Superintendent's Message for November 2020

November has arrived in Timberwolf territory.  We have climbed another mountain on our way to a great school year.  Our staff and students continue to work hard and recover from not being able to finish the last part of the 2019-2020 school year.

The best part of my day is walking the hallways and seeing students and staff interact and working together. Southwest Valley administration and nurses have worked extremely hard to provide a safe and healthy environment while returning to normalcy as much as possible. 

We certified our enrollment last month.  We are down a few students in Villisca and up a few in Corning.  Our official certified enrollment is 681.38 students.  With this number, we can set our budgets and plan our instruction for our students for the coming years.  We had some large families move out of the district for new jobs and new opportunities and several new families have moved to our communities. 

We continue to lose students to neighboring schools because of a lack of childcare.  This was a problem before I came here.  Last year we acquired a childcare center in Corning and we opened a new childcare center in Enarson Elementary this fall.

We have changed many things to attract new families to our school district and we will continue to do so.  Villisca’s community came together and passed a multi-million dollar bond project that has dramatically improved our two facilities.  We have new signage at our facilities.  We are branding our image.  We have new leaders in our buildings, leading the great staff, and pushing the “Destination District” message.  Our staff spent many hours learning how to teach online this summer and are teaching some lessons virtually daily.  We want our students to get a first-class education here at Southwest Valley and experience why it is so meaningful that they get involved with things at school and in their communities.

As I type this message, the country will go to the polls on November 3 and select who will lead the United States of America for the next four years.  I am not here to tell you who to vote for, but I think it is everyone’s responsibility to select his or her president. The person who wins has an uphill battle to heal and unite this great country.  The children we educate today are the leaders of tomorrow and we never know, a student at Southwest Valley may be the next president someday!  Stay safe and healthy and enjoy your family in the upcoming holiday season.