Dear Families, Colleagues, and Novato Community,

What a delight to see the City of Novato “hometown unity” thriving at the Fourth of July parade! It felt like a revival of the community spirit that Novato has always been known for as they support parade participants from community members, veterans, the equestrian community, dignitaries, and most importantly for NUSD, our students. The welcome and support for students from our community was shining brightly and the students and families were delighted with the show of support!  Special thanks to Olive School, Rancho School, San Jose Middle School, and Novato High School for entertaining the community with bubbles, welcoming signs, Lion King performance, AIM High summer program, and MSA rock band “Cubed”.  A great time was had by all!

With excellent promotions and graduations behind us, our students are going off to a wide variety of public and private universities, many with local and university scholarships.  Our students are being accepted to their “first choice” colleges with a very high rate of acceptance. The scholarships range from a wide array of talents including academics, athletics, and performing arts and, as a community of learners, we send our students off with great pride in achievement. A special thanks to our many local clubs and organizations who generously provide scholarships for our students:  Rotary, Soroptimist, PTSA, Boosters, Foundations, Novato Federation of Teachers, Novato Republican Women, American Association of University Women, 10,000 Degrees, and many more.

We leave for a brief summer break in July with the following in place.

  • A balanced budget due to a generous increase in per student spending to approximately $11,300 per student with commitments from the Governor and legislature with one-time funding to support learning loss so NUSD can provide targeted intervention for our students.
  • Increase in Special Education funding to $820 per average daily attendance rate.
  • New funding for Transitional Kindergarten up to $2, 813 per student attendance rate.
  • An increase in NUSD enrollment from 7,168 to 7, 390, we are so thrilled to have our families coming back since COVID.
  • Summer Bond projects are underway at Hamilton, Loma Verde, Pleasant Valley, Rancho, San Ramon, San Jose, and Sinaloa.
  • Summer School Programs are thriving at Olive, Lynwood, and Aim High at the Indian Valley campus, and independent study for high school students
  • NUSD welcomed back all of the teachers that received Reduction in Force notices due to declining enrollment. Many of our teachers are returning. Some teachers at the high school level who did not receive Reduction in Force notices did take other jobs in neighboring districts or schools closer to their homes. We are grateful for the teachers returning and wish the teachers who are leaving all the best
  • Human Resources is working diligently to arrange interviews for openings in teacher and support staff roles, so we are prepared for our students on the first day of school. We welcome Francesca Whitcomb, as our new Director of Human Resources. She is a Novato resident, graduated from NHS, has three daughters who attended NUSD. Previously at NUSD, she worked as the Executive Assistant to the HR Director, and now is coming back to us as the Director of Human Resources.  Please join me in welcoming Francesca Whitcomb back to NUSD!

Enjoy the brief summer break.  We look forward to seeing you in August.

Sincerely,

Jan La Torre-Derby, Ed.D.

Superintendent