denair High. In 2021, the California Legislature passed a bill adding ethnic studies to graduation requirements, beginning with the class of 2030. Ethnic studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the culture, history and experiences of different racial and ethnic groups in the United States, particularly people of color and other historically marginalized groups.

● Hired Merced Fencing to replace and upgrade fencing around the high school baseball field. New gates will provide secure entry down the access road between a new housing development to the west and school property, extending to the ag farm, and will create an additional access gate to the farm. The total project cost is $222,510. Of this, $150,000 will be paid by the developer, with the remainder covered by developer fees and/or Measure Z.

● Designated May 5-9 as the Week of the Teacher and May 18-24 as Week of the Classified School Employee.