Durham Unified School District - Small Schools BIG Education

Happy School Board Appreciation Month. We want to give a big thank you to our amazing school board members for their leadership, hard work, and dedication. Our staff, students, and the entire community are grateful for your commitment to making our schools the best they can be. Thank you for always putting our kids first and guiding us toward a bright future.

Durham community.
We’re excited to announce that we have a few job openings available.
Bilingual Paraprofessional
Van Driver
JV Softball Coach
If you or someone you know is interested in joining our team, please apply at https://www.edjoin.org/durhamunified or reach out to Chloe at cbartel@durham. We look forward to welcoming new members to our amazing team.

Hello Durham Community!
We wish you a Merry Christmas. We hope you’re enjoying a wonderful holiday with your family. We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on January 5th, 2026.

Tiger Spotlight of the Week: Mr. Brian Glover, Physical Education Teacher

Yesterday was a special day for one of our Durham High School students! Congratulations to Carter Schmid, who received a college Marine ROTC scholarship in exchange for a service commitment as an officer after graduation. We are incredibly proud of Carter and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. We are also deeply thankful for his dedication and future service to our country.

Tiger Spotlight of the Week: Ms. Maria Montante, Reading Discovery Instructional Paraprofessional/Yard Duty Supervisor

DIS Week at a Glance

DIS Winter Dance
We’re excited to announce our next school dance on Thursday, December 18th! This event is for DIS students only. Join us for a fun evening featuring a DJ, photo booth, pizza, dessert, and games.

Students are required to wear school-appropriate attire and are encouraged to dress in semi-formal clothing.

Come celebrate and close out the second quarter in style at our Winter Wonderland Dance!

The cost of the dance is $10.00. If cost is an issue for your student, please have them speak with Mr. Rowe, Ms. Holly or Mr. Halsey—a limited number of scholarships are available.

This week, we got to celebrate one of Durham’s best traditions, the Durham Elementary School Christmas Boutique. It was such a fun time, and our students loved browsing, shopping, and soaking up all the holiday spirit. Huge thanks to everyone who made it extra special for the kids!

December's Student of the Month is Ava Bunch. Ms. Bunch has a 4.24 GPA, plays on the basketball team and is on the track team. Ava will be applying to several colleges this year, including Cal Poly, Chico State, UCLA, Pepperdine, and San Diego State. Ava would like to major in Nursing. She is currently taking Butte Spanish 3, SOU English, Stats and Government, She is also taking Physics and Ag Floral.

November's Student of the Month is Joshua Harding. Josh has a 4.22 GPA and plays football and basketball and runs on the track team. Mr. Harding will be applying to several colleges this year, including Cal Poly, Chico State, Notre Dame, and Colorado State. Josh would like to major in Civil Engineering. He is currently taking Calculus, Butte Spanish 3, SOU English and Government, Advanced Bio, Graph Design and Strength and Conditioning.

If you're interested in joining the Durham High Shooting Club and want to learn more. Come to our informational meeting on Thursday, December 11th in the library at 6 pm.

Durham Community

This week, we're back with more basketball action. This time, it's our Lady Trojans in the spotlight. The tournament tips off this Thursday, and our team is ready to give it their all. Let's pack the stands and show our support. Come cheer on our Lady Trojans as they go for the win!

Go Trojans!

DIS
December Student of the Month
This month, we are proud to recognize Hunter Krenek as our December Student of the Month!
Hunter was nominated by Ms. Skelly, who shared the following:

"I recommend Hunter Krenek for this month's Student of the Month! Hunter is incredibly respectful and kind, especially when he greets teachers each morning and says goodbye each afternoon. He is also a great friend to his peers. Best of all, he is funny! He is such a joy for all of us to have in class. Hunter shows great purpose with his work—he responds to prompts in complete sentences and shares his great ideas with the class! Way to go, Hunter, on being such a cool dude!"

Congratulations, Hunter! We are so proud of you!

Tiger Spotlight of the Week: Mrs. Christina Dwyer, Second Grade Teacher

Tiger Spotlight of the Week: Mr. Ryan Persaud, DUSD Speech and Language Pathologist

Durham Community
Our Herb Jergentz Basketball Classic tournament starts this Thursday. Get ready for some awesome basketball action. Come out and cheer for our amazing Trojans as they go for the win. This is our ONLY home basketball tournament, so let’s pack the stands and show our support for our Trojans.

Durham Community
Just a friendly reminder that we’re on Thanksgiving break this entire week. We hope you enjoy this special time with family and friends, and we wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. Can’t wait to see everyone back at school on December 1st.

DIS 7th and 8th Grade Boys Basketball

Tryouts for our 7th and 8th grade boys basketball team will be held on December 4th and 5th. Please see the attached flyer for more details.
Important reminder: Students cannot try out or play until both of the following are completed. These can be found in the office or on the Durham Unified website:

A pre-participation physical
The Assumption of Risk paperwork
Thank you for helping ensure our athletes are ready to participate safely and on time

Tiger Spotlight of the Week: Mrs. Roni Masuda, Fourth Grade Teacher