Mill Creek Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

It is officially fall and we have had a great first month of school. Teachers and staff were prepared for the 100% remote learning and have been engaging with students in new and exciting ways. We have seen high attendance and engagement from our students and wonderful support from our families. I want to take a moment to thank you. Thank you for continuing to give us your support, your patience and grace as we work through the challenges of remote learning.

Of course, we look forward to the day we can bring our students back into the classrooms in a safe manner and are hard at work to finalize and implement those plans. There will be information coming out soon to parents about the phasing in of students and potential hybrid models to allow for social distancing. All families will have a choice to have their child move back to the classroom or to stay 100% remote for the remainder of the year.

A large part of the planning for in-person instruction includes family and staff input. Thank you to for those who have filled out surveys and participated in our “Let’s Connect” monthly sessions with our regional superintendents. The next “Let’s Connect” is October 19 and will also be available in Spanish. You can find more about this opportunity on our website everettsd.org.

And related to our website, please visit our new and improved site which launched on October 1. Feedback from families and the community were integrated into the redesign, which provides reduced clicks, inviting visuals and a standard experience with navigation among all school sites. Student tools, including Canvas, will still be located under the “students” tab. We are excited for you to explore the look and feel of our new site.

Another great project underway, with more opportunity for community input, is the update of our strategic plan. Strategic planning is the process our district uses to define our long-term strategic goals, priorities and the allocation of resources. This helps us focus our energies and strengthen our operations as we work together with our community toward common goals and outcomes.

Our current strategic plan was first adopted in May 2011. This September our district began a 10-month process to develop a new or refreshed strategic plan that will guide our work for the next five years or more. We will be conducting surveys throughout the month of October to get community input on priorities and areas of focus. I hope you take the opportunity to give us your thoughts as we strive to have our plan reflect the sentiments of our communities.

There are a lot of things in the works, and all of it is in the support of our students. Student health, safety and academic achievement is what drives our work. We appreciate your input, support and partnership on this journey.

It is truly an honor to serve as your superintendent.

Stay safe and be well.