At the September General Meeting last Wednesday, Associate Superintendent Dr. Karen Benson offered to provide additional information to questions asked of her during the Q&A. The information is provided below:
Parent Volunteers
- We continue to be very grateful to our parents and community members that offer to visit or volunteer to support learning experiences in classrooms across SUSD.
- Given our commitment to student and staff safety, we have added additional measures schools need to follow prior to welcoming visitors and volunteers.
- Please refer to this link to learn more about the distinction between visiting and volunteering in SUSD classrooms.
- We are providing professional development/training to front office team members at each of our schools to ensure we are systematic and timely in approving visitors and volunteers across each of our schools.
- If you have questions about visiting or volunteering at a campus, please contact a member of the school leadership team.
Teacher Shortage Context: Number of teachers teaching 6/5s and number near retirement?
- We have 74 teachers currently teaching an additional class period (with a 6/5s contract); 11 of these 6/5s are specific to our Scottsdale Online Learning school. In total, this equates to 15 FTE teachers.
- Fostering a culture where our employees feel valued is important to us, as we know this influences teachers, leaders and classified team members decisions to stay with SUSD.
- Teachers and leaders can opt to “retire” at varied times based on a number of factors, so identifying a number of employees “near retirement” wouldn’t be accurate.
- Our teachers and leaders can return to work with us after they have officially retired under a “return to work” contract.
SUSD Strategic Plan and DEI in SUSD
- The SUSD Strategic Plan adopted by the Governing Board last June can be found on our SUSD website. (For quick access, you can find it here.)
- We are committed to the values reflected in our plan, including: Excellence, Integrity, Empathy, Trust, Inclusion and Unity.
- Five Strategic Action Teams (StAT) have been established to implement the five goals identified in the Strategic Plan. Those teams are comprised of 10-12 members representing all learning communities across SUSD. StAT Teams at work during the 22-23 SY include:
- MTSS – Academics and Behavioral (MTSS = Multi-tiered Systems of Support)
- Attracting and Retaining Talent
- Innovation in Teaching and Learning
- Optimizing Resources
- Community Partnerships
Impact of Vouchers and Open Enrollment
- As of September 20, 4841 students show as residing outside of SUSD boundaries in Synergy. (This number will be updated after the demographer provides a report in October.)
- We do not have the means to track the number of students living within SUSD boundaries that are using a voucher to attend another school outside of SUSD. The Arizona Department of Education is monitoring total number of vouchers used this school year.
Demographics of SUSD
- Parents and community members can access demographic information specific to SUSD at the following link.
- Additional information will be available on the SUSD website as we transition to a new dashboard and report out on metrics identified in the SUSD Strategic Plan.
Communication/Technology
- SUSD is exploring options to streamline communication efforts between teachers, students and families. A handful of our schools will be piloting a tool recently adopted by many school districts across the country in the second or third quarter of this school year.
- Additional information can be found on our SUSD website at the Parents Directory.
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