Two Years of Updates - Wyoming Department of Education

Dear Superintendents,

I have been writing weekly updates for about two years now. The endeavor began in response to your request for regular communication from me. From the beginning, I’ll confess, I intended to delegate the task. However, personally writing the update has become a reflection for me and I regularly hear from you about how the brief update and preview of memos is appreciated. Here are a few items I try to provide:

talking points when reports and data are released
upcoming activities or events
federal updates
major events that I attend with a short reflection or connection to the work we do
updates on initiatives like CTE, coding, standards work, the new assessment
upcoming professional development opportunities

I remain resolute in having an exclusive audience from Friday until Monday. Superintendents are the only group that receives the update and weekly memos before a public release on Monday. This gives you an opportunity to preview the memos before they are blasted to specific audiences on Monday morning.

I’m always open to hearing how the updates could be more helpful to you. Previously, I’ve stopped writing during the summer months. For this summer I intend to send frequent updates because we are moving forward with important work that will drive how you open your schools in the fall.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT and OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Over the past two and a half years, we have worked hard to ensure that all WDE-sponsored professional development is high quality, relevant to your needs, low cost or free, and aligned to our statewide and multi-tiered systems of support. Please check our website and social media frequently. We will utilize social media to a greater degree and as a main source of information for stakeholders. Please share the links to join the WDE social media stream:

Facebook

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WDE Website