May 4, 2020
“Continue to grow and evolve.” Mahatma Gandhi
Dear SPUSD Faculty and Staff,
We typically enter the month of May in anticipation of all the celebratory events for our students and families and the bittersweet end to another school year. We recognize numerous student accomplishments while putting the finishing touches on an intricate tapestry of experiences at our schools, in our classrooms and within our programs. Without a doubt, our teachers and staff create the backbone of the South Pasadena Unified School District. We are so thankful for you and for the strength of our organization.
But this year has been different. In February, we started talking about some changes in travel that might be affecting some of our employees and our students and their families. Within a month, we followed guidelines restricting large scale events and just a few days after that, we closed schools. During these monumental changes, we witnessed you all growing and evolving based upon an entirely new situation.
Teachers completely recreated the classroom experience and developed an independent study distance learning program for their students. This transition required hours of teacher-training including new technology and programs that may have been unfamiliar. Our staff began primarily working from home developing new systems to keep our institution afloat. Our employees worked around the clock including offering food service for students in need and ensuring that our schools were cleaned regularly and thoroughly following ever-changing regulations. Our teams kept pressing on while managing and caring for their own family situations and supporting at-home learning experiences with their own children.
During this time of unprecedented change, we witnessed your steadfast commitment to our values, our students, and our future. Growing and evolving may be uncomfortable and it certainly takes great effort and long hours, but each of you have embraced the change and worked to make it the best it can be for the benefit of our students and families.
On behalf of the Board of Education, we cannot thank you enough for your sacrifices, your hard work, and the incredible inspiration you provide. The coming weeks and months will continue to stretch this organization. We are facing an uncertain future, but knowing that we have such a strong backbone in place will put this organization in a place to succeed. We appreciate everything you have done this entire year and especially within the past several weeks.
Thank you,
Geoff Yantz, Ed.D.
Superintendent