Superintendent's Update
Date Range
-
While we still have a little over 30 days remaining this year, the staff is also planning for next year. This includes the next iteration of the PAUSD Promise. Thank you to everyone who participated in our stakeholder input process. We learned a lot by listening to your feedback.
I wasn’t going to write an update today until I started my morning at Hoover Elementary. I wanted to see a few things, including our traffic flow and bicycle arrivals. It didn’t take long to figure out there was something else I was meant to see today.
We are getting close to Spring Break and I think everyone is just about ready! It’s not hard to feel the cycle of a school year. It’s a funny profession. We are driven by calendars and bells. There is a routine to our work that is predictable regardless of external factors. We aren’t far from the start of “banquet season” and celebrations. That also means promotions, graduations, and a lot of other things that wrap up a school year.
I met with our Superintendent’s Student Advisory group this week for the second time. As I told them, the time spent with students is always the best part of my job. I also spent time with the Paly High School Principal’s Student Advisory group. Together, they filled in gaps and connected dots that should have been more obvious. I appreciate our students and their willingness to speak for themselves. For this update, I am going to focus on the theme of mental health and wellness through the lens of our students.
It’s human nature to assume everyone shares the same concerns we see in headlines or on social media. Yet when I chat with neighbors, I’m often reminded that many families care most about whether their kids like their teachers, feel safe, and return home in the same good shape they left. Adult issues seem much less important when seen through this simple lens.
Our staff is hard at work today as they are engaged in meaningful professional development. It is hard to find time to get everyone together during a school year, so we appreciate the flexibility of our families on these rare days.
Who’s got it better than us?
That’s the question made famous by Paly alum Jim Harbaugh, and one I kept thinking about as I visited our schools this week. The answer? It’s hard to argue that anyone does.
I have asked our team members to clarify PAUSD policies and protocols regarding immigration officers and our schools. The technical response is found below my comments. The most important part of the message is that we want our students and families to feel safe. We took additional time to review our policies and protocols with our administrative teams and office staff before communicating broadly.
As I shared earlier, the Superintendent’s Student Advisory group met to with me to discuss several items considered important by our planning team. The group of high school students identified Evidence-Based Grading (EBG) as one of the items we discussed in depth.