Dear Knights and Neighbors,
I am so proud and grateful to both live and work in the East Valley School District. As I begin my fourth year as your superintendent, I am excited to share a few key areas of emphasis where we are focusing our energies and efforts.
First and foremost, we recently completed our six-year strategic plan, which we will share throughout the year. Our strategic plan began with a Vision of the Student Experience... a description of what we hope our students say about their East Valley educational experience. These statements are followed up by the goal that we have for each student when they exit high school. The four aspects of this vision include:
I Belong
I am seen, heard, valued, loved, and respected for who I am.
I Believe
I believe in myself, I believe in others, and everyone in East Valley believes in me.
I Learn
I know what I’m learning and I know why. I feel challenged to grow academically, and I support the growth of others.
I Am Future Ready!
Another area of extreme focus is that of our collaboration time. East Valley is fortunate to have 90 minutes (nearly) every Monday dedicated to staff collaboration focused on student learning. Two years ago, the district partnered with Solution Tree to redefine the activities during these 90 minutes and to enhance our approach to teaching and learning for East Valley students. Over the past two years, district and building administrators and several teacher leaders have participated in a series of targeted professional development sessions.
As we embark on our third year with Solution Tree, we convened approximately 75 district staff members to launch our 2024-25 school year initiatives. Our staff is committed to ensuring that all students, regardless of their school within the district, can learn and reach proficiency by the same essential standards. We highly value our collaboration time and ensure that our Monday morning sessions without students are utilized to enhance teaching and learning for all students in East Valley.
A third area we will be committing time and energy is that of our district’s facilities. We have addressed much-needed improvements and upgrades to some of our aging schools through your support of capital levies. That stated the East Valley School District has not passed a bond for nearly forty years. As such, we are implementing a Facilities Improvement Team (FIT) to be comprised of district employees and community members. This team will meet throughout this school year as we look at the current conditions of our facilities while also planning for the future of the East Valley School District. Though our staff has done an amazing job of maintaining our schools, there comes a time when we must look at the potential of a new building; that time has come. Through the work of this team, we will keep you apprised as to the short and long-term facilities planning. To be a part of FIT, please complete this brief survey: FIT
It's a great time to be a Knight… Together, We are East Valley!
Brian L Talbott
Superintendent
