Superintendent's Message: School Support Teams are there to help

You may have noticed more frequent visitors to your classrooms this year. Those are members of our School Support Teams.

These teams are made up of school leadership and Educational Services team members. Together, they will participate in classroom walkthroughs while collaborating to provide formative feedback to teachers. Research tells us frequent and consistent formative feedback is essential to continuous improvement. The information gathered from these visits will identify instructional practices across the district. Walkthrough data will guide our decisions when planning for professional development.

Site leadership will continue their weekly classroom walkthroughs providing feedback and instructional coaching. It is my hope that in sharing this information on why these visits are taking place that they will be viewed in the spirit in which they are intended. Walkthroughs provide us an opportunity to support teachers.

In the next month or so you may also notice Governing Board members and me in your schools. Our Governing Board members are All In as it relates to student learning and want to know how they can best support us in the work we do with children.

As I shared at the Welcome Back Event, we have made significant progress in developing a respectful and professional environment in our district for students, employees, and community members. We have also worked hard to improve the District’s financial situation despite $26 million in cuts over the last seven years. As we begin the school year, it is important we renew our focus on student achievement.

I thank you for your hard work and commitment to the children of the District. We will work collaboratively to support you in meeting the educational goals of our students. I look forward to our work together and know it will be well worth our efforts.