Welcome to the Savanna School District
Where Today's Learners Become Tomorrow's Leaders
What a Fantastic School Year 2023-24 Has Been!
The pride we feel in all of our students and staff this year cannot be contained! We’ve witnessed first-hand the learning and excitement that has occurred this year. In a year filled with challenges, our staff and students have risen to the occasion and embraced learning in a myriad of ways. We’re proud that we’ve been able to provide a strong instructional program focused on grade level standards as well as address the social-emotional needs of students with increased counseling support on each campus throughout this year. We’re proud of our continuing focus on the implementation of our English Language Arts/English Language Development program, taking a ‘deeper dive’ into data to drive the instructional program and our continuing commitment to STEM-Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics! A combination of a rich, well-rounded curriculum, highly qualified and caring staff and a long-standing commitment to excellence is continuing to prepare our students to be successful 21st Century citizens.
We're filled with pride when we see the countless ways in which our students and staff have excelled and been recognized; this spring has been a time of celebration as we’ve recognized students and staff in so many ways. Mr. Clinton, Savanna’s 2025 Teacher of the Year, was named an Orange County Teacher of the Year semi-finalist. Recently, Mrs. Maria Garcia, Mrs. Catlin Cabiles, and Mrs. Meghan Serrano were honored for their ongoing commitment to ensuring the academic success and emotional safety and security of students as they received the Greater Anaheim SELPA Community Advisory Committee Award. At the end of the school year, we recognized eleven dedicated employees who have decided to retire; together, they have served hundreds of thousands of children in our community during their careers. Their combined 208 years of service is a testament to their dedication and commitment to serving our community; we’re immensely proud of the lasting impact each of them has made in the lives of children, parents, and colleagues. We also celebrated twenty staff members who have reached ‘milestone’ years of service, ranging from ten to thirty years of serving families in our community. It was indeed heartwarming to witness former students return to thank former teachers during school Open Houses.
Our pride in our students’ accomplishments cannot be overlooked as we celebrated winning the Superintendent’s Cup in the CyberPatriots competition, beating out teams from other local districts. This celebration was followed by an amazing concert by our Savanna Strings students whose violin skills truly shined! The impact of the Savanna Strings program on our children's lives cannot be overstated. Those who participated will carry the experience with them forever. The pride felt by students on stage, the beaming faces of parents in the audience, and the palpable excitement shared by everyone involved speak volumes about the program's success. We also had the opportunity to recognize our sixth-grade students for their academic and leadership skills during our sixth-grade promotions at the end of the school year.
Our pride in the number of students who met the criteria for our Outstanding Attendance incentive is immeasurable! We’ve restructured this incentive as we emerged from the pandemic, knowing that we don’t want children to attend school when they are ill. Allowing students to make up absences during Saturday Academy resulted in over six hundred children being recognized for this fantastic accomplishment! Each student was presented with an Outstanding Attendance t-shirt, a license plate frame indicating they had outstanding attendance, and was invited to a full-morning field trip to a local venue where they enjoyed food, fun, and prizes! The excitement of students and staff on this achievement was palpable; we couldn’t be prouder of their commitment to be at school on time every day! We also recognized our teachers with perfect attendance, providing them with tickets to the School Employee Appreciation Night at Angel Stadium. Together, our students and staff are continuing to show their dedication to learning!
We're proud to announce that our new B.R.I.G.H.T. Learners Academy (Build • Realize • Imagine • Grow • Harvest • Thrive) has been an overwhelming success in equipping two, three, and four-year-old children not only for academic achievement but also for success in life, providing them with invaluable tools for their future. Throughout the day, our youngest children are actively involved in a myriad of activities from painting and coloring to exploring nature around them; from participating in dramatic play to learning to read and write their names; from discovering dinosaurs to unleashing their energy in outdoor games; from learning to play and share with others to counting numbers; from exploring possible careers to making one-to-one correspondences, our B.R.I.G.H.T. Learners Academy is truly transforming the lives of children. The future leaders of our community are in our preschool programs today! Most importantly, our BRIGHT Learners have been immersed in ‘school life’ as they’ve participated in school assemblies, visits from school mascots, enjoyed bubble runs, school carnivals, Open Houses and more. We're thrilled by the remarkable progress we've witnessed in the children in this program and eagerly anticipate their ongoing development as they transition into our Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes next school year.
Our collective pride in our after-school W.I.N.G.S. (Wonder • Inspire • Nurture • Grow • Succeed) cannot be contained! Since its inception, this program has been an overwhelming success, with over one-third of our students participating. During the after-school program, students have opportunities to complete homework assignments and participate in a wide-variety of activities and events. From art projects to science experiments, from performing in the WINGS choir to performing readers’ theatre plays, from working with big brother/big sisters to learning to play the violin, from programming tiny robots to creating mechanical hands, from learning basic sport skills to competing in intra-mural tournaments, students couldn’t be more excited about the program! I’m proud of the teams of students who have demonstrated sportsmanship and skills during kickball and soccer intra-mural tournaments as well as individuals who won ribbons during our annual district Jr. Olympics competition. It’s not unusual for students to request to stay longer when parents arrive to pick them up at the end of the day. Many students don’t want to leave until at least 5:30 pm—a true testament to their excitement for all they are learning and how much they enjoy the program. We’ve been able to ensure counseling and nursing services are part of the WINGS program. Knowing that feeding our students during the after-school program will provide them with the stamina they need to participate at a high level, we’re proud to add the Supper Program to the day. We’re committed to building healthy habits in all children, but most specifically those children who would otherwise go hungry. We are so proud of the tireless efforts of our staff for their ingenuity, commitment, and innovation as they help to prepare the leaders of tomorrow.
We're so proud of the effort on the part of our staff to ensure on-campus events for students, parents, and our community throughout the year. It has been heartwarming to see and feel the excitement as parents, students, and staff flocked to school Open Houses this spring! Parents have been eager to share in the students’ joy of learning. From sixth graders who proudly posed next to their life-sized mannequins of themselves to fourth graders who enthusiastically displayed their missions, from fifth graders who shared what they had learned about the Founding Fathers to second graders who excitedly shared their owl pellet projects, from third graders who eagerly shared their memory books filled with writing and projects from the year to kindergartners who passionately shared recordings of their reading, it was obvious how much students have learned this year! Our sixth graders participated in our time-honored Junior Olympics competition between schools this spring and savored the experience of a district-wide sixth grade field trip. Parents have been welcomed to campuses to witness awards assemblies, field days, class presentations, and more. This demonstration of community support for our schools, our students and continued learning has been gratifying, highlighting what amazing things can happen when we work together.
We're proud that our Summer Academy, focused on students currently enrolled in transitional kindergarten through grade five, is well underway with an overwhelming response! Summer Academy is providing scholars with foundational skills in language arts and math as we prepare them for success in the upcoming school year. In addition, we are proud to once again provide the W.I.N.G.S. program for students enrolled in Summer Academy where they are participating in a wide array of learning activities, including field trips to local destinations that's exposing them to new and exciting experiences.
We cannot help but share the pride we feel in all of the successes throughout the past year. Because of the commitment, perseverance, and resilience of our students, staff, and parents, the 2023-24 school year has indeed been a successful one in which we take tremendous pride!
As we work toward keeping our children healthy and academically focused for the upcoming year, we continue to provide a strong, well-rounded program that will provide support for students' academic, physical, emotional and mental health. As partners in our educational journey, parents and family members play a significant role. Providing tools that will help parents to help their children stay healthy and safe is a goal of the Savanna School District. As families enjoy time together this summer, it's the perfect opportunity to talk with children about the dangers of synthetic drugs, in particular, that of fentanyl.
While we celebrate all our successes from the 2023-24 school year, we look forward to an amazing opportunity to build on those successed in the 2024-25 school year when school begins August 6, 2024!
--Dr. Johnson
