First published in the Aug. 11 print issue of the San Marino Tribune.
By Linda de la Torre
Special to the Tribune
As the superintendent of the San Marino Unified School District, I am excited to welcome everyone back to school on Aug. 10.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning.” I’m proud to say that the San Marino Unified School District continuously works toward ways to improve practices and refine its approach to educating the whole child. Our district has a reputation of exemplifying excellence through what we call “The FOUR A’s: Academics, Arts, Athletics and Activities.”
Accordingly, the district’s theme for this upcoming year is: “Demonstrating Continued Excellence in The FOUR A’s: Academics, Arts, Athletics and Activities.” San Marino Unified School District is on the leading edge of excellence in academics, arts, athletics and activities. We work hard to maintain long-term fiscal health, to thoroughly integrate technology, and to improve and enhance communication strategies.
Our cornerstones of success are to recognize and value that each individual student has dignity and worth; that education and learning never stops; that all students are unique and are capable of learning with high expectations and challenging curricula. The district seeks and values community involvement; outstanding, highly trained and dedicated personnel; personal responsibility, accountability and continuous improvement; and exceptional service to make a difference.
Our district continues to communicate with the Los Angeles County Public Health Department regarding COVID guidelines and health orders with an emphasis on providing a safe, clean and healthy learning environment for all students and staff. As such, we will continue to follow all state and county health and safety guidance. Currently, there is no indoor mask requirement. If this changes, our students and parents would be notified immediately.
San Marino Unified School District is successful because of the unsurpassed support and engagement of our community of parents, our educational partnerships, excellent administrators, directors, teachers and classified personnel. The financial support received annually by our incredible San Marino Schools Foundation and our amazing PTAs is vital to our ability to maintain lower class sizes and provide enrichment programs that would not otherwise exist.
Together, we will facilitate growth and make progress in our endeavor to continue to be the premier provider of excellence in education in K-12 schools. Our district is uniquely positioned to build on our reputation of excellence while partnering with the most innovative companies and institutions of higher education in the world to provide the best educational experience possible. We have the right staff, students, community and school board to re-imagine a learning model for our District and to lead the change for public schools across this country.
It is my distinct honor and privilege to serve this outstanding school district, and I look forward to an exceptional 2022-23 school year!
Linda de la Torre is the SMUSD Superintendent.
