Dear SAISD Family Member,
 
As the holidays bring us together in celebration, optimism, and joy, so too, does collaboration. Just like this special time of year, the action of working cooperatively to create something that benefits all those involved, fills us with promise, hope and great expectations.
 
It has truly been an amazing 73 days since I have had the honor and privilege to serve as your Interim Superintendent of Schools. Although we still have much work ahead, our focus on every child, every classroom, every day continues to take us to new and exciting heights.
 
As we strive to cultivate our “79 Square Miles of Excellence,” we are reminded that each one of us has a choice to serve as a change agent and difference maker in the lives of our students and in the lives of each other.
 
The poem “Welcome the Rain” is a wonderful example of how our thoughts and actions can do just that.
 
“As the first raindrops fall to the ground,
 
A businessman lets out an angry sigh, 
 
Knowing traffic will be slow he thinks,
 
Why me? Why today? Just tell me why?
 
Outside of town, a farmer scans the horizon as the storm clouds begin to roll in.
 
With joy and celebration he calls out,
 
We are blessed! At least the drought will end.
 
In every life storms will come: Adversity, Inconvenience, or Pain.
 
Only we can choose how we will respond: To be overwhelmed or welcome the rain.
 
It is not about what happens to us. 
 
It is what we think, internalize, and perceive.
 
It is not about external events. It is what we choose to believe.”
 
Harriet Tubman once stated, “Every dream begins with a dreamer.” In SAISD, we truly believe that we have within us the strength, the will, the patience, and the passion to make our dreams come true.
 
When asked what it was like to not be able to see, Helen Keller replied, “The only thing worse than not being able to see, is being able to see but have no vision.”
 
On behalf of our Board of Trustees and our entire school district, thank you for seeing SAISD as it should be and for reminding us, “What we choose to believe is what matters most of all.”
 
Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Holidays!
 
"Dr. J"
 
Robert Jaklich, Ed. D.
 
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
~Mahatma Gandhi