President

ACSA Region 2

President's Message

On behalf of the Region 2 Executive Board, I would like say “welcome back” and thank you for your involvement in Region 2 ACSA! I hope your summer was filled with fun, adventure and rejuvenation!

I am very excited and honored to begin my responsibilities as Region 2 President. I would first like to thank and recognize Darrien Johnson for her continuing commitment to ACSA and for her outstanding leadership as Past Region President.

As I was reflecting about the coming school year and the fiscal and political challenges we face as a public institution, I had a couple thoughts to share. First: I believe that just by virtue of being school administrators, we are used to taking lemons and turning them into lemonade. We are used to having fewer resources than we really need and still making the miracles happen for our students. Well, it looks like we have some huge opportunities for lots of lemonade and miracles too in the coming year! I feel strongly that how the next year goes will be largely determined by how we look at things. If we see this time as an opportunity, we can redesign, restructure, reinvent and reinvigorate how we educate, and actually turn this into a banner year for our students and our profession. Henry Ford, the famous inventor, said: “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off of your goals.” With the noise, distractions and obstacles facing public education, our challenge in the coming months will be to keep our “eyes on the prize.” Regardless of the actions of the Governor or the Legislature, our success will be measured by the accomplishments of next year’s students, and our success will be measured by our ability to disseminate the critical skills and knowledge they will need to adapt and succeed in a rapidly changing world (hopefully with a true love of learning and a sense of hope for the future).

Henry Ford also wrote: “Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.” During challenging times, the level of organizational success we achieve in Region 2 will be determined largely by how well we function together as a team. Like so many organizations, we are finding it necessary to reorganize, create synergy around new ideas, do more with less, and find new efficiencies in everything we do. At the same time, to be truly successful, we will need to grow closer together as professionals, advocate more strongly for our students, and refuse to let any external issues divide and isolate us.

Region 2 ACSA provides many wonderful opportunities for professional growth, interpersonal relationships and networking that help support and sustain all of us. We welcome you to join us in this most important work because staying connected will never be more important than it is now. If you are involved in Region 2, we thank you and hope you will continue this great work. If you are not involved, please contact any ACSA member to see how you can get more involved. Most importantly, in these turbulent times, please continue to reach out and support each other and be active in your Charters and Region so that together we can secure the high quality education the students of California deserve.

Thank you for all you do on behalf of the students in your care. Welcome back, we wish you a great school year!

David Swart, Region President