RUSD superintendent outlines vision as students begin new school year

Rialto Unified School District welcomed back thousands of smiling-faced students last week.

To kick off the new school year, principals and district officials were out greeting students and parents, offering high-fives as they made their way on campus. Helping give out morning motivations was district Superintendent Cuauhtémoc Avila, who much like students, is eager and anxious for what’s ahead this school year.

This is Avila’s second year as superintendent and plans to enhance the education of students has been on his radar since day one, along with creating a more united and community service-driven school district.

“With (the district’s) new reorganization of a service-oriented model, the goal is to eliminate the bureaucracy and vertical organizational charts from the past,” he said. “We are driving toward a circular model.”

The aim, he said, is to “try and live up to the name “unified.”

“As a district and community, we are one. We need to come to an understanding that we are all in it for everyone. Whether it’s through customer service, or ways to invigorate the vitality of the community, it’s not just the school district’s responsibility, but rather the community as a whole to be responsible for the whole child.”

For students and teachers, the 2016-17 school year brings on a new emphasis on STEAM — science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics — based learning, Avila added.

“We are challenging schools to develop their own STEAM identity.”

He said each school will have a STEAM-based focus element, much like a magnet school.

“We’re excited to see schools blossom into specialized STEAM schools,” he said. “We’re excited about what all these plans can bring.”