Welcome to our board meeting! Thank you for taking the time to be present and contribute to our community efforts!

Tonight I want to start with an acknowledgement of Office Jonathan “JD” DeGuzman, San Diego Police Officer who was killed on duty serving and protecting his community.  He was an honorable and decorated officer and a devote husband, father, and son.

There has been such an overwhelming demonstration of support for his family, including his wife Jane, his son Jonathan (Otay Ranch HS senior), and his daughter Amira (6^th grader at Heritage Elementary). Let’s please remember this family in our thoughts as they deal with the loss of their loved one.

Let’s please also remember Sweetwater staff whose significant other may serve as officers as well as other students in our schools whose parent might similarly serve in law enforcement. Life is so precious!

We have completed two and a half weeks of the 2016-17 school year!
Here are a few highlights:

• SUHSD Learns, our daily blog is well underway! I hope you have signed up to receive the blog via your email. So far we have heard from classroom teachers, our School Board President, our SEA President, and a few administrators. Please sign up to contribute “what you have learned” as a member of our Sweetwater community.

• Just a little over a week ago, the Bonita Valley 12U Gold All-Star Softball Team won the ASA Western B 12U National Championship! Congratulations to these dedicated and amazing Sweetwater students on the team: 3 players from HM; 3 from RDR; 1 player each from BVM, ELM, MOM, and MVA.

• Last week SUHI teacher Art Lopes, along with assistant superintendent Ana Maria Alvarez and executive director of curriculum and instruction Dr. Roman Del Rosario were invited to participate on a White House Computer Science for All conference call. Their part of the conference call was sharing the Sweetwater journey of our district’s implementation of Computer Science classes at both the high school and middle school campuses. There were very positive comments made by those who facilitated.

• The beginning of this year has also presented us with some challenges. Everyone is impacted with the implementation of Infinite Campus. Our new director of information technology and enterprise architecture will be sharing an update of where we are on this journey tonight. Much appreciation is extended to staff who are doing everything possible to make this work for all. We recognize there is still much work to be done to ensure all modules are running smoothly. We have the skill and will to succeed and we will prevail!

• Finally, some may wonder what is the job of the superintendent? Well Board Policy (BP) 2110 states, “the Superintendent shall implement all Board decisions and manage the instructional and non-instructional operations of the schools.” And in BP 2011, there is a list of ways the superintendent supports the Board in the governance of our district.

Here are a few mentioned on that list:

• Promotes the success of all students and supports the efforts of the Board to keep the district focused on learning and achievement

• Values, advocates and supports public education and all stakeholders

• Recognizes and respects the differences of perspective and style on the Board and among staff, students, parents/guardians and the community – and ensures that the diverse range of views inform Board decisions

• Accepts leadership responsibility and accountability for implementing the vision, goals and policies of the district

• Works with the Board as a “governance team” and assures collective responsibility for building a unity of purpose, communicating a common vision and creating a positive organizational culture

• To close tonight’s message I want to emphasize that creating a positive organizational culture means acknowledging both accomplishments and setbacks while listening to both what’s working and what’s not working. In our first year as a district leadership team we believe we have made some movement in the right direction. We also realize we still have work to do. We will continue to listen and ask you for your perspective on our direction as a district. Please know your input is valued, appreciated, and critical to our progress! Keep those comments and ideas forth coming!

• Thank you for the opportunity to serve and support each of you!