Superintendent's Message for January 2022

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2022!  The first part of this school year has gone by so quickly.  We continue to build on the momentum we have been working on throughout the past few years.  We have been fortunate with the weather we have had in November and December.  I am hoping the pattern of good weather continues!

The first semester ends on Friday, January 14, and we will be dismissing students at noon.  The following week we will bring in over twenty schools for the annual John J Harris wrestling tournament on Friday, January 21 and Saturday, January 22.  The athletic teams will be resuming their seasons on January 3 with our junior varsity and varsity basketball teams traveling to Clarinda.  The wrestlers return to the mat on Tuesday, January 4, when they travel to Clarinda.  I encourage you to browse the Southwest Valley website to find other contests and events.  The Southwest Valley Facebook page is another great resource for activities in our district. 

In January, the Corning school board will meet with Estes Construction to review the needs assessment plan completed in the fall for all our facilities.  This report will allow the board to prioritize projects we need to plan for in the next couple of years.  We will be accepting bids to replace the boiler at the activity center and hope to include air conditioning for the building.  In Villisca, we will be focusing on completing the updated playground at Enarson Elementary.  The preparation work at the location was completed in December and the equipment will be installed once spring weather has arrived.  The playground will be complete and in place for future generations of students to use. 

In December, Iowa released the state profile for each district and its buildings.  This profile is a snapshot of how each building performs on standardized tests and a few other areas.  Corning Elementary was labeled as commendable, SWV High School acceptable, SWV MS acceptable, and Enarson Elementary was labeled Needs Improvement.  While the administration uses these ratings to study what areas we need to improve on, we also know that we focus on developing the whole child.  We want to produce well-rounded students that will be meaningful contributors to society.  We know we have areas to improve on, which will be our focus in 2022.

On behalf of the Southwest Valley family, I want to wish all of you a safe and prosperous 2022!