Greetings Salida Schools Families!
I am so encouraged and excited after touring all of the buildings this morning. The kids' smiling faces are always a treasure on the first day of school. We are ready for your kiddos and excited about another great year. The state data is still embargoed from last year, so all I can say is our students were at the top of the state the previous year and we got even better in '24-'25.
I did want to remind everyone that student phones are no longer permitted during academic hours 8-4. The Board of Education researched and listened extensively on this topic. You can find their position on the topic here. Social media, which is predominantly accessed on phones, has a clear negative impact on human development. We exist to positively help students develop, thus we are against the use of phones.
A hope with this shift is to build upon the connection of our small community for students and staff, a point of pride for the entire community. Each school has plans to encourage students in healthy, engaging activities to replace the destructive time spent on screens. In addition, our staff are continually seeking to get better at using every instructional moment, and phones are a distraction that does not help. If a staff member sees a phone, they will take it and turn it into the office. Parents will need to pick up the devices from the office. There are no exceptions to this policy.
This year the District will be conducting a community wide conversation to discuss our vision, philosophy and curriculum for teaching students to use technology. We cannot just say no to technology, like phones, we must also figure out how to help students navigate the digital world we exist in. No jobs exist in their future without technology.
This is going to be a great year. As always, thank you for entrusting us with your children.
Respectfully,
Dr. D. Blackburn
Superintendent
719.530.5203
salidaschools.com