Mountain View Los Altos High School District appoints new District Wellness Coordinator
Mountain View High School administrator William Blair assumes new position next month

(Mountain View, CA) – For veteran educator William Blair, being hired on as the first-ever Wellness Coordinator for the Mountain View Los Altos High School District (MVLA) is a dream job. 

“As a teacher and administrator, I have always valued connections, listening, and building community,” said Blair, a 15-year veteran of MVLA, having first been hired as a teacher at Mountain View High School in 2004 and serving as the school’s assistant principal since 2013.  “I have enjoyed helping students understand how essential each individual is in our community.”
 
The District Wellness Coordinator position, approved by the MVLA Board of Education this fall, is designed to champion district wide support and direct services that promote wellness and social/emotional well-being for students and staff, working closely with school leaders, parents, community agencies, and partner districts.
 
Blair will formally start as the Wellness Coordinator in January.
 
“I think it’s very forward-thinking of the District to create this type of position,” added Blair. “The charge of public education has shifted so much in the last several years, and we’re kind of all pioneering the changes together.”


“Trying to figure out where mental health plays in, and how we manage digital citizenship – these weren’t issues that affected schools then. It has shifted and the conversation about wellness and student support services now involves a collaborative of teachers, families, administrators, and community services agencies.”
 
Blair identifies a number of emerging or growing issues facing teenagers today and which have an impact on their attitudes about and behavior at school.
 
“We’re seeing increasing issues with mental health, anxiety, and depression; challenges with social media and digital citizenship, affirmative consent; resiliency skills; empathy skills; and self-regulation strategies,” noted Blair.
 
“It’s stressful to be a teenager today, and perhaps more so in this area and the Bay Area where you have a lot of very academic institutions and because students have a natural desire to do well, they push themselves.”
 
“MVLA has made it a strategic goal to embrace all elements of wellness for students and to help them find balance. To fully unlock a student’s academic potential, they need balance, they need to be well.  Stress in teenagers creates a strong fight or flight instinct, going in protection mode or survival mode,” explained Blair. “When our kids are in balance, they’re able to make better cognitive decisions and demonstrate higher-order thinking skills.”
 
“All students, everyone…need to practice empathy and interconnection. This is where the charge is now falling on schools.”
 
For MVLA Superintendent Nellie Meyer, Blair’s role will be key in bridging services and supports with the community as part of a shared wellness goal.


“All students deserve to be successful, and supporting their physical, mental, and emotional well-being is critical to their success in all areas,” said Meyer. “More and more data show that healthy students do better on all levels of achievement – academically, socially, and emotionally - when they are part of a health and wellness program.”
 
“We are fortunate in that our community has already shown it prioritizes health and wellness and wants to partner with us to support our students and staff in this regard,” she added.  “We have the Challenge Team in Mountain View,  our MVLA Foundation, even the District Attorney’s office – all collaborating on initiatives and programs to improve and expand wellness-related services.”
 
“We are all in this together. Whether we are educators, parents, health care practitioners, or law enforcement, we all care about the same thing: our students. And I’m excited about having William on board to help deepen the connections that have a positive impact.”
 
In his high school role, Blair has spoken regularly with parents about strategies to reduce stress among teenagers.
 
“We all love our kids and want the best for them,” he added.  “Sometimes what we think is the best is not always the best for our kid. Lots of learning comes from not always meeting a target.”
 
“Students often feel their worth is tied to academics and that’s it. Students need to feel that we as parents and administrators care about them and aren’t expecting perfection. Honor their growth and learning, honor their journey.”
 
Blair says parents and administrators, with good intentions, often “wait for our turn to speak and give advice and solve their problems. But this need to ‘fix’ things often prevent the person from just being heard.”
 
He suggests trying to listen for feelings and listen for what a student’s needs are in that moment, and then reflect it back to them.
 
“A student may come home upset about getting a poor grade on a test, complaining “this sucks, my future’s ruined.”  How to respond?  “Good intentions may tell us to say, “Don’t worry about it, it’s just one test” or “Don’t be sad.”  In that moment you’ve just dismissed their feelings,” he said. “It’s okay to say, “yeah, that does suck” or “that must be really hard.”  Listen before you offer advice.”
 
“Once you acknowledge them, then maybe say “I had a similar experience. Do you want to hear about it?” he added.
 
Blair often challenges families to try the PDF Challenge – Playtime, Downtime, and Family Time – (from the Challenge Success organization) for strategies to promote teen health and well-being on a daily basis.
 
Both Blair and Meyer agree – the bottom line is about collaborating.
 
“There has never been a more important time to focus on student health,” said Meyer.  “We hope creating this new position demonstrates to our community how invested we are in supporting our students in all facets of wellness.”
 

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About Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District
The Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District (MVLA), located approximately 15 miles north of San Jose and 40 miles south of San Francisco, serves approximately 4,400 students at its campuses and alternative education sites and programs. These include two comprehensive high schools, Los Altos High School and Mountain View High School – both consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as among the nation’s best public high schools. MVLA’s award-winning continuation high school, Alta Vista High School, was named a California Department of Education (CDE) model continuation high school. Freestyle Academy of Communication Arts & Technology, a specialized arts and technology school, was named an “Apple Distinguished School” for its educational excellence and leadership and use of current technologies to create a 21^st-century learning environment.  MVLA is also home to the College Now and Middle College programs with Foothill College; and its acclaimed Adult Education program.  MVLA offers extensive college prep coursework, with students’ Advanced Placement (AP) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores among the highest in California. Learn more at https://www.mvla.net/.
 
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