Like other Oregon schools, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District is working with a state suffering from diminishing resources. But, it is still determined to provide students with a proper education, Superintendent Dr. William Rhoades says. “The district really thrives on [its] powerful vision [of] teaching and learning,” he declares.
In 2009, Wayne-Westland Community Schools was recognized by a Detroit news station as being one of the best schools in Michigan. The school district was deserving of this honor, according to the ABC affiliate, because of the many high-tech courses offered at the William D. Ford Career-Tech Center, the online and dual-enrollment opportunities available at the district’s high schools, the new high school fitness centers and the elementary schools’ reading and hands-on science programs.
At one of the oldest elementary school districts in Arizona, Washington Elementary School District No. 6’s employees and administrators are distinguishing the district with their extra efforts. They went through a lengthy process to obtain grants from Cause and Effect and Brighten a Life for sustainable arts and music buildings. Additionally, a large number of the district’s teachers are achieving National Board Certification (NBC) from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and the Acacia Elementary School was included in the A+ School of Excellence Program by the Arizona Educational Foundation in 2010.
Located 40 miles south of Washington, D.C., and 55 miles north of Richmond, Va., Stafford County, Va., is in the thick of American history. The county is home to Ferry Farm – George Washington’s childhood home – and is based along the Potomac River. With a proximity to our nation’s capital, as well as the historic areas of Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg, there is a lot to be learned in this region. Stafford County Public Schools aims to support the area’s tradition of discovery by “inspiring excellence” in its students, teachers, staff and community, according to Superintendent Dr. Randy Bridges.
As the sixth-largest school district in California – as well as the largest in Orange County – the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) is cut from a unique swath of fabric. Latinos represent more than 94 percent of the student body, and SAUSD says about 60 percent of the 56,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students are English learners who speak Spanish, Vietnamese and Khmer at home.
Michael Muñoz has been involved in public education for 33 years – including 12 years as a teacher, eight years as a counselor and eight years as a principal – but he’s been with Rochester Public Schools only since the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. He’d spent most of his career in Nebraska and Iowa, but after interviewing at different districts around the county last year, he chose to become superintendent in this Minnesota city because of common values he saw between himself and the people in this area.
Education sometimes is compared to a funnel – you put students in at the wide end and they come out uniformly at the narrow one. But Proctor Academy operates differently. “I would describe Proctor as an inverted funnel,” Head of School Mike Henriques says. “We have lots of students come for different reasons – our off-campus programs, the arts, skiing, Learning Skills – and they graduate very much aware of their passions and what they have to do to sustain them.”
School district superintendents realize they can send out as many district-wide regulations as they like. However, if the leaders working beneath them and the teachers they employ do not buy into the philosophy, nothing will change. For the Pitt County Schools in North Carolina, Superintendent Dr. Beverly Emory understands that this philosophy is the reason her district is thriving.
