Parents, Students, and Patrons:

Its time to begin another school year,  and there is much anticipation, excitement and probably even a little bit of anxiety.  As begin the 2012-13 school year together, I want to encourage you to join with us and take an active roll in the education of your children.  I fully expect that we can by working together, make this the best school year ever and make your child's educational experiences here in the Valliant Schools a positive, productive, and memorable one.

I am extremely optimimistic about our initial student numbers.  All of our builiding sites are reporting higher student numbers than last year.  Unfortunately, our school finances are tied directly to the number of students we have enrolled.  If it is possible to sustain these higher enrollment numbers, it may be possible to offset some of the reduction in funds we have seen at the state level over the past several years.   Public schools in general have been assaulted over the past few years by new legislative reductions and State Department regulations.  As a result, our funding levels are at generational lows on a per student basis.  Consequently, more of our financial effort has to be focused on the basics such as fuel, power, and consumables, rather than us having the ability to push the envelope of education with technology and curriculum.  I would encourage you to contact your legislators and exercise your right to vote in order to help us overcome these difficulties at the state level.

Schools and education are changing more than ever before.  What we teach and the way we teach are in a constant state of flux as we begin to focus on skills that our children need to be successful in the 21st century.   We are moving toward new curricula in the form of the common core and you will begin to here and learn more and more about these changes.  We are focusing on creating students that are ready for life after school, regardless of what they choose to do.  Preparing students to be ready for college, careers, and for life in our community is a huge undertaking.  Many of the jobs that the students that are in our school today, do not yet exist.  Therefore, it is more important than ever for us to develop students that can think and are adaptable to any circumstance.  The expectations for the future are high.  The expectations our teachers have for your children are high.  My expectations are high for our students and our staff.  I hope that you have equally high expectations for us. 

Valliant has much to celebrate.  Our test scores last year showed that we are on the right track with our programs.  The community is beginning a growth phase with new businesses and some housing.  There is a buzz about Valliant and many are looking closely at us to see what the future holds.  I expect great things from Valliant and from our school.

I am proud to serve our students and our community as Superintendent of Schools.  I believe that our students will continue to experience great success regardless of their endeavor.  I also believe that if we all work together we can make our school and our community that others will want to emulate.   Please take time and involve yourself in this school.  It is as much yours as it is mine and we need your help as we continue to move forward. 

It's a great day to be a Bulldog!

Sincerely,

Craig Wall