Dear Colleagues,

Later this afternoon, the division will be notifying families and the media of the state’s report today on the accreditation of our schools. While all schools are accredited, the report documents several student demographic groups in which our students did not meet state standards.

To quote from our news release, “The one point I want to underscore is that, as superintendent and as a long-time staff member of this division, I own these results. They are unacceptable and do not in any way reflect the efforts or abilities of our students, families and educators. They do reflect the inability of our current systems to produce the results we are seeking and clearly demonstrate the need for these systems to immediately change.”

As a result, we will be developing and issuing a request for proposal (RFP) within the next 30 days to engage an outside organization to conduct an independent audit of our reading instructional program, our classroom practices, and our intervention and support models, as well as staffing. This audit will lead to specific recommendations and actions for improvements. I also will be appointing a task force of teachers, specialists, central office staff, and community partners, to offer counsel in developing the scope of the RFP and, later, to review the results of the audit and offer recommendations for short- and long-term improvements.

On this highly critical challenge before us, I wanted to share this information and our intentions with you prior to sharing it with our families and community.

As pledged in our public statement, “The key to closing our achievement gaps based on race, language-learner status, special capacities, and socioeconomics is for our entire division, together with our community partners, to develop action specific plans and take actions with fidelity to ensure we are creating positive changes with a greater sense of urgency.”

Our news release will be published in our online Newsroom at 2:30 this afternoon.

Sincerely,

Dr. Matthew Haas
Superintendent of Schools