Dr. Johnson
Savanna School District Superintendent
We have much to celebrate as we look forward to the coming school year in preparing Today’s Learners to be Tomorrow’s Leaders! We’re excited and eagerly anticipating the 2024-25 school year, continuing to focus on helping our students to achieve their potential with our commitment to continuous learning and unwavering excellence. We can't wait to get started and witness the remarkable achievements and success of our students this year!
As we maintain our commitment to academic excellence, we will intensify our efforts to implement our English Language Arts/English Language Development and Mathematics programs to meet the needs of all our students, particularly our second language learners. Securing strong foundational skills for students will be a priority for the 2024-25 school year. With a rich, well-rounded curriculum, a highly qualified and caring staff, a steadfast commitment to student success, and a long-standing dedication to excellence, we are committed to equipping our students to adapt to the challenges of a constantly evolving global community and to shaping the future workforce.
We’re excited to pilot new History-Social Science materials, thanks to the dedication and collaboration of a task force of committed teachers. This pilot program will allow us to explore and evaluate innovative resources and teaching strategies that aim to engage students in critical thinking, historical inquiry, and real-world problem-solving. The insights gained from this pilot will be invaluable as we strive to adopt a curriculum that best meets the needs of our diverse student population and prepares them for the rapidly changing world.
Savanna has long been dedicated to ensuring students are proficient in cursive writing, starting with letter and word formation in third grade. During site visits, the Board Members and I have often admired the impressive cursive writing displayed in third through sixth grade classrooms. With the new legal mandate to continue cursive instruction through sixth grade, our Summer Academy teachers piloted a curriculum that was both user-friendly and enjoyable for students. Based on this positive experience, we will expand the use of the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting curriculum through sixth grade starting in August 2024.
The launch of our W.I.N.G.S. Program in 2022-23 and B.R.I.G.H.T. Learners Academy in 2023-24 have been resounding successes, offering families and children across the District safe, engaging, and enjoyable environments to develop foundational skills, enrich learning experiences, and participate in new activities. Witnessing the growth and development of these infants as they’ve transitioned to toddlers has been incredibly touching and awe-inspiring. B.R.I.G.H.T. Learners Academy has facilitated relationship building among children, ensuring their social and emotional readiness for school, and preparing them to enter Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten fully equipped to achieve learning milestones. We’re thrilled that both our W.I.N.G.S. Program and B.R.I.G.H.T. Learners Academy continue to prepare our students to be Tomorrow’s Leaders!
We’re proud to partner with the Orange County Department of Education and Vital Link to offer an Apprentice Program for young adults aged 16-24. This program blends hands-on experience and training with classroom instruction, equipping apprentices with the knowledge and skills needed for careers in early childhood, child care, and recreation. Apprenticeships are available for those interested in working with school-age children in after-school programs and with children aged two to four in early education settings, as we continue to prepare Tomorrow’s Leaders!
Ensuring the safety of our students and staff is our top priority, we consistently evaluate and enhance our campus security measures. We are proud of the robust systems currently in place and remain committed to furthering safety initiatives. We’ve replaced aging equipment and installed additional cameras across various District areas to enhance monitoring capabilities, although these cameras do not include audio recording. Moreover, we continue to implement Navigate360, empowering staff with immediate access to critical information during emergencies. We are grateful to have completed essential upgrades that provide safe, secure facilities conducive to 21st Century learning. In an effort to streamline and consolidate communication with parents, we will transition from using Blackboard and DoJo to Parent Square beginning in the 2024-25 school year. This change aims to provide parents with a unified platform for all school communications. These initiatives will positively impact our students' education and benefit our community for generations to come.
While ensuring the physical safety and security of our campuses remains paramount, addressing the social-emotional wellbeing and physical health of our students is equally crucial. We are proud to collaborate with Hazel Health to offer comprehensive physical and mental health services. Hazel Health provides families with access to personalized teletherapy delivered by licensed mental health providers, offering evidence-based, goal-oriented care for students. Additionally, families can consult medical providers who can create treatment plans, prescribe necessary medications, and make referrals to primary care providers, all accessible from home or school at no cost. Enrollment for these services requires parental permission, and we are confident that this support will help our students thrive both physically and emotionally, ultimately boosting their academic achievement. Our partnership with Care Solace will continue to provide an additional layer of care for our staff, students, parents, and community to connect with mental health care providers and substance use treatment centers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Realizing the importance of providing health professionals on our school campuses, we will continue to provide both nursing and counseling staff on school campuses and in our W.I.N.G.S. program for the 2024-25 school year.
Our Summer Academy program successfully supported over 500 students this summer, thanks to the exceptional efforts of our staff in shaping Today’s Learners into Tomorrow’s Leaders. Students engaged in enriching lessons designed to address potential learning gaps effectively. In addition, we had nearly half of those enrolled in Summer Academy stay for our W.I.N.G.S. Summer Camp where they participated in a variety of sports, crafts, games, and STEM challenges each day, finishing each week with a field trip to further enhance their learning experiences! Staff in these two programs did an outstanding job of ensuring that we’re helping Today’s Learners to become Tomorrow’s Leaders.
I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude for your ongoing and dedicated support of our Savanna Community. It is the unwavering commitment of friends--like YOU--that enables us to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our students. As we look forward to an amazing school year, I am proud to say that the Savanna School District truly is a special place where Today’s Learners become Tomorrow’s Leaders!
We invite you to follow the excitement of learning on our FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/SavannaSchoolDistrict/ where you will be able to see the many ways students and staff are engaged in educational activities and celebrating accomplishments on a daily basis!
--Dr. Johnson
Dr. Sue Johnson, Savanna School District Superintendent
It was on her first day of kindergarten that Dr. Johnson decided that she wanted to become a teacher, a goal that became a beacon for her educational career. The third oldest of seven siblings growing up in Pomona and Ontario, college seemed unattainable, yet her goal of becoming a teacher remained. Working part-time jobs through high school and college, and with the support of grants, she was able to become the first in her family to graduate from college, going on to receive her Masters Degree in School Administration from Cal State San Bernardino and her Doctorate in Education from USC. As a first-generation college graduate, she is passionate about providing opportunities for all students to succeed and be on the path toward college and career readiness.
With a passion to help shape the next generation of learners and the future of public education, Dr. Johnson began her career as a teacher in Wrightwood, CA, where she taught third and fifth grades. She served in the position of elementary school assistant principal and lecturer for California State University, San Bernardino. Dr. Johnson began working in the Savanna School District in 1990 as Curriculum Coordinator, and has served in Savanna since that time in the positions of Director of Curriculum, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services and Superintendent of Schools.
She is passionate about supporting students and future teachers, giving back to her community and to Cal Poly Pomona in a myriad of ways. After being named as a Distinguished Alumna for the School of Education and Integrative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona in 2005, Dr. Johnson was invited to join the recently formed Partners in Education (PIE) Board at Cal Poly, designed as a support Group for CEIS. During her tenure on the PIE Board, over 275 students have received financial support to complete their clinical practice, thus paying it forward to the next generation of teachers and students. Her commitment to students and public education was recognized in both her selection as Orange County Superintendent of the Year in 2013 and the Buena Park Citizen of the Year in 2018. She states, “It’s very fulfilling to be able to give back to future generations, giving others the same opportunities I’ve been given. In my current position, I’ve been fortunate to ensure students have access to the best teachers, the best facilities, the most current technologies, and the best curricula possible, thus ensuring success for future generations.”
Dr. Johnson has been married to her husband, Keith, for 39 years and is extremely proud of both of her daughters. Her oldest daughter is a Program Specialist in the University of Washington Study Abroad Program while her youngest daughter is in her tenth year of teaching at the elementary level. Along with her husband, daughters, son-in-law, and grandson, Dr. Johnson enjoys traveling with the goal of visiting most of America’s National Parks. Her advice to others is embodied in the quote by Confucius: ‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.’
