Dear Belleville Community,

It’s a great day to be a Wildcat! We welcome you to the School District of Belleville! We are a strong school district with a focus on continuous improvement. We are committed to providing opportunities and access for students to be successful in meeting their goals.

We measure the success of our schools through several lenses. These include:

1. Student academic achievement
2. Student social emotional wellness
3. Perception data from students, families, and staff
4. Programming options Learning environments, including class sizes
5. Staff collaboration to identify outcomes and respond to student needs

We achieve these outcomes through several beliefs, including:

1. Relationships are the foundation. Everything else that follows is only attainable if we authentically invest in the relationships with all stakeholders: students, families, staff, and community.
2. Kids need to feel welcomed, see themselves in their learning, and be understood in their community. 
3. Students watch us as role models – every day.
4. Students are motivated by the same things that motivate adults: purpose, autonomy, and mastery. Mastery comes through goal-setting with specific and supportive feedback.
5. Learning time is precious. We do things in schools that cannot be replicated elsewhere, so we treat the time we have with students like it is gold!
6. We must be intentional and aligned with what we teach. We are most effective when we collaborate through our Professional Learning Communities.
7. The person “doing” is the person who is learning. Our role is to put the learning authority with the student by providing engaging activities.
8. Enthusiasm and passion matter. Great leaders bring students with them because they care deeply about learning and the learner.

We invite you to engage with the work taking place each day in our school district. If you have any questions about our schools, please reach out to our school principals, the teaching staff, or me.

Sincerely,

Jim Schmitt
District Administrator