Preparing for a new school year! #MakeItGolden

Welcome back to the 2015-2016 school year! Our district is very excited to have all of students, staff, and parents back in school. We have had a busy summer at the district office in preparation for this year, and are now able to implement many blended learning opportunities across the district while leveraging our existing technology for even greater student learning. As you know, we are fully committed to prepare all of our students for their future.

As we continue to prepare our students with many exciting opportunities, a major component involves the opportunity for our teachers to collaborate. This time allows teachers to understand an individual student’s strengths and weaknesses and work with other teachers to personalize a student’s education. Our teachers work hard to differentiate instruction for content, student interests, and student learning profiles. They will use their time wisely to meet each student’s needs.

All of us at KPBSD strive to keep you, our stakeholders, informed about all of our operations; this is a responsibility that we take seriously. We will be working to engage you in our discussions on public education and fiscal realities several times throughout the year. Your voice is important to hear when the district and board are making decisions. It is also important to hear from you about how we can improve in all areas of the KPBSD educational program.

We welcome back our teachers, instructional aides, nurses, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, and food service professionals—they are the backbone of our district’s success. I am pleased to welcome new principals: Rich Bartolowits, Connections; Doug Hayman, Cooper Landing (in addition to Tustumena Elementary); Chris Brown, Homer Flex; Tim Whip, Kachemak-Selo; Bill Withrow, Redoubt Elementary; Andy Rothenberger, Seward Middle School and Moose Pass; Tony Graham, Soldotna High School; Richard Breske, Tebughna; and assistant principals Jill DuFloth at Skyview Middle School; and John DeVold at Mountain View Elementary. We also have two new administrators at the district office: John O’Brien, our new Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, and John Pothast takes over as Director of Secondary Education and Student Activities.

We invite parents and community members to join us by volunteering in the schools and becoming involved in partnerships to support students. Schools need the help of parents and community members in order to be successful with each student. It is also critical for our students to know that their parents, guardians, relatives, and friends are supportive of their schooling process. A student without this support may at times feel at a loss to find the necessary focus to excel at his or her studies.

I hope to see you in the coming months and wish you a great start to the school year. We look forward to another outstanding school year!