2023-2024
Dr. V's Annual Address:
State of the District
Alignment | Innovation | Authenticity
Every Child, Every Classroom, Everyday
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Dear Watertown Public Schools Faculty, Families and Students,
It is always a pleasure to provide an annual outlook of the state of our district each year. One of the greatest responsibilities of a Superintendent is to ensure that the overall health of an entire district is thriving, growing, and progressing. Leading various systems within a district to make sure each one is working in harmony with one another is the key to continual growth.
And what is very clear is that ‘Superintendents cannot do it alone’... in fact, ‘Schools cannot do it alone’... it takes many, if not every hand. And so, I begin this message with a grateful acknowledgement to all of our partners in and around the Watertown community who make the important work of our district possible each and everyday.
Board of Education, District Cabinet team, Building Administrators, Faculty & Staff, Coaches, Volunteers, Students & Families, State Agencies, Local Community Partners, Town Departments & Councils and everyone in between. You all make an impact and help us take each step forward.
With great pride for the strides we make as a district each year, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, Watertown!
Alison Villanueva, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
What this ‘Looks’ like in schools over time …
Implementation of district wide/level specific programs in math & reading.
Explicit expectations of data driven school improvement plans to increase student performance.
Use of targeted, double dose, high dosage, interventions.
Expand program continuum to increase student choice and voice
Fortify curriculum experience
Intentional internal capacity building opportunities to cultivate leadership opportunities and highly trained experts in new, changing, discrete areas of need & expansion.
Specific placement of expanded faculty and staff roles to support department reorganizations.
Gradual Infusion of fair compensation & leadership pathways for all bargaining units.
Specific and intentional hiring and placement of highly qualified personnel.
Reorganization of department roles to maximize accountability & alignment.
Purposeful utilization of accountability measures using current data in all departments.
Thoughtful utilization of evaluation measures to drive student achievement and department functions.
Audit existing departments to reorganize management.
Reorganization of human capital to expand programs & Address student performance.
Maximize large scale Capital Projects.
Carefully and prudently utilize a full budget for targeted student needs.
Target vendors/providers and change when needed to capture efficiencies.
Aggressively target grants
Theme: Every Opportunity - ‘70,590 Minutes, 70,590 Moments, 181 Chances’
Focus on Human Capital and Capacity Building
- Click 2023-2024 Strategic Actions are for this year’s strategic actions
Theme: Every Employee - ‘The Smallest Unit of Change’ & Every Employee
Instructional/Pedagogical Shifts Towards Change
- Click here for the district’s Curriculum Site
Theme: Every Student System - ‘Alignment, Innovation, Authenticity’
Implementation of Themes and Core Values
Navigating the Impact of Covid:
‘Seeing Through Our 2018-2021 Strategic Plan’
Click here for the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan