Superintendent’s Blog: Planning for Next School Year

Dear BSD Community,

Can you believe it? We have about two months of school left. Many of our seniors are about to commit to colleges. Schools are planning kindergarten and 5th grade promotions and other year-end celebrations. And, as we finish the year strong, we are already planning for the upcoming school year.

At the April 16 school board meeting, our school board approved the 2026-27 Annual Plan - the plan that focuses and narrows our 5-year strategic plan into achievable yearly goals which will guide all of our school improvement plans. This coming year's annual plan points our whole system towards key goals, including raising math and reading achievement and continuing along our path to restore our financial reserves. This coming year, we will also work together district-wide to improve special education services, supports, and the effective stewarding of limited resources; launch an educational technology design team to update guidance around technology use by students (think: laptops, cell phones, AI); and we will continue to build our beloved community where students feel safe and valued for who they are. Stay tuned for opportunities to participate in some of our key work, including our new educational technology design team.

With our new Annual Plan, we are going to be doing some key reorganizing to give us the best opportunity for success. There are a few key district leadership changes that I wanted to share. First, I am converting the Chief Operating Officer (COO) role into a Deputy Superintendent role. We've needed to restore a "second-in-command" role in the district, and so I've asked Dr. Heather Sanchez, our current COO, to step into this #2 position. She has served in the district in numerous other roles including principal and Chief of Schools. In addition to overseeing all of operations, in this new role, she will now be able to strategically oversee and coordinate the work of operations, human resources, and finance.

A primary reason for this realignment of the operational side of the house is so that I can prioritize my time and focus on our academic and systems-building goals, including spending more time with teachers, administrators, and students in schools. To make the improvements we need to make with special education, reading, math, high school outcomes, and our priority of building the Beloved Community, I need to ensure that I have the leadership structure in place to protect my time in schools. In our recent staff survey, teachers and staff have expressed desire for me and district leaders to be more present in schools. This will assist me in honoring that request.

There are a few other key cabinet changes worth sharing. First, Loren Tillman, our Interim Chief Financial Officer, has done remarkable work in this very challenging position to stabilize our finances. Under his leadership, we have kept our expenditures within our revenue and we have begun to restore our fund balance (reserves) – improving our projected ending fund balance from $1.5M to almost $9.5M for the end of this year. As a result, I am removing his interim tag and keeping him as our head of finance with the slightly revised title of Executive Director of Business Services. He will report to the Deputy Superintendent.

I am also converting the Director of Schools position that oversees elementary schools and preschool to Chief of Schools for Elementary and Preschool, a better reflection of the responsibility of the role. Kellea Taylor will continue in this position, working alongside Aaron Miller, Chief of Schools for Secondary - both of whom will report directly to me.

It’s important to note that in these challenging fiscal times, the COO and Director of Schools positions will not be replaced, and any compensation adjustments by these changes will be implemented within our budget parameters and within our existing staff and FTE. No new positions will be added for district leadership.

I’m sharing all this now so that we can really accelerate planning for next year. We have some school leader changes happening this week and next, which I will announce in an upcoming superintendent blog.

Happy spring! Let's finish this year strong.

Sincerely, 

Dr. Kelly Aramaki 
Superintendent