Summer is finally here! At the end of May, many students were excited to finish their school year. Particularly excited were the fifth graders, eighth graders and high school seniors who advanced to the next chapter in their lives—either to a new school or into the wider world.
One of my favorite events of the year is the Senior Awards Night at Scotts Valley High. It’s a great night to hear about the accomplishments of our seniors and see where they are headed next. This class of 2026 lived up to the reputation of past years, with over 94% headed to a college or university, whether it be Cabrillo Community College, another California school or to a public or private university further afield. On their way, they earned over $1 million in scholarships to help make their dreams come true. These students put in the hard work to take these next big steps, enabled by the excellent instruction of our teachers, and the encouragement and support of school and district staff.
I want to thank our teachers, classified staff, administrators and support teams for the care, professionalism and energy they bring to our schools each day. The work happening in classrooms and across our campuses would not be possible without their dedication to students and to one another.
We faced significant budget challenges this year, as I’ve covered in previous columns. But I want to thank again our families and community members, for your continued partnership and support of our schools. Without your support, things would have been far worse. Strong schools depend on strong community connections, and we are grateful for the many ways you contribute to our students’ success.
Even though the students were all done on May 29, work continues by our dedicated district team. Per California laws and the Education Code, we must complete two key documents before the end of June. First, our annual update to our Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), which specifies how we spend supplementary funding to serve our high needs students. The team is also developing our budget for the next three years, with the requirement that we must have a positive ending balance on June 30, 2029. As you might imagine, it is very hard to predict the future that far ahead, yet that’s what the State of California requires. Worse yet, we have to complete our budget before the State of CA completes its one year budget, making it hard for us to predict our income. So I also want to thank our Superintendent and dedicated staff that keep up the work we need to operate our District during “summer break.” Thank you for your continued hard work.
Construction continues on our new track and field at Scotts Valley High, making good progress and staying on schedule. The work at our elementary schools this summer will be less visible as we concentrate on carpeting, painting and roof repairs, while we continue working with our architect team to finish the new Multipurpose room and playground designs. As you may recall, construction at the high school was delayed over six months while we waited for State Architect approval, and we still have that step ahead of us, once our architectural designs are complete. At our last board meeting, we received a review by our Citizen’s Bond Oversight Committee that confirmed that our spending in the 2024-25 school year was aligned with the requirements of Measure O. Thanks to the citizen team who does this thankless work to collaborate with the District and ensure our work complies with the will of the community.
With the end of the school year, this column will also take a summer break. I’ll be back in August to keep you apprised of your school district’s activities. Please email me with any feedback or ideas about this column. I hope everyone has a fun and restful summer!
Roger Snyder is the Board President of Scotts Valley Unified School District. He may be contacted at rs*****@*************sd.org.
