Gary Thomas, Ed.D. County Superintendent

Superintendent's Message

County Schools Looks To Transform Lives Through Education

During my State of Education Address at the beginning of March, I made the connection between the strength of the economy in our region and the investment we make as citizens with the education of our children.

In San Bernardino County - not to mention across our state and nation - we remain challenged by inadequate and unreliable funding sources, high numbers of students dropping out of school, low graduation and college-going rates and a myriad of family and social issues that impact the learning readiness of our students each and every day.

These issues are at the forefront of why our County Schools office has undertaken a strategic planning process that we began in September. In the process, our office is working with stakeholders across the county to build a roadmap for the future of education in our county.

As a result of this work, we developed a new mission statement for County Schools that reflects the spirit of our organization and where we aspire to be as a leader in providing stellar educational services. The new mission statement is:

"The mission of San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools is to transform lives through education. Working in collaboration with school districts, other agencies, families and our community partners, we provide leadership, advocacy and services to ensure innovative, inspiring educational practices. This endeavor is essential to the quality of life and economic vitality of our communities."

While the mission statement is a tangible step, we are not yet finished with our strategic planning. At this time, more than 150 volunteers from the community, as well as members of our County Schools' staff, are developing plans of action to move us toward a new reality where students maximize their unique potential in extraordinary educational communities.

During my State of Education Address, I recognized two students who are reaching their potential - Jahrell Killpatrick, a graduate of the Gateway program in County Schools' Juvenile Court School, and Travis Anthony Schmauss, a senior at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga and the Chaffey Joint Union High School District.

Jahrell worked on our strategic planning team and is a student at San Bernardino Valley College with aspirations to be a firefighter and serve in the military.

Travis posted a perfect score on his SAT, his college entrance exam. In 2010, only 382 students out of 1.5 million nationally earned a perfect score on the SAT.

While taking different routes, Jahrell and Travis represent public school success stories. We know that every student can succeed.

We also know that our future is being shaped around us. Whether that future hinders or enhances public education is up to us as citizens. As the county superintendent, I have a deep conviction about being an advocate for what is right with public education. My hope is that others in our community will join us at County Schools in our mission to transform lives through education.