Dear Augusta School Department Families,
I am grateful to serve as your Superintendent this year. Working with our great teachers and staff to help your children has been wonderful.
This year we focused on four main goals: keeping students safe and healthy, spending our school money wisely, creating new ways to help students learn, and building stronger ties with our community. Although we still have work to do, we have made good progress.
On the academic front, we have launched programs including the Alternative Education Program and the Innovation Center at Cony High School. Looking ahead, we’re looking to roll out a new Remote Learning Program and have also created a plan to share programs more fairly across all elementary schools. Additionally, we are moving forward with a new school construction project to meet our community’s needs.
We asked for your thoughts about our schools through a recent survey. You told us many positive things about our excellent teachers and friendly school atmosphere. You also helped us see where we can do a better job, especially with parent involvement and communication. Your feedback about Remote Storm Days was very helpful. Many families wanted more structured homework, online classes, and same-day notice instead of advance warning. We are glad families understood these remote days kept us from going to school until June 23rd.
We worked hard to improve student attendance this year and saw a 1.5% improvement over last year in chronic absences. Every step forward is a meaningful step in helping students succeed.
We remain dedicated to working to make our schools safer and stronger. We hope everyone has a peaceful and fun summer and comes back ready for another great school year.
Thank you for your support.