Dear Scottsdale Unified School District Family,

 

Thank you for supporting our K-3 Override renewal. Once again, our community demonstrated its strong commitment to quality education. On behalf of our 26,000+ students, I thank you for your support.

 

The classroom technology installation is 96 percent complete. This was made possible by our Governing Board who agreed to proceed with this ambitious endeavor, and Tom Clark and his amazing team. All classrooms are equipped with interactive white boards, ceiling mounted projectors, wireless audio systems and more.

Once again the District is doing a great job educating our 26,000+ students in our 31 schools. Each and every day we meet their needs through our numerous outstanding programs and fantastic faculty and staff. We work to focus spending on teaching and learning despite our very limited funding. According to a report from the Arizona Auditor General that was released in 2008, the District spent the majority of its funds in the classroom. In fact, we spend a mere 8.6 percent of our total budget on school and central office administration.

Students are continuing to be successful because of our dedicated and amazing teachers. For the second consecutive year,  SUSD high school students had great success in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Twenty-eight students were recently named as semi-finalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, and 21 students were named as commended students. These are just a few of many accomplishments.

 

We are making great progress in our continuous improvement efforts and believe that more direction from stakeholders will help us achieve enduring greatness. Through community focus groups, we will develop  new vision and mission statements based on the beliefs and values of our entire community. We have also formed a committee comprised of a broad base of stakeholders to examine the “Use of Time.” They are considering daily school schedules, the school calendar and other issues to determine how we can operate more efficiently within the constraints of a challenging budget. I also hope we will find a way to embed in the school week time for staff development for all employee groups.

 

Finally, it’s never too early to make a tax credit donation that can be claimed when filing your 2009 State Income Taxes. Your donation supports education and will be used for tutoring, field trips, athletics and extracurricular activities. The school must receive the funds by December 31, 2009. It’s a win, win situation for you and the school! To make a donation, please visit www.susd.org.

 

On behalf of the Governing Board and the entire District office staff, I extend to you best wishes for a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving Break.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Dr. Gary T. Catalani

Superintendent