Dear Faculty and Staff: Let me begin by thanking you for your service to our students.

You serve on the front lines of education, and directly touch the lives of our students each day. In the coming weeks, there will be a Board of Education discussion of a transition to a restructured administration. Out of respect for your role as a member of the KCSD community, I wanted to first come to you with preliminary information on this transition. Over the past two years, the Kingston City School District has begun to reshape the way we deliver education to students. Our new structure emphasizes an early learning/literacy center environment at the K-4 level, a supportive and confidence-building setting at our 5-8 middle schools, and the development of a ninth grade scholars academy at the high school. This model is setting us on the track to success. The overhaul of our educational system, begun with the redistricting plan, is far from complete however, and our transformation has only just begun. The redistricting alone will not allow us to truly transform educationto ensure that our teachers get the resources and support that they need to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all of our students; that our curriculum is grounded in hands-on, active, and engaged learning; and that our students, faculty, and staff form strong, vibrant, school-based communities that foster positive social-emotional growth and development. To be sure, our district is fortunate to have some of the most talented, hardworking, and committed teachers in the area. Nevertheless, to fully realize our school improvement efforts, our transformation must be holistic and it must permeate our organization at every level. To inspire engaging, meaningful teaching and learningeven with the challenges of the Common Core, the Annual Professional Performance Review, and our own redistricting transitionwe must now shift our mechanisms for administration, specifically so that supports and resources can be targeted in the most effective way and toward the people who need them most; our staff and our students. The forthcoming plan takes our current structure, in which supports and resources are far away from the realities of the classroom and replaces it with a structure that brings those resources closer to schools, teachers, and students. We are committed to fostering an administration that is student and teacher-centered. In order to do this, our administrators must be in our buildings, accessible, communicative, and in-touch with what is happening in our classrooms. This is a paradigm shift that is designed to liberate the energy and talents of our teachers and empower them to do what they do bestteach. In order for administrators to truly support our teachers, they need to be in classrooms on a daily basis and be intimately acquainted with the realities and experiences of classroom life. Only then will we, as a district, be able to focus our resources and shape our support in ways that have true, meaningful impact for the way teachers teach and the way students learn. More details about the plan will be provided in the coming weeks. Due to legal obligations, we cannot comment on employees who are currently under contract with the District. However, as an important member of the KCSD, you can expect to hear further details about the plan here first. Thank you for all that you do for our students.