Superintendent

August 19, 2024 Back to School Welcome Message from Interim Superintendent

Welcome back!  Please view the following video message from Interim Superintendent Greg Mizel, as we begin the 2024-25 school year.

The full text of his message is also below.

Hello,  PUSD staff, students, and families! I’m Greg Mizel, Interim Superintendent of the Poway Unified School District. Welcome back! 

As we begin this new school year, I want to ask you a simple yet powerful question: What if?

• What if this year we dared to dream bigger for our children, our students and ourselves? 
• What if we saw the potential in all the people around us instead of focusing on their limitations and deficits? 
• What if this year every student got whatever they needed - that just-in-time support -necessary to overcome obstacles to learning?
• What if this year every staff member had the skill set, mindset, resources, and knowledge necessary to respond to learner variability?

What if?  These questions encourage us to imagine possibilities instead of limitations and deficits.  They empower us to innovate and take risks, instead of settling for the status quo.  They challenge us to collaborate to find common ground…instead of focusing on our disagreements and differences.

I do want to acknowledge that we are coming off a few very challenging years.  And while I am full of hope that this new school year ahead will be easier, I know, even if it is, we’ll still likely find ourselves stretched as we navigate pain points and conflict together.  What if this year we recommitted to rallying around one another on those harder occasions, Team PUSD!  What if we created working and learning environments where people were appropriately challenged, regularly encouraged, and held accountable to achieve reasonable outcomes? 

Over the last several weeks, many of us have been mesmerized by the Olympics.  Yes, the performances were dazzling. But what stays with us, and resonates in both our hearts and heads, are the stories that came out of these games - the sportsmanship, the perseverance, the discipline, and the humility of the participating athletes.  How it took a lifetime of coaches, teachers, friends, family, churches, businesses, therapists, all making sacrifices, pouring their time, knowledge, and resources into these athletes just to enable them to qualify for the opportunity to compete in Paris.  In many ways, our schools are like Olympic training centers.  At each of our unique campuses, our students are paired with world class administrators, school counselors, teachers, instructional assistants, and support staff.  Teams of people, well known for their unwavering commitment to our students’ success, pour into our kids’ lives, daily, working to ensure that they're ready when their time comes to step out into the arena of life. 

What if we treated each of our students like future Olympians… What if we all came together in recognition that each and every one of our 35,000 children has unlimited potential, and with the right training, mentorship, practice, and instruction, can achieve greatness?  What I mean is, doesn’t every child deserve that kind of support system?  Just imagine all the places our students could go, if they got the care and coaching and attention our Olympians do!  So this year, let’s ask ourselves: What if?  What if this was your best year parenting, your best year teaching, your best year learning?  What if this was your best year…ever?

Here's to a new school year TEAM PUSD - full of promise and possibilities, exploration, discovery, growth, and transformation. 

What if?  I can’t wait to see how we fill in that blank together.

Welcome back, Poway Unified!

Greg Mizel

Interim Superintendent

Poway Unified School