Superintendent's Message for July 2020

As we flip the calendar to July, I begin my twenty-fourth year in education.  I am very excited to plan for another successful year.  In 1996, I stepped into a West Des Moines elementary school as a paraeducator in a kindergarten classroom.  I was taking night classes at Upper Iowa University in Des Moines to obtain my BA in teaching.  It was a great experience working with kids and the experience solidified my preference for the small, rural school I wanted to lead someday.  Fast-forward twenty-four years.  I am entering my fifth year as a superintendent and leading a district that I love and enjoy the challenges every day brings in my position. 

What does the Superintendent do all day?  Does he play golf or boat during the summer?  I do enjoy both of those hobbies, but during the summer workweek, I am busy working on projects, meeting with administrators, communicating with board members and community members, and other situations as they arise.  I also spend time thinking about the future of the districts and how we can become the best school district providing the best education for our students. 

During my first two years in the Southwest Valley District, many things changed.  New personnel were selected to lead our district with my vision of being a “destination district.”  We have changed our website, tore down an old school building and replaced it with a new greenhouse, passed a six million dollar bond referendum to upgrade our west campus, branded our school with our SWV logo to show our pride in our school to visitors, and many other changes. 

As I enter my third year in the district, I face a new set of challenges.  For the past year and a half, I have worked very hard with district personnel to move forward with the reorganization process to merge our two awesome districts into one great district.  As I write this article, the country has entered the fifth month of the Coronavirus Pandemic that brought the country to its knees.  We are midway through the summer and I know as I plan for the 2020-2021 school year many challenges will happen.  The district has a plan to return to the building we left in mid-March when the pandemic forced us to shut down.  We do not know yet if we will have to require facemasks or take temperatures, but we do know the school atmosphere will be different.  Our guiding principle throughout this whole ordeal has been to keep students and staff safe and we will continue that focus.  Throughout the shutdown, various members of the Covid-19 response team have met by zoom or in-person to discuss how we can make school safe when we return.  We will continue to meet and make sure we communicate our plan to the parents and the public.

For now, just relax and enjoy the rest of the summer, and do not worry about school yet.  We have an opportunity to make this year our best year as a district and prove that we rise to challenges at Southwest Valley Schools!