Welcome to our board meeting! We are glad you made time in your busy schedule to attend this evening!
Happy New Year! We started this New Year by sending out a joint letter on behalf our Board of Trustees, district management, and all labor associations. (There are copies on the table in the back.) The letter talked about Mr. Segura, Mr. Tarantino, presidents, vice-presidents or representatives of all our labor associations and district leadership attending State Superintendent Tom Torlakson’s California Labor Management Initiative.
The initiative focused on collaboration as a means of improving student achievement. This district team was challenged to take a close look at current relationships between labor and management, discuss honestly our obstacles, and jointly build a plan for what authentic and purposeful labor management collaboration could look like in Sweetwater. We discussed that purposeful collaboration is not about unions and districts being more cordial to one another for the sake of cordiality, but rather working together with a goal to change the substance of the conversation and ultimately, the quality of decisions made to benefit our students.
Data was presented at the symposium that validated our beliefs! We all agreed that purposeful collaboration begins with strong communication and transparency. As we enter 2016, the representatives of each of our bargaining units, our school board, and I recognize that effective communication and collaboration between the people in our district is essential to our growth and success in the future. The evidence is clear that positive relationships not only benefit all employees, but also promotes student achievement. We are confident that through communication, collaboration, and commitment that we will create the change in culture Sweetwater needs to move our district forward for student success! We are extremely excited about our partnership!
And, speaking of student success, congratulations to our student board representative Viviana Reyes. Earlier this month Viviana was recognized by NBC’s Rory Devine and the San Diego County Office of Education with the Inspirational Student of the Month award. She was so surprised when her mom, Mr. Segura, Mr. Tarantino, Mr. Pike, Dr. Carberry, Ms. Alvarez, Ms. Vicedo and a number of other fans showed up in one of her classes at Southwest HS to acknowledge her “awesomeness!”
How about Karla Gonzalez’s opportunity to sit on a panel at the College Board’s Annual Conference about her experience in SUHI’s Computer Applications classes! She is another example of how inspirational and how influential our students are in our community, our state, and our nation.
These are two great examples of student success in Sweetwater. But wait, there’s more! A couple of weekends ago approximately 500 students gathered at San Ysidro HS for the 2015-15 San Diego Vex Robotics League Championship. We have heard from Ms. Salazar and Mrs. Hodge about how much our robotics programs have grown in the past 10 years. Robotics programs are now offered in every school in our district. This means more students are connected to their school! And the feeling that you “belong” and are “connected” is so critical for everyone who attends or works at a school.
LCAP Goals 1 and 2 addresses not only providing meaningful ways to connect with students on an academic level, but also talk about creating a climate and culture that communicates ways students connect on a socio-emotional level, too! We are listening to our students’ comments about what is relevant to them. Just today at the English Language Arts Zone PD, a student panel was assembled from four of our high schools. The panel shared their ideas and experiences about what teachers do that motivate them and help them be successful. Their comments mostly focused on the teacher making a personal connection with students and the teacher using student-to-student interactions around the content. They felt and thought more students engage when they discuss content with their peers. Here’s another example of where collaboration is powerful.
As we start 2016, I also want to communicate a new year’s message with our families and community partners about our progress on facilities, planning and construction. We continue to look for ways to be more transparent. We are composing very detailed board items to clarify our priorities and requests. We have shared each week’s update to our board of trustees on our district website. I have attended our Citizens Bond Oversight Committee meetings each month since I have been superintendent. I also attended most of our Long Range Facilities Master Planning Trustee area meetings. We hear your concerns about the condition of our campuses and your disappointment in district decisions around planning and construction. We understand your frustration about staff performance and your alarm about the speed of change. We acknowledge the mistakes we have made as a district.
Although the majority of those mistakes happened before the current board and district leadership’s tenure, we are committed to righting the course. Your voice matters! We are confident that the analysis and plans we have been formulating the past seven months will reap positive benefits for our students. As a result of taking the time to take stock and discern all the needs, we have a coherent and intentional plan and direction. In these next six months our actions will make sense and truly move us forward. We continue to appreciate your support during this transformation!
At our Welcome Back Rally in July I shared a quote with all our employees that I learned from Miguel Aldrete, another inspirational student who started his own non-profit group – Kids 4 Our World. Do you remember that quote?
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Sometimes going together takes a little more time. In the end, it is always the better decision.
We sincerely meant what we said about building trust by including stakeholders in decision-making.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve and support our students, our families, our staff and our community!