Superintendent Messages

ENSURE LEARNING FOR ALL STUDENTS

September 6, 2022

I hope this message finds you safe as we know the Mill Fire has already had a tremendous impact on the communities of Weed and Lake Shastina.  The severity of this fire is still unfolding and being assessed and information will be shared by the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department, Cal Fire and other emergency services as updates become available

As of now, all school facilities are unharmed by the fire and fully intact for school operations. Sadly, we do know that there have been structures and homes lost in the community and our families that are impacted by this devastating outcome are in our thoughts and prayers. Siskiyou Union High School District is working closely with local and state agencies such as the Siskiyou County Office of Education, California Department of Education, and the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to gather even more resources to support our schools, students and staff.  We will be working closely with our schools in supporting your students upon their return to school, providing counseling and mental health support, as well as other support as needed to help us all get through this challenging time.

We are here to support you through this challenging time and hope that everyone stays safe. We will get through this together.

Sincerely,

Michael Wharton Jr.

August 9, 2022

Greetings SHSD staff and welcome to the 2022- 2023 school year! I hope the end of the summer break finds.you well, rested, re-energized, and ready for the upcoming year! My name is Michel Wharton and I am absolutely thrilled and humbled to be able to serve as your new District Superintendent. While I have met many of you, I do look forward to meeting ALL of you and getting to know a little bit more about each of you.

There are quite a few new faces at the district office as well - we may be new to the office and/or district - but we each bring many years of individual experience. I can’t wait to introduce you to them at our all staff meeting on August 16. Our team is here to help the entire district staff to execute our districts’ mission to “Ensure Learning for All Students” and to do what is best for kids. We look forward to learning more about the specific challenges and opportunities you face, and how we can help to remove barriers and allocate resourcesto meet them.

My goal this year is to engage and empower the school community and educational partners through effective communication. Specifically, it is my intention to be a good and active listener and I intend to seek clarification by asking questions. I hope that you all follow me on this journey. Many of the solutions to the challenges and obstacles that we face lie directly in front of us. Through effective communication, we can better understand the specific needs of our students, co-workers, and parents - and work towards helping them to find a solution.

Engage and Empower. As with every year, it is important to take time to focus on the following:

● Establishing effective lines of communication with all staff, students, families, and communities.

● Focusing on relationships and the connections that help anchor our students and families to their schools

and communities.

● Investing in our staff to build new curriculum and student engagement strategies.

● Supporting our students by providing intensive academic support, social emotional support, exciting

learning experiences, and guidance so they can reimagine their futures. See our Expanded Learning

Multi -Tiered System of Support linked here.

● Promoting our success and the tremendous work of our students and staff.

We are proposing the following bell schedules for the 2022-23 school year. Because we are going to be sharing staff and programs across the district in a variety of methods, we have a need to maintain a common bell schedule for all schools. This schedule includes a 40 minute advisory period on Fridays and the block schedules for Monday through Thursday. The Advisory period will be used to conduct schoolwide lessons andactivities in the following areas:

● Grade and progress monitoring

● College and Career Exploration and Planning

● Social Emotional Learning Activities

● School wide recognitions, assemblies, and enrichment activities

We anticipate an opening enrollment of 535 students across the district. Here is a list of upcoming events and important dates:

● Wednesday, August 10, 2022 at 4:30 pm - Board Meeting at McCloud High School

● Tuesday, August 16th at 9:00 am to 3:05 pm - Opening All Staff Development Day (All Certificated and

Classified Staff) - Restorative Practices Training at WHS Gymnasium

● Wednesday, August 17th - Staff Development work (site defined at each site)

● Thursday, August 18th - Staff planning day on each site

● Friday, August 19th - Staff planning day on each site

● Monday, August 22 - First Day of Instruction

Happy Camp and the surrounding areas have once again had a traumatic fire incident that is yet to be resolved.

The team over there, led by Erica Mitchell are safe at the present and things are looking up. Please keep those communities close in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like to help in some fashion, the district office and the county office of education have information on how that can be done.

I am looking forward to a great year as your superintendent and am appreciative of the opportunity to work with each of you to serve our students and families from the communities of Happy Camp, McCloud, Mount Shasta and Weed.

With Warm Regards,

Michael Wharton

Office of the Superintendent