A Message to Our Community
June 2005

This spring has been a busy time for ACOE on many different levels.

I want to extend my thanks to Tom McGann and the Facilities and Maintenance Dept. for preparing the fountain area outside our main offi ce for the beautiful sculpture. Thank you also to Jan Treff for organizing a successful celebration in which we truly revealed the best of ACOE.

And congratulations to all of the employees who were recognized with ACOE service pins. I appreciate your commitment to education.

While many of us saw the tremendous work going on in the fountain area, our Williams Settlement Legislation Task Force was less visible but working just as diligently to visit more than 90 schools throughout the county.

The Williams lawsuit and resulting legislation has created a new role for COE's, that of monitoring and reporting on low-performing schools.

ACOE's tremendous team gained the attention of the ACLU, which represented the plaintiffs in the original lawsuit.

“The Williams plaintiffs team owes ACOE a debt of gratitude for your evident commitment to making sure the promise of the settlement is realized,” said Brooks Allen, a staff attorney at the ACLU. Congratulations to all ACOE staff who worked on the Williams Settlement Legislation Implementation. We made it through the month of May and have had a very successful implementation.

Coming up in a few weeks is another special event, our SPAS graduation ceremony. This is always an exciting time for me. I enjoy being able to honor our students who have overcome so many obstacles to earn their high school diploma.

I hope you can join us Friday, June 17 at 6 p.m. in the ACOE courtyard as we celebrate our students.

Sheila Jordan is the County Superintendent of Schools. She may be reached at 670-4144 or by e-mail at acoesuperintendent@acoe.org.