Hello Scotts Valley community! Your schools are back in full swing, and as your board president, I wanted to give you an update on what’s been going on.
The year kicked off bright and sunny, and all of our students, staff and teachers returned with the smiles and encouragement that come with a new school year. They benefited from new air conditioning in all of our classrooms, and our new solar panels are now powering all four of our schools, which should lead to considerable utility cost savings, while helping the environment.
I want to thank the community again for the passage of Measure O last November. We’ve already used these funds to pay off the construction costs of the solar panels. Our district team, including two board members, have been hard at work to get more projects going before costs rise any further.
At Scotts Valley High, we are ready to break ground on a new sports facility that will provide an all-weather track and field for multiple sports, and new facilities that the community can be proud of. As soon as the State’s Architect (DSA) approves our plans, we’ll be putting shovels in the ground.
For our elementary schools, we are in the process of working with multiple contractors and agencies to develop proposals for upgrades and new multipurpose rooms. We’re excited for the future where our elementary students, teachers and staff will be able to gather in one place for assemblies and lunches. When we have proposals ready, we will share them with the public for feedback.
At the heart of what we do is the education of our students. Our teachers and staff continue to strive to help overcome challenges that still linger from the pandemic, both academically and socially. We are revising and updating curriculums to improve fundamentals in math and language skills. We have five teachers participating in a County-wide AI Explorers program to help our students keep up with this technology that they will need to use in college and at work. And we continue to help every student see themselves in our materials, wanting to learn and do great things like those that have gone before them.
On the social-emotional side, students and staff work together to make our schools a place where life lessons are learned and students can grow. Earlier this year, we opened a Wellness Center at Scotts Valley High that has already served hundreds of students’ needs, so they can better learn in their classrooms. Our student-led Hope Squads at both the middle and high schools provide support for each other with the help of caring staff.
Part of a Scotts Valley education is the teamwork and hard work that comes from sports and arts programs as well. Last Friday I had the pleasure of listening to two casts from Scotts Valley Middle School performing songs from “The Wizard of Oz” at Laughing Monk, as they are preparing for their next show. Performances will be held the weekend of Nov. 7, and tickets are available at cur8.com/25828/project/134417.
And have you heard the SVMS podcast? There are now three episodes that you should check out wherever you consume your podcasts. Our students are learning audio production skills while providing thoughtful and educational content on subjects like AI, how we consume music today, and the pluses and minuses of summer vacation.
Our Scotts Valley High sports teams are off to a strong start. Our girls volleyball team is No. 1 in the Santa Cruz coast league with an amazing record of 6-1. And the Falcons varsity football team is currently 4-0! In a highly competitive girls cross country meet, Ava Decleve and Hanna Shehorn led Scotts Valley to a 22-39 victory over Santa Cruz.
Because of the coming work I mentioned earlier at Scotts Valley High, Falcon football home games are at Harbor High this year, including Homecoming on Oct. 18. Please come out and support your Falcons with that little extra drive to Harbor High. All gate proceeds are going to support our Falcons!
In addition to Laughing Monk, I want to thank our other local businesses, our parent associations, our local service clubs and the Scotts Valley Educational Foundation for their amazing support of our schools. Their efforts help fund our music programs, counselors, libraries and so much more. In Scotts Valley, it truly takes the whole community to support our students.
I’ll continue to provide these updates in the Banner every month, but if you have a question, don’t hesitate to contact me at the email below.
Roger Snyder is the Board President of Scotts Valley Unified School District. He may be contacted at rs*****@*************sd.org.
