I welcome, with great pride, the opportunity to lead the Watervliet City School District in an effort to continue moving the district forward and sustaining the enormous strides we have made in my seven years with this district.
I will continue to serve all of Watervliet, remaining visible and accessible both within the educational community as well as the community at large. I encourage parents of our students to become as actively involved as possible in your child’s education. Think of education as a three-legged stool: the child, the family, and the school district. All parts are equally important in educating the “whole child.”
In these tough economic times, with the high level of accountability that has been placed on educators as well as students, we must accomplish more with less, maximize our resources--thin as they may be--and take a very close look at what we value and what is really working for the students in our school district.
Parents, community members, teachers, staff, administrators and students must become familiar with terms such as “tax levy cap,” state aid, unfunded mandates, APPR, and a whole list of terms that affect our students' education and tax payers. I believe in being fiscally responsible and developing a budget that will provide our students with the necessary resources--people and programs--essential to educate and prepare them to be college and career ready, while not placing the burden of the entire budget on the backs of local tax payers.
Safe schools that are conducive for teaching and learning are as important as putting the most highly-qualified teachers in front of every student, every day. It is one of the district’s priorities to stay current with the technological needs of students as well as provide adequate professional development opportunities for educators to stay current in their practice.
In order to fulfill our mission statement and our obligation to our students, we must not accept just being “good,” but instead, strive for excellence, for every student…every day.
