Welcome back to the new school year. I hope you had a restful summer, and I know you are ready to have a great year filled with much success with your students.

As the President of the South Dakota Education Association (SDEA), I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for the work you do.

One of the things I enjoy about being your President is the opportunity to travel the state meeting members in their schools and classrooms. I am always in awe of the work you do day in and day out.

In this holiday season, I want to thank you for your unwavering dedication to the students of South Dakota.

With everything going on in public education, you often hear me say ‘educators need to raise their voice to make a difference’.

The beginning of the school year is always filled with excitement and anticipation. Educators are hopeful that the new year will bring much success for their students but are clear-eyed about the many challenges that exist.

Congratulations, you have made it through another very challenging year. Just when we thought this school year might be a little easier, Mother Nature decided to throw us some curve balls: endless snowstorms and blizzards.

During the legislative session, there are many bills that your SDEA Lobbying team review to determine whether SDEA will take a position to advocate for or against.

There are two times in the year that we make a special effort to thank our public-school educators. In November we have American Education Week and then in May we have teacher appreciation week. Considering everything that our educators are going through, I am not sure that is enough.

I was recently asked the question: What is your message to educators who seek to be “excellent”? After some thought, I decided my message is that every educator is an excellent educator in their own way, but you can’t do it alone.