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Office of the Superintendent
Donald A. Phillips, Ed.D. |
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Sandi Lee
Carlyon |
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Dear Parents and Neighbors, Last year, I had the privilege of joining the Poway Unified School District as your new superintendent. I enjoyed meeting many of you during the year and have appreciated the warm welcome. Through this annual letter to the community, I'd like all of you to get to know me and the goals I have for Poway Unified. |
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My primary focus as an educator is to ensure every student reaches his or her potential, with a strong academic emphasis. I am very practical, financially prudent, a problem solver, and enjoy working with our youth. Even though last year held many challenges with September 11, tough personnel decisions, and wide-reaching budget cutbacks, we always kept our focus on the educational programs and student learning. A very tight financial picture necessitated more than $5 million in budget cuts in administration at the District level and in overhead. A priority was to maintain class size and keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible. I am pleased to report that the Poway Unified School District has demonstrated strong educational results throughout the school year. Five elementary schools were recognized this fall as National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, and five additional schools were named this spring as California Distinguished Schools. Our schools have earned a total of 25 California Distinguished School awards and 15 National Blue Ribbon recognitions. Our graduates received more than $5.7 million in scholarships this year. Yet, I believe we can do an even better job in the future with your involvement and support. The Board of Education has approved two major goals to move our district to the next level of educational excellence. A strategic planning process to address the two major goals is scheduled this fall, and will include input from staff and community. The first goal area focuses on a comprehensive literacy effort. This initiative is targeted at developing reading, writing, and math skills across all curricular areas for each student. As superintendent, I have the responsibilities of ensuring academic success for every student in the district and that our school facilities are safe, healthy, and equipped to provide our students with the very best education. The second goal area focuses on providing a physical learning environment to support student learning for all. Target areas for this initiative include maintaining a strong sense of PUSD community; updating existing facilities to provide equitable educational opportunities; bringing new schools on line to meet enrollment changes; and proactively managing enrollment growth. I want to assure you we are doing everything we can to ensure quality, safe schools for every child in our community. I would like to encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns. Sharon Raffer, Communications, can be reached at 858-679-2631 or at sraffer@powayusd.com. Through our shared support and commitment, we can challenge our students to do their very best. Thank you for your support. Warm regards,
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