I want to wish all of our Pioneer Families and community members a very Happy New Year. As we embark on these last five and a half months of school, the staff at Pioneer will continue to focus on continuous improvement with our students.

Our focus this year has been on improvement in reading in all grades as well as decreasing student absenteeism. The staff has been working diligently on these two issues. We also continue to provide instruction focusing on math, science, writing, and social studies. Students continue to have music, physical education, and STEM. The elementary students have access to the library each week and middle school students have a myriad of elective courses they can enroll in. We all should be proud of the work our Pioneer staff does in working with our PreK-8 students. They continue to provide core instruction to all students and support through small group interventions for those students not quite at grade level competency.

As you know, we did have to make significant reductions in staffing going into the 2024-2025 school year. We continue to closely monitor our revenues and expenditures this year, while beginning to plan for our 2025-2026 budget. The Legislative session begins on January 13. The message we are receiving is that the state faces reductions in their revenue projections, so funding may continue to be a challenge for schools.

I want to assure you that we will continue to do our best for your child each and every day, regardless of funding issues. Again, our staff is doing a great job of ensuring that each student at Pioneer is receiving the kind of education we all want for our kids. Have a wonderful 2025. It’s a great day to be a Pioneer Eagle!

As always, my door is open, so feel free to stop by the district office when you can and you can also reach me by phone at 360-426-9115 or by email at: jdavis@psd402.org.