JULY 15, 2018
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Chandler superintendent: Judge us by our grads BY DR. CAMILLE CASTEEL Chandler Unified Superintendent
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s we make final preparations for the start of the 2018-19 school year, I want to take this opportunity to provide a few updates. Our visionary governing board is determined to make Chandler Unified the top school district in the nation through 10-year strategic plan, Journey 2025, which focuses on four areas: outstanding students, world-class employees, organizational culture and effective resource management. Every year, the bar is raised higher, but our staff proves to be up for the challenge,
as attested by our score in excess of 90 points on last year’s metrics. You can view our progress on our website at cusd80. com. In order to meet those high standards, our teachers and staff work hard to prepare students for life and career, create diverse paths for learning, create global understanding, provide student-centered learning and engage parents in the success of their child. Our students are problem solvers, engaged learners, service-oriented and ethical, and they value diversity and think critically and creatively. This year, we are adding two new positions to provide resources for our staff to assist students. Dr. Adama Sallu has been named our director of equity and inclusion, and Brenda Ramos has been appointed director of counseling
and social services. Dr. Sallu joins us from Arizona State University. Mrs. Ramos has a proven track record as a counselor at Andersen Junior High and assistant principal at Hamilton High. We are proud to be the educational provider for families of more than 45,000 students from parts of Chandler, Gilbert and Queen Creek. In CUSD, parents may choose from a menu of personalized learning experiences that best meet the needs of their children. We know you have choices, and we work hard to ensure a safe, learning environment for students with many backgrounds and learning styles. We are known as a premier district of choice. Academic achievement is a high priority in the district, as evidenced by test scores that exceed state and national
averages. We pride ourselves on providing outstanding educational programs at all grade levels, including: • Free full-day kindergarten • K-8 self-contained gifted programs (Chandler Academically Talented Students) • Knox Gifted Academy • Traditional academies • Mandarin Chinese and Spanish language immersion programs • Elite Performance Academy for our serious young student-athletes • Accelerated Middle School • STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) diploma See
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Kyrene’s vision: Help students be all they can be BY DR. JAN VESELY Kyrene Superintendent
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he beginning of a new school year, like the dawning of a new day, reminds us that the future in Kyrene School District holds infinite possibilities. This time of year is an especially rewarding one because it brings us together to share stories of time spent with family and friends over summer adventures and to launch a new year, filled with hope, vision, and excitement. This year will continue to be shaped by our reform efforts as outlined in our Strategic Plan 2022, which defines priority work in the following goal areas: • High-performing students • High-quality talent
• Inclusive culture • Responsive organization • Collective governance There is never a shortcut to strategic planning and implementation when working to scale up innovative educational practices. It takes years of sustained commitment. In the Kyrene School District, we are continuing our journey into this continuously evolving, deep-rooted work that requires a crystal-clear focus on our vision: ensuring all students achieve at their maximum potential to become problem solvers, creators and visionaries of tomorrow. Rather than chase trends, we will maintain an unrelenting commitment to improving our core focus on the delivery of effective and rigorous instruction to maximize student learning and achievement.
Our most important stakeholders will always be our students, and years of research have proved that nothing schools can do for their students matters more than giving them effective teachers. A strong teacher can make an impact that lasts a lifetime, putting even the most disadvantaged students on the path to college and career success. This year, we will continue to reach out to community partners for engagement and guidance and make sure that we deploy resources where they have the greatest impact on achieving our desired results. Our work is about large-scale implementation within an existing system of schools. We are clear about the learning expectations for students and want to make sure that every student reaches those standards. We rely on our teachers and administrators to create rich learning
experiences using the very same skills we are developing in our students: creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, systems thinking, and flexibility, among others. Our pillars for student success focus on academic excellence, responsive instruction and student agency. Our accomplishments have been monumental and we will continue to build upon work from last year in areas of pre-K offerings; pre-K-8 design that focuses on traditional, dual language, International Baccalaureate, AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) and addressing student needs through dyslexia support and sitebased interventionists. This year, we also will focus on expanding efforts to address socialSee
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