Today is the last "official" day of school for students in our system.  While I know students often think the school year lasts forever, for me it seems that we only began just yesterday.  So much has happened and changed this year.  We are seeing our two new schools going up daily - and on the schedule we projected in spite of all the rain.  We have two new school board members.  We have peaceful school board meetings.  School administrators and board members work together as a team.  We are focused on student learning and instructional improvement. Our teachers have been working hard on implementing cutting edge instructional strategies.   And....we are also living through the worst financial crisis in our country since The Great Depression.
That financial crisis has had a severe impact on funding for schools all across our state.  We are no exception.  Facing a $2 million reduction in state funding, we have increased class size, eliminated non-instructional positions, and explored every cost saving measure we could find for next year,  We are now proposing cutting 4 non-instructional days for all employees in the district except bus drivers and bus monitors.
Yet, in the face of all the dismal financial news, our teachers and administrators have continued their dedicated efforts with our students every single day.  Our whole system has focused on creating excellence every day of this school year.  I have no doubt that even after everything we have had to face, we will see that our students made progress and even though school is out for this year, this is not the end....it is just the beginning of the next year of our journey towards becoming the highest performing school district in the nation for districts our size.