South San Francisco, CA August 10, 2015 Submitted by SSFUSD Website
On behalf of the Board of Trustees and myself, welcome to the 2015-2016 school year. It is my distinct pleasure to have been selected as the new Superintendent for South San Francisco Unified School District. I am humbled and deeply committed to our students, our staff, and this community. I am also committed to working collaboratively with our staff, our parents, and community to ensure we provide the best educational opportunities for our students.
Since taking the helm, we’ve executed an administrative retreat for all administrators in the district where we worked together and participated in activities that will assist us in becoming a more cohesive, collegial and professional unit of leaders.
In addition, we listened to the community who asked us to focus more on cultural competence and sensitivity in our schools. For our first district-wide staff development day, we hosted a session for all staff with Dr. Mary Bacon, who is a prominent presenter. She encouraged staff to remember to ‘see the world through the eyes of culture’; she challenged us to engage and support our students differently to ensure we build relationships and help students feel connected to us and the academic content. This, in addition to focusing on the overall health of our district, will be a focus for our district this year.
We kicked off the year with our entire district staff focusing on building a more cohesive organization where we work collaboratively to engage our parents, community, and one another in order to provide a welcoming and inclusive culture. We seek new and creative ways to work together to ensure our students and their safety, learning, and achievement remain our top priorities. I was very transparent in my confidence and belief in the staff of the
South San Francisco Unified School District. We have an amazing team comprised of capable, talented, and experienced educators and staff that I know will hold high expectations for all of our children and will get to know them, develop positive relationships with them, and support them in meeting or exceeding our high expectations. It was a wonderful celebration of renewed commitments.
Additionally, we are fortunate to have established strong partnerships in the community. I will be working to strengthen these existing partnerships and establishing new ones. Our community and local organizations have been extremely supportive of our district and we have a deep and sincere appreciation for what they have done for our schools.
A lot of work took place throughout the summer which I have the privilege to communicate. We had several construction projects and I am happy to share that on our first day of school all students were welcom
ed to positive environments that were conducive to student learning and engagement. Additionally, our staff pulled together to greet and receive all students and parents entering our campuses. It is also very exciting to report how beautiful our campuses are with the newly erected buildings and well-maintained facilities. Our thanks go to the facilities staff.
There are also other accomplishments in the district which I am extremely proud of. Our first ever Middle College Program began this year with 43 students from our high schools; our students will have the opportunity to concurrently earn high school and college credits. Additionally, this past spring, the district completed a successful Local Control Accountability Plan comprised of goals, actions, and services that support student learning and achievement and also directs services toward parent/community engagement, school safety, academic and social health. In addition, the finances of the district are in good shape and we were positively certified by the San Mateo County Office of Education. Lastly, this summer was also filled with the first ever summer academies where over 150 teachers came to learn and grow together in curriculum and instruction in order to set their students up for a successful school year.
The Board of Trustees and I are working collaboratively and will continue to do so in order to support the goals and priorities of this district. We look forward to engaging our parents, students, and staff this year in order to partner with you to maximize the ways we can support all of our students.
From our leadership team to you and yours, we welcome you to this new school year and we believe that together, we can and will accomplish greatness.