IN South Fayette Fall 2016 | Page 51

South Fayette remains highly dedicated to providing a learning environment that is rich in innovation, routinely provides students with collaborative learning experiences, and one where teachers and students effectively and seamlessly integrate technology into daily instruction and creative real-world learning opportunities. The 1:1 technology rollout and implementation will finalize this coming year as staff and students in grades 9-12 will also use the HP Revolve laptops to aid instruction and learning. The district’s Operational Planning theme for the 2016-2017 school year is “Exploration and Inventiveness.” The district continues to build upon South Fayette’s strong foundation and partnerships, such as with the Digital Promise: League of Innovative Schools, Pittsburgh’s Remake Learning Network; the Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3 (AIU 3); Dr. Sarah Tambucci, Executive Director of the Arts Education Collaborative (AEC); and others. To support the development of this year’s theme, the South Fayette Administrative Leadership Team recently participated in its yearly “Operational Planning/Goals Meetings.” To attain such goals, the district has been successful and fortunate in securing grants from the Grable Foundation, Sprout Fund, Digital Promise, and others in order to advance student and staff learning opportunities, and reach out to other school district partners enabling underserved student populations to become involved in various district initiatives. Together, as we begin our new 2016-2017 school year, please encourage your children to “Explore” new facets of learning and seek out various opportunities that will provide “Inventive,” “Maker,” “Digital,” and “Real-World” learning experiences. We value your support and genuinely need you as our best partners so that our students will be best prepared for their next steps in our global and digital world. We are excited for the children to return on August 22! All the best, Dr. Bille P. Rondinelli Superintendent of Schools South Fayette | Fall 2016 | icmags.com 49 SOU TH FAYE T TE TOW N SHI P SC HOOL D IS T RIC T NE WS South Fayette high success rates on all state, local, and national assessments. Our qualitative data indicates that students engaged in STEAM and innovation learning experiences are asking deeper inquirybased questions, becoming advanced problem solvers, and deeper engaged thinkers as a direct result of their overall learning experiences.