Superintendent's Message for August 2023

The 2023-2024 school year is quickly approaching and we have many exciting and fun things planned for this school year. 

We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary as Southwest Valley Schools with our whole grade sharing agreement between Corning and Villisca.  We have renovated and replaced many areas of our campus infrastructure to ensure our students, staff, and community can enjoy great experiences at our facilities. 

We welcome new teachers to several classrooms and we are excited to work with them to reach our goals to provide a quality education every day at Southwest Valley schools.  The high school will be under new leadership as Jennifer Bissell will take over the reins as the high school principal and counselor.  This combined role will be for one year.  Later this year we will evaluate the role and then make plans for those positions in 2024-2025.  Allen Naugle will move to the high school to serve as the district's Alternative Education Coordinator and Activities Director.  We are finalizing all of our teaching spots and we are confident we will have all classrooms covered on opening day. 

The teacher shortage has really hit southwest Iowa hard.  Five years ago, we had ten applicants similar to our open positions this year, this year we had zero.  The surrounding districts are in the same predicament; we just have to keep focusing on providing the best education for our kids.  If you have ever had the desire to teach or want a career change, I encourage you to reach out to the district.  We would welcome a conversation and would help you begin the path to a great career working with our students.  Our coaching numbers have also decreased.      Mr. Naugle will now coach the junior high football team.  We will move junior high practices to the high school practice field in Corning to ensure he can accomplish all of his responsibilities.  The junior high and high school will do non-contact drills together and practice contact-related drills separately.  This will also allow our varsity coaches to work with our younger athletes.  Our games will remain in Villisca with one game in Corning per the sharing agreement. 

We have open positions for coaching, bus drivers, cooks, para-educators, early childhood education workers, and substitute teachers.  Please contact the school if you are interested in becoming a part of our incredible district team. 

As I begin my sixth year in the district, I am excited about the challenges and opportunities we will face this year.  We are in the planning phase of a $19 million building project that will bring the east campus up to date and coupled with the $6 million renovation we completed in Villisca, we will have the best facilities for our students in all of southwest Iowa.  We also have improved our academics in the past five years with all of our schools meeting all of the standards the Department of Education mandates.  We continue to update our safety plans to ensure every child that enters our facilities will feel safe and comfortable as they learn.  We have partnered with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office to have a new SRO officer that will be working at all the facilities on both campuses this year.

  Throughout the year, I will continue to update you on the progress of the east side renovation and building project, as well as any changes we may encounter with the many laws that were passed during the last legislative session.  We encourage you to reach out and take an active role in your child’s education.  It takes a village to raise our kids and we need your support to get it done.  It is always a great day to be a T-Wolf!