Welcome to the new school year

Read Superintendent Brooks' back-to-school message to APS teachers and staff.

August 9, 2012

Welcome back!

I love this time of year. It’s a bit frantic, but there’s so much promise in the air! I have high expectations for this school year, as I’m sure you do. We’ve set goals to improve academic opportunities for our students and to close the achievement gap, so all students have the same chances to succeed. We’re going to make an effort to reach out more to our parents and our communities. We will continue to be fiscally responsible, and we’ll continue working to keep our students and staff safe.

That’s a lot of responsibility, but I’m up for the challenge. I suspect you are, too. You wouldn’t be in this business of educating future generations if you weren’t.

Take comfort in knowing that you – we – are already doing a good job, despite what you may hear otherwise. We recently put together a list of APS accomplishments since I became superintendent four years ago. The list is long, but I encourage you to peruse it. And go ahead, pat yourself and your colleagues on the back.

Download the list of accomplishments.

The work isn’t close to done. Let’s be honest, it never will be. But we’re on our way to becoming one of the nation’s premier school districts. As I told administrators last week, I encourage you to keep on keeping on!