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Interview: Kern High School District In The Media Spotlight

Kern High School District
A crane removes the historic water tower from the Bakersfield High School campus this week.

It’s back to school season, and that means there’s a lot of news right now about local school districts. None more so than the Kern High School District, which serves more than 35,000 students in Kern County. Harold Pierce of the Bakersfield Californian joined us on Valley Edition to give us a recap of the latest news around KHSD.

Last school year controversy rocked the district as the board voted to authorize concealed weapons on school grounds, and struggled with new mandates on bathroom access for transgender students. Then over the summer, the district lost a high profile lawsuit involving a student who was injured at a pep rally.

Now the issue of guns on campus is back, as authorities are working to actually implement the new policy. At the same time, the district is considering bringing back an air rifle team for the campus of East Bakersfield High. And on top of that, new controversies surrounding alleged illegal use of a state criminal justice database, and the hiring of a new PR firm have rocked the community. 

Joe Moore is the President and General Manager of KVPR / Valley Public Radio. He has led the station through major programming changes, the launch of KVPR Classical and the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado (2019), and won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting (2022).
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