In this video message, Superintendent Susan Enfield looks ahead at her 10th and final year at Highline Public Schools. Dr. Enfield assures families, students and staff that together we can create a safe, happy, healthy school year.
Superintendent's All-staff Messages
Dr. Susan Enfield communicates with staff periodically and those messages are archived here.
As we prepare for students to return to our schools this week, I have been reflecting on what is most important, and that is us. As a team and community, we remain united in adapting to the COVID-related challenges we continue to face.
Together we made it through the 2020-21 school year, with all of its challenges, joys, heartbreaks and successes. Rather than give up, or give in to despair, we rallied together and kept moving forward. Thank you. I have never been more proud or grateful to be a part of the Highline community.
As a school district that serves thousands of students of color, Highline Public Schools stands by its commitment to become an anti-racist organization. This means providing our staff with training to help them understand how racism is reflected in institutions, including school systems. We recognize that we have not reached our goal of being an anti-racist institution, but we remain committed to that goal.
We in Highline pride ourselves on our rich diversity and the fact that our students, staff and families represent so many cultures from around the world. This also means that when tragedies happen in other countries, the impact is felt here locally.
We are at that time in our fiscal year when we have to estimate our staffing needs for the upcoming school year based on enrollment projections. Each year, the School Board must pass a resolution authorizing reductions in force (RIF) so that we are prepared, should we need to reduce positions. Many years, we do not need to act on that resolution because we don’t need to cut positions.
Read this message from Superintendent Enfield has we head into Spring Break. She reminds us to take a moment for ourselves to relax and rejuvenate as we have endured many changes and challenges this year.
In recent weeks, we have seen reports of escalating hate crimes against people of Asian descent in our state and across the nation. Yesterday’s shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people--six of them Asian women--is another disturbing reminder of the increasing number of acts targeting Asian Americans and immigrants.
In a year full of challenges, one of the biggest challenges has been preparing to bring students back to school for in-person learning.
As we head into the long holiday weekend I want to take a moment to thank you for your continued dedication and optimism. I continue to be inspired by the work you are all doing to ensure that our students, staff and families are supported during these challenging times.