Superintendent's Message for October 2021

We are doing exciting and fun things in all of our buildings and our early childhood education centers and the month of October has arrived quickly at Southwest Valley Schools!

Our official account on October 1 shows a slight decrease in our enrollment, but we remain optimistic with our younger age student numbers remaining steady to higher enrollment, which should balance out the enrollment in the coming years.  Our ECEC’s are filling up with children, which is a positive sign for the future. 

As I sat down to write this article, I thought of many topics I could cover, but as I glanced at my bulletin board and saw our school’s motto, I decided to break this down for all of us and explain the meaning of Community Matters, Education Matters, We Matter, I Matter! 

Community Matters - The Southwest Valley communities are so crucial to the operations of our schools.  Our teachers work tirelessly every day to provide the education that your children need to be successful.  We have so many different clubs, sports, and activities at all levels that engage our students daily.  We have great partnerships with many businesses to allow our students to have many unique opportunities, from students participating in work experience opportunities to elementary students collaborating with POET to grow corn. The community has been so supportive and we appreciate it.  We continue to ask our communities to help us with volunteers for the booster clubs that support so many activities our kids participate in every day.  The Athletic Booster club operates the concession stand at football games and track meets and supports our school with new equipment for our students.  The Music Boosters provide many opportunities for our fine arts students and need volunteers to help support these endeavors. We are always looking for substitute teachers, substitute paraprofessionals, and bus drivers. We appreciate any support the community can give to the school district and we are grateful for all of you.  

Education Matters - When I arrived at Southwest Valley four years ago, we had two districts trying to educate our students in four silos.  We needed to break down those silos and allow the elementary staff to work together and likewise with our middle school and high school.  We have four excellent educational leaders that are doing a great job communicating and working together to make the flow from one building to another smooth.  Our teachers work in Professional Learning Communities and meet to discuss test scores and academic achievement.  They set up interventions and plan lessons that will have the most impact on our children.  Our AEA works closely with our special education teachers to assist our students that need additional support.  We are working hard to build positive relationships with our children so everyone feels safe and can learn in a secure environment.

We Matter - We are on this journey together and we need your support and help.  It takes a village to raise our children, and we cannot do this without your help.  We ask that you look at your child’s work when they come home.  I always use to ask my own children, what did you learn today?  The response was “nothing” and I moved on.  Now I ask them, what made you smile today or what did you do today to make someone smile today?  I also tell them to be kind to everyone because you do not know how your words could hurt someone. 

I Matter - Everyone in our district is necessary and we want you to be a part of our district.  We cannot be a Destination District without the help of everyone in our district.  Business owners, parents, grandparents, community members, students, and staff all make this district operate efficiently and effectively.

In conclusion, Southwest Valley has so many positives things going for us right now and while we know we have things to improve on we need your continued support to help us build our Destination District!