Superintendent's Page

July 31, 2021

​

Dear Ripon Unified School District Parents, Staff and Community,

 

Summer is quickly coming to a close and the start of the 2021-22 school year will soon be upon us.   It may have seemed like a short summer especially with the continued changes as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic.   We hope that you had a chance for some time to rest, relax and have some fun.  On July 12th, 2021 the California Department of Public Health Guidelines released updated K-12 school guidance.

Up to date information regarding these changes will be shared with you from your school principals as guidelines can frequently change.    

 

Ripon Unified is committed to providing effective, safe and engaging environments where all children can learn, achieve and become college and/or career ready.  Our overarching foundational umbrella of MTSS (Multi–Tiered Systems of Support) will keep growing with more interventions to provide an even stronger base for our students.   A few new highlights are that two elementary school counselors have been hired to provide our students with additional socio-emotional support.   We are welcoming a new general elementary music teacher to work with our first through third grade students.   Over the summer our district offered numerous programs and experienced the largest student enrollment in the last few years.  Additional student interventions and supports are planned for both during and after school hours this year.

 

Providing opportunities for continuous improvement for all is a core value in Ripon Unified.  Professional development for our staff in the 2021-22 year is set to focus on English language arts (ELA) and English language development (ELD) with an emphasis on writing and designated ELD.  Targeted work is planned in the areas of science and math at the high school level.  Ripona School will be celebrating an inaugural year of the opening of the Ripona Language Academy diving deeper in languages, as well as focusing on the delivery of math instruction.   The technology cadre has taken on the challenge of providing professional development on the ongoing critical topic of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).   Once again this summer we have a great team of teachers providing professional development online.  

 

We were most grateful to have had students in class physically at our schools most of the 2020-21 school year.  It was and continues to be our goal to provide educational opportunities in person at our school campuses.   Currently, our team is planning a program to implement the newly mandated Independent Study regulations.   

 

Thank you for your continued support and partnership.   Working together we are best able to provide learning that has elements of rigor, relevance, and relationship to prepare our students to become future contributing citizens.   Please reach out if you have questions or need assistance, as school staff are available to help.

 

In educational partnership,

Dr. Ziggy Robeson