AES-SSG.org

Mountain View School

A division of Advanced Education Services

8500 Escondido Ave
Hesperia, CA 92345

Telephone: (760) 947-7553
Fax: (760) 947-7546

Leonard McGinnis, Principal
Email: lmcginnis@aes-ssg.org

Mountain View School provides a special education program for boys and girls from the Adelanto, Hesperia, Apple Valley and Snowline School Districts. Mountain View School serves up to 48 students, ages 5 through 18 years, who have demonstrated their inability to function successfully in a regular public school classroom. Most children exhibit inappropriate behaviors, which make success in traditional school settings impossible, thereby requiring removal to a more structured and supportive environment such as that provided at Mountain View.

With smaller class sizes that average 11 students, the ratio for adults who work directly with children is 1 adult for every 4 students. A small and structured adult-to-student ratio of not more than 1:4 assures that each student can receive the necessary support to achieve school success. All of Mountain View School’s teachers are credentialed by the State of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

The mission of Mountain View School is to support services for its students. Through upgraded and individually planned educational programs, students are provided a supportive environment in which all can strive to reach their fullest potential.

The goal of Mountain View School is to:

Alter students’ negative responses towards school.
Learn through experience of academic success.
Develop specific academic, social, and vocational skills which will improve each student's self-esteem and enable them to be productive members of society.

To reach our goal, at every level of the student’s educational attainment and aspirations, we must:

ACCEPT
Accept the student as he is today because every day is a new day at Mountain View School. Unfavorable comparisons with other children can damage self-confidence.

LISTEN
Listen to his ideas and be ready to learn something. Listening may mean keeping silent with the expectation of hearing some outrageous ideas, but being readily available for advice.

RESPECT
Respect each student as an individual.

VALUES
Our students are defining the limits of their value systems and experimenting with those limits. Our role is to define the limits of appropriateness and acceptable risk/cost.

SELF-CONFIDENCE
Build self-confidence by providing opportunities for success and adequate praise. Show your own confidence in each student.

FOSTER RESPONSIBILITY
Expect students to take part in school duties by performing them regularly. Student responsibility is as much connected to effort as it is to ability. To encourage responsibility may mean using cooperative learning; however, we may spend more effort on behavior than learning and then feel we have not accomplished anything. We are fostering responsibility – an important goal. We must encourage openness and discussions of what students understand and feel about situations. In our student population, social problems may override academic problems.

Some of the roadblocks to remove:

Fear of taking risks.
Lack of skills – problem solving/communication.
Insufficient knowledge – don’t have or understand their goals.
Lack of social support or too much social support from family/friends.

Mountain View School is a nonpublic school certified by the California Department of Education Nonpublic Schools and Agencies Unit. Mountain View School is under contract with the Desert Mountain SELPA.

Parent Testimonials

“Thanks to Mountain View School we have seen an amazing change in our son. He has become much more respectful and is developing self confidence”

“I am so grateful to the staff at Mountain View. With their patience and support our family has learned how to give our son the tools to be successful.”