Death Valley Unified School District

Death Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) is a public school district in Inyo County, California. It consists of five schools:

• Death Valley Elementary School
• Tecopa-Francis Elementary School
• Shoshone Elementary School
• Death Valley Academy
• Shoshone Continuation High School

DVUSD is the largest school district in California in terms of square miles covered, but one of the smallest in terms of student enrollment. In 2012 the entire district served only 60 students.

DVUSD is located in eastern Inyo County and borders the state of Nevada. It serves the entire southeast region of Inyo County and covers approximately 6,000 square miles (16,000 km²) of the Mojave Desert. The total population within this region is about 1,000, and DVUSD is the only school district to serve this population. To truly grasp how large and remote DVUSD is, it helps to know that there is no cell phone service in most areas of the district and that DVUSD includes more land than the state of Connecticut. The district provides transportation to school for students in remote areas; this can involve a 120-mile (190 km) bus ride each day. In 2012 the district was spending approximately $3,500 per student per year on transportation.

Three communities served by DVUSD (Timbisha Indian Village, Furnace Creek Ranch and Stovepipe Wells) are located in Death Valley National Park. DVUSD may be the only school district in the USA which shares a name with and has a school located inside a national park.

DVUSD is administered by a District Superintendent and one school principal.

Officers

The following are officers in the district:

Superintendent: Jim Copeland
Principal: Craig Hill
Administrative Assistant: Rachelle Van Duser
Business Office: Jennifer Cook

External links

• Death Valley Unified School District