Delano Joint Union High School District students experience daily academic success through superior standards-based instruction. Each "professional learning community" team member is personally committed to creating a positive atmosphere of collaboration that promotes teaching and learning, a safe school environment, and comparable resources for all students.

T - TEACHING: To collaboratively support quality research based instructional practices and analyze student outcomes using formative and summative assessments to advance student learning.

E - ENRICHMENT: To provide enrichment opportunities that promote academic, social, and emotional development.

A - ACHIEVEMENT: To promote superior academic results, the Board of Trustees, administration, teachers, support staff, parents, and students will foster, recognize, and celebrate learning.

M - MODEL: To effectively model our mission and vision, every team member will maintain a professional attitude, be open to continuous improvement, make personal contributions, be accountable, and demonstrate integrity.

The early history of Delano begins with the Yokuts Indians, who inhabited the Delano area when Spanish missionaries arrived in the late 1700s. There were about 50 Yokut tribes, each speaking its own dialect.

After the Spanish, the Americans began to arrive in the Delano area in the 1820s. More Americans came after gold was discovered in KernCounty in 1853 in the GreenhornMountains, bringing thousands of miners with diverse backgrounds into the Delano area.

The City of Delano was founded on July 14, 1873, and named in honor of Columbus Delano, the Secretary of the Interior for the United States at that time. Delano later became incorporated on April 13, 1915.

The Delano Joint Union High School District dates back to 1911, when the first high school classes were held in a local church. The original administration building (pictured above) was constructed in 1912-13. In 1914, in the first Delano High School graduation ceremony, seven students received diplomas.

Delano High School was the only comprehensive high school in the district until 2003. In that year, DHS was joined by Cesar E. Chavez High School. A third comprehensive high school, named for Senator Robert F. Kennedy, opened in August 2008.