Recently, the Board of Education passed the new Sparta Area School District mission and vision:
Mission: To educate all students, academically, emotionally, and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience.
Vision: To design and deliver the best educational journey for all.
This mission and vision was co-created by all staff, and reflects our commitment to making the Sparta Area School District a district of choice in the area. Our commitment to our mission and vision come to life in the work we are doing with and within our facilities. That is, we are working on new facilities and on better ways to be more cohesive about how we deliver instruction to ensure every child gets what they need in their learning.
Last year, the community supported a $32.5 million referendum to construct a new elementary school and update selected district buildings, with a focus on expanding Southside Elementary School. The work on these projects continues to move forward on time and on budget, and we are excited about the educational opportunities and learning environments these facilities will offer our students. By the end of this school year, the work will be underway at Southside Elementary and at the new elementary school. The plan is to be operational in the fall of 2019 at Southside for PreK and grades K – 3 (grades 1 – 3 will move the following year) , and to open the new elementary school in the fall of 2020. This timeline would enable us to move the PreK students over to Southside in the 2019-2020 school year so that next year’s PreK class can benefit from the new facility and get settled in prior to moving the other elementary grades in the fall of 2020.
Not only are we working hard at the Sparta Area School District to provide excellent learning environments for our students, we are committed to providing the best educational experiences we know how within those facilities. This work includes structuring purposeful collaboration time for staff, building staff capacity to better serve students, and uniting our PreK – 12 educational experiences around a cohesive instructional model that enables us to live our mission and realize our vision. This work is ongoing and involves a commitment to continuously strive for improvement toward excellence. I am proud to be a part of this community and our school district.
-Dr. Amy Van Deuren, Superintendent