Principal's Message

Dear Pacific High School Families,

Welcome to Pacific High School, home of the Sharks! I am Russell Gibbs, and I am honored to serve as the Principal at Pacific High School within the Ventura Unified School District. Thank you for your continued support for our at-promise students and families. We take immense pride in our students’ individual growth and resilience, as well as our collective mission to create success for every student.

Our dedicated teachers and staff are fully committed to our students' success and overall well-being. We look forward to supporting them as they strive for high school graduation and pursue their college and career goals.

Pacific High School is WASC accredited and a California Model Continuation High School, committed to providing engaging and relevant learning opportunities daily. We leverage our students’ strengths, focus on culturally significant 21st-century content and skills, and collaborate with numerous community partners. We frequently employ project-based learning (PBL) and offer concurrent enrollment with Ventura College. Additionally, we provide various Career Technical Education (CTE) classes in our Art, Media, Entertainment, and Agricultural pathways. With the help of Prop 28 funding, we have expanded our arts instruction options and continue to offer outstanding elective enrichment in our grant-funded Before/After School ASSETS program.

Pacific High School operates on a daily block schedule that enhances student learning and engagement. This schedule provides students and staff with increased opportunities to build on our core values of Relationships, Routines, Responsibility, Respect, and Results. Our school-wide first-period class offers English Language Arts intervention and credit recovery through literature studies. All PHS students read and analyze several novels throughout the school year while participating in extended writing projects. First period also serves as the foundation for explicit Social Emotional Learning (SEL), where students engage in important skill-building activities throughout the year.

We will continue to offer unique supports to all of our students through our Wellness Center, Learning Director, and additional College and Career Counselor. Our Wellness Center is staffed with a dedicated counselor and a family liaison who support students and families with access to on-campus and off-campus services. Our Learning Director strengthens our multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) through extensive professional development for our staff, creating one-of-a-kind academic, behavioral, and social-emotional interventions and support for our students. Our College and Career Counselor provides our seniors with guidance and support for their post-graduation plans. PHS has four counselors available to support our students’ academic, professional, and social-emotional needs daily.

We are inspired by our vision, mission, and core values here at Pacific High School. We are passionate about our work and proud of our accomplishments. We invite you to visit our school to learn more about our outstanding programs and how we support our students’ success. We welcome all opportunities to serve our students, families, and community.

Sincerely,

Russell Gibbs
Principal