Welcome from the Superintendent

Sequoia Schools was founded in 1996 with the intent of working together WITH families in the education of their children in an environment where every child is know by all of the staff in a very positive environment with high expectations. Too often young people do not feel accepted and fall through the cracks in many of the very large schools found in our communities today. Furthermore, meeting the needs of young people is further complicated by the fact that a majority of children are raised by a single parent, where often the single parent is not always available to provide the educational and nurturing support needed at home.

Therefore, the working relationship of the family and the school is critical to the success of the student. As most people realize, lots of quality communication and trust is vital for the success and happiness of each student.

Sequoia Schools has adopted four CORE Values that instill within our culture that we always place the needs of the child first and that everything we do as individuals and as an organization reflects the highest level of respect for all people.

As mentioned previously, high expectations are critical in a great school, and it starts with having high expectations of all teaching staff, principals, assistant superintendents and the superintendent. It is much more than simply expecting high AIMS scores, rather, it is about holding each teacher accountable for making a difference for each child. At Sequoia Schools, every student is assessed four times during the school year in reading comprehension, writing and math. These academic assessments are controlled tests from the superintendent's office that provide independent verification of learning of core state standards.

Each teacher is measured by the difference they achieve between the first assessment of the year and the last assessment of the year. Then the teachers at each grade level are ranked according to the percent of improvement for that specific subject.

In order to ensure appropriate instructional strategies are based upon academic data, we also try to provide all teachers common planning time, common intervention time and significant scheduled time for professional development and professional learning communities at each school.

Furthermore, the primary responsibility of the principal is to support the teacher. This includes helping the teacher to become a more effective teacher. The principal is expected to allocated a substantial part of their time to visiting classrooms on a daily basis. To further illustrate the importance of the role of the principal in the educational process, the litmus test to a great teacher evaluation is when the teacher can honesty feel they will become a more effective teacher as a result of the evaluation process; if this is not the case, then the evaluation process has not met its primary goal of helping the teacher.