Dear Friends,

I am delighted to welcome you back to school!  

Our district team has been hard at work preparing for the new year. Our action plan is the sum of all we have learned in recent years about bolstering academic growth through nationally reviewed best practices in teaching and learning, our in-class observations and assessments, and deep connections with district families who share their successes, challenges, and observations. Combined with the roadmap outlined in our district’s strategic plan and guided by our core values of joy, compassion, justice, excellence, and courage, we are ready for what we believe will be a fantastic school year. 

Courage is coming through loud and clear as a guiding principle for every member of our team this year.  We are looking critically at ourselves and our practices. We are examining our own biases and identifying if and where we have gravitated to our comfort zones for teaching practices. And we are growing. As we strive for excellence, we are calling on our team to reach beyond their comfort zones, identifying areas for potential greatness and seizing opportunities that show promise to maximize learning for our students.  It means being smart while stretching to serve our students more effectively than ever before.

This practice means more than just challenging ourselves. It means modeling the behaviors we expect from our students.  They have shown us time and time again that they are creative, critical thinkers, and that when provided with challenges in a safe and supportive environment, they grow in their problem-solving capabilities and their confidence. Real growth does not occur without some calculated risk; we are encouraging our students to hypothesize, try new things, learn from mistakes, and know that every step makes them better learners, so they can be prepared to shape the future they want.

Our team is so excited to work with your children, challenging, guiding, and supporting them as they reach for the stars in every academic subject, and build social-emotional skills and friendships along the way.  

I wish you and your children a wonderful year!

Sincerely, 

Michael Gallagher, Ed.D.

Superintendent