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Op-ed in today's Express-News - Oct. 18, 2021
10/18/2021
Dear SAISD Family,
 
Below is an Op-ed that was published in today’s San Antonio Express-News, and we wanted to be sure our SAISD family members had a chance to read it.
 
I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Welcome back to a new week!
 
“Dr. J” 
 
Robert Jaklich, Ed. D.
 
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
~Mahatma Gandhi

https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/commentary/article/Commentary-Refresh-review-revisit-SAISD-s-16536676.php

Refresh, review, revisit: SAISD’s strong path forward

Robert A. Jaklich
For the Express-News

I am extremely honored and excited about the opportunity to serve as the interim superintendent of San Antonio ISD. Like the rest of our great city, I watched and cheered as the district experienced a myriad of educational successes that enhanced classroom support, accelerated student achievement, empowered parent engagement and validated student learning. These accomplishments were years in the making brought on by great classroom, campus, district and board leadership. The future was bright and filled with hope and endless possibilities.

And then the unimaginable happened. A pandemic swept in, changing the educational and economic landscape for our children and their families. Not just here in San Antonio, but also across the nation and the world. 
Our students are now in their third academic year of not experiencing a normal instructional environment. And it shows. It shows in our children’s anxiety levels, in more students working to help support their families financially, and academically in their state assessment scores. Remote learning, while keeping our children safe from sickness, harmed them in ways seen and unseen. We are all experiencing its toll.

I believe in our students. I believe in SAISD. And I believe we are all called upon to be in the right place at the right time to make the right choices for our children.

The first step is to fully assess the challenges that lie before us. The second step is to embrace the opportunity to pause and reflect. What are our core aspirations for our students, families, and community? How will we achieve those aspirations? What will we need to do to deliver on the promises we have made? The third step is to unify around a strong path forward.

Today, at our board meeting, we will take that first step. We will be sharing with our trustees and the broader community the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 and the unprecedented hardships our children have been dealt since March 2020. Currently, more than half of our students are operating more than one year below their grade level. It’s shocking, yes. But it is also jolting us into taking the second most important step. One where we refresh, review, and revisit the ‘why we do what we do.’

Our children aren’t numbers.

We know our children are beautifully capable of fulfilling their maximum potential. We have seen it before, and we will see it again. Our children’s hearts and minds are as great as they’ve ever been, and together we will rise and overcome this temporary setback.

Which brings us to our final, most important step. Gathering all of us — educators, parents, community, and business leaders — together as a unified force to ensure every child, in every classroom, on every day is supported through this unprecedented time. Through collaboration, we can build more partnerships, offer after-school engagement programs, and extend social services to parents. We can lean on each other as we power through this period, while offering each other grace, empathy, and patience.

By working together, we will raise the pillars that will strengthen our efforts to rebuild. We will create a student-focused culture where student needs are not only understood but also drive our actions. We will build a system where all decisions are made through an inclusive lens of equity in education. We will engage in two-way communications with our families, and these interactions will be rooted in cultural responsiveness and opportunities to contribute. And this is only the beginning of our aspirations.

As we continually strive to create quality learning environments, quality instructional programs, and quality opportunities for all students and staff, we realize that our actions come down to choice. The choices we make in these critical moments help form us and inform others about who we are and what we stand for.

In SAISD, we are truly thankful for the opportunity that we have every day to serve as a change agent and difference maker in the lives of our students. We realize that choice, not chance, determines our destiny and we thank you for choosing to believe in us. We look forward to working together as we face the challenges that lie ahead and will never lose sight of the fact that together we can always achieve more.
 

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