Hello East Valley,

I am proud to be the superintendent of East Valley School District. In this, my second year, I feel as though I am fully and deeply embedded into the school district both personally and professionally. I am currently in my thirtieth year in education with East Valley being the third district in which I have worked. My roots and loyalties grow quickly; as such, I hope to finish my career here as an East Valley Knight. In May of 2022, we sold our home in the Nine Mile Falls neighborhood where we raised our three children. Despite the craziness of the housing market, we were able to find our new home nestled up in the Forker foothills. I am home...in all respects of the word, I am home here in East Valley. 

Throughout my time of  serving in this district, I have found a deeply committed group of educators who care passionately about our students and this community. We are blessed with a School Board who have collectively demonstrated their courage and support of our students, staff, and community through their elected (volunteer) positions. Additionally, we are grateful to our constituents who continue to support its students, staff, and schools. The pride and loyalty within our school communities and our community at large is inspiring. I learned a new acronym at the beginning of this school year, KPRD - Knight Pride Runs Deep...indeed it does. The passage of our November ballot measure will allow us to replace roofs, and HVAC units that have exceeded their life expectancy. To be frank, we have a lot to do with our district facilities and the monies collected for this capital levy will not address all of the concerns and needs our facilities have. At the conclusion of this four-year capital levy, we will be looking at a potential bond measure. Thus, throughout the next several years, we will utilize a strategic planning process that involves and includes stakeholder voice, input, and buy-in our planning and determination of what bond measure(s) makes the most sense. We cannot and will not eat the entire elephant at one time. 

As previously mentioned, facilities will be a component of the strategic plan. More importantly, our hopes are that this process, and its final outcomes, will guide the East Valley School District in the short and long term. District leadership will soon begin formatting, organizing, and calendaring the strategic planning launch between late spring and early fall of 2023. During the summer months  and leading up to the start of the 2023/24 school year, we will be looking for stakeholders (students, staff, parents/guardians, and community members) to participate in this endeavor. If you are interested, I ask that you please send me an email regarding your willingness and desire to take part in this work. Please send that email to talbottb@evsd.org. This thorough and thoughtful process will help our district address our deficiencies and needs, tweak and enhance current programs, and focus our efforts. We will be unable to achieve our end goals of this process without significant and committed involvement from our stakeholders; I look forward to hearing from you.  

In the meantime, if you would like to meet and talk about "all things or anything East Valley," I want to hear from you.

Together, we are East Valley 

-bt