We are beginning a new chapter in the long-standing tradition of innovation and progressive thinking that has been the hallmark of the Sweetwater Union High School District. Over the years, each administrative team has brought forth its best thinking while implementing the state and national initiatives of its time. But none has challenged the Sweetwater family to examine itself, to reflect on its practices, to work as a community and to consider the possibilities as our new Superintendent has since his arrival in September 2006.
In December of 2006, Dr. Jesus Gandara recommended that the Board of Trustees contract the CAMBRIDGE GROUP to facilitate the development of a strategic plan to provide direction and focus for the Sweetwater Union High School District. The CAMBRIDGE GROUP has been the leading provider of educational planning in the United States for over 25 years. When the Board of Trustees approved the hiring of Bill Cook, founder of the CAMBRIDGE GROUP, to facilitate this remarkable effort, they could not have anticipated the far reaching impact of Bill Cook’s words…“A community is only as strong as the contributions of its members toward the common good.”
Thirty-one members of the Sweetwater community came together for three days in January to reflect, create and expand the core values which constitute the foundation of our District by writing the first phase of our strategic plan. In three days, our District was transformed once again into a place where hope and possibility abound making the words of Rosamund Zander, author of the Art of Possibility, a true reflection of our new attitude. Zander said, “When leadership is defined not as a position you hold but as way of ‘being’, you discover that you can lead from wherever you are.”
This could not have been more true for each of the members of our strategic planning team as well as all of the hundreds of others who collaborated for about four months with each of the 10 action team leaders in the writing of each of the action plans which constitute the core elements of the plan.
We believe that this process has been and will continue to be both a source of hope and challenge to ensure all students have an invincible sense of promise to meet the high expectations set forth in our Strategic Plan for all who serve the students in the Sweetwater Union High School District.
Arlie Ricasa, President
Sweetwater Union High School District Board of Trustees