- Seneca Valley School District
- Overview
SV catches attention of education experts
No one could have imagined how the last few months of the 2019-20 school year would play out for K-12 students across the nation – and the world. While it was understandable that such an abrupt and unprecedented closure would cause many to falter, it certainly was not a time to be caught flat-footed.
“I am proud of the way our district pivoted quickly with our COVID response,” said Dr. Tracy Vitale, Superintendent of Schools. “We have a strong foundation for learning and a skilled staff I knew would rise to the occasion.”
She’s not the only one who feels that way. Seneca Valley’s approach caught the attention of experts in the education field and was invited to participate in a nationally published white paper by the National Center on Education and The Economy (NCEE). In the detailed document, about eight school districts from across the country were interviewed and shared their stories. You can find “The Mother of Reinvention: How System Leaders Respond in a Crisis” on the NCEE website at http://ncee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Mother-of-Reinvention-Whitepaper-6.pdf.
The paper, written in partnership with the National Institute for School Leadership (NISL), also talks to Superintendents about the varied approaches they took leading up to the pandemic - and the choices they had to make in rapid succession during the global crisis, including their philosophies.
As Dr. Vitale noted in the paper, “I have always as a leader believed you get more out of teachers if you treat them as professionals and then get out of the way.”
According to the NCEE website, since 1988, they have been researching the world’s best-performing education systems to give states and districts the tools they need to become world class. To learn more about NCEE, visit www.ncee.org.