Superintendent’s Update – December 2017

Dear St. Vrain Valley Schools Community,

This time of year often causes us to reflect on the important things in our lives – the people around us, our core values, our achievements over the past year and the contributions we have made to better our communities. In St. Vrain Valley Schools, we have so much to be proud of as we look ahead to 2018 and the continued advancement of our public schools.

The outstanding accomplishments of our students in the past year reached extraordinary levels. I can say without hesitation that our teachers, staff and schools are the strongest they have ever been and are leading the state and nation in modeling excellence for delivering a rigorous, 21st-century education that is giving our students a competitive advantage for success in their future.

Over the past few weeks alone, we have seen many achievements worth highlighting. Westview Middle School was one of the top three schools in Colorado for the Vocabulary Bowl competition and qualified seven students for the UNC Math Competition finals. Erie Middle School had the highest number of qualifiers for the Colorado All-State Choir. Lyons Middle/Senior girls won a state 2A volleyball title and the Erie High boys competed at the 3A state football championship. Skyline High School students partnered with Alpine Elementary to host a robust week of learning for Computer Science Education Week – a national event that had every school in St. Vrain engaged in coding and computer science activities. Additionally, across our high schools, we have numerous semifinalists for highly-competitive scholarships including the Boettcher Scholarship and National Merit Scholarship. These are only a few of the hundreds of examples of student excellence across our schools and community. 

St. Vrain Valley Schools continues to drive improvements in how we serve our students, families and communities. In addition to progress on the construction of two new schools and the Innovation Center, we are also implementing other 2016 bond projects to enhance our learning environments. We continue to expand classrooms and learning spaces across the district, including cutting-edge maker-spaces at Blue Mountain Elementary and Eagle Crest Elementary that opened this fall. We are also increasing student safety across all elementary schools with the installation of security cameras to cover external entrances and interior corridors. Due for completion by summer 2018, this is one of many projects designed to enhance student safety in our schools. 

With so much to celebrate, I invite you to enjoy this month’s edition of The Newsroom and share the accomplishments of our students, teachers and staff with your family, friends and neighbors this holiday season. Thank you for your continued partnership and support in championing public education in our community.

Sincerely,
Don Haddad, Ed.D.
Superintendent
@SVVSDSupt


 

Read this month’s school news and headlines in the December edition of The Newsroom >>

 

Burlington Elementary School