Dear Calistoga Joint Unified Families,

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year! Welcome to a new school year filled with opportunities for your student(s) to learn, achieve, and excel at the highest levels.

The Calistoga Joint Unified School District believes that we are a collaborative, culturally rich educational community, where a rigorous and innovative curriculum prepares our students to be successful contributors to our global society.

As we start the 2024-2025 school year, we will be in the first year of our new three year LCAP. We are committed to serving your students and meeting our four goals which include: ensure academic excellence for all students; provide a safe, healthy, & positive school environment; increase parent engagement & enhance communication; and support character development for all students while increasing exposure to college and career readiness opportunities.

The staff has continued to work hard and plan for the upcoming school year. Our staff worked all summer (both on and off campus) preparing for the new year. They too are excited to begin the year and are looking forward to working with your students on a daily basis.

As you and your students walk back on to campus you will be welcomed with many physical changes. At CES, we have painted the entire campus with our school colors of green. We also updated 18 classrooms with new carpet, LED lighting, HVAC systems, roofs, and added an outdoor learning environment. At the JSHS you will see construction is under way for our STEM building. We are also excited to share that we are in the beginning stages of constructing our new field. We are hoping to break ground in early 2025.

The 2024-2025 school year will continue to build upon our strengths as we imagine what the future holds. We will continue our work with Transcend where our team will prioritize reimagining our school model to better serve students and families. There will be opportunities to integrate your input into the process so students’ education experiences and outcomes better reflect the strengths and needs of our community. If you are interested in being a part of this work, please reach out to your student’s principal.

We believe that you play a vital role in the educational process. We have planned many opportunities for us to work together to provide students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and experiences they need to contribute to and participate in society. We look forward to hearing from you and working together throughout the school year.

I encourage you to attend our school and district events. I am committed to ensuring our students receive a world-class educational experience. Please feel free to contact me should you have ideas, questions, or comments.

It is only through working together and supporting each other in this work that we can serve your children in helping them attain their dreams.

Sincerely,

Audra Pittman, Ph.D.