We send a huge welcome to our new Valley Home School Superintendent Mrs. Debra Boggs. With our current Superintendent, Mr. Tom Price, set to retire in June, Debra will have big shoes to fill! Mr. Price has guided the students and staff at Valley Home in such a positive manner! It has been a great pleasure knowing this amazing man and to watch the love he bestowed on our students. He made education and the welfare of his students his number one priority! More details on the retirement of Mr. Tom Price in June. For now we would like to welcome back to Valley Home School a dedicated mother and educator! Debra has been involved over the past several years with each of her three children who attended Valley Home School. Debra was officially hired at Tuesday night’s school board meeting. Currently, Debra is the Director of Language and Literacy at the Stanislaus County Office of Education. Trained in the elements of improvement science, Debra helped support districts eligible for differentiated assistance. She also worked with many districts to improve their English Language Arts programs and provided professional development for hundreds of teachers.

Through her work at SCOE, Debra was part of the California State University’s Expository Reading and Writing program, serving as the state liaison with other county offices and as a member of the Executive Committee overseeing the program’s implementation at high schools throughout the state.

Debra received her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Arts in English and her teaching and administrative credentials from CSU Stanislaus. Her husband, Keith, works for Stanislaus County as an Assistant Chief Executive Officer. Their three children, Hans, Evan, and Emma, all attended Valley Home Elementary. Hans currently resides in Loma Linda, California, with his wife Jessica. He is a doctor of surgery in residence at Loma Linda Medical Center. Evan lives in New York City where he works at Senator Capital Investments. Emma lives in Madison, WI where she works for Epic Systems as a Project Manager. Debra and Keith live in Valley Home with their two dogs and assorted other pets. Welcome back to Valley Home School Debra!

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With the retirement of our much loved school secretary and district administrative assistant, Jennifer Higgins, Kristen Lovejoy will take over her responsibilities and Michell Alves will be the new school secretary. We say goodbye to 2nd grade teacher Mackenzie Nabors who is moving to Northern California. Sheri Rathbun will be taking her place, moving from kindergarten to 2nd grade! Kelly Penning will be teaching kindergarten and Carrie Garcia-Tharpe will be moving to 6th grade. We welcome Holly Benkula and Sean Warr as teachers for our 7th/8th grade. Many of you will remember Holly from her years teaching at Valley Home School previously. Welcome to all, it’s going to be an exciting year! More information to come.

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God Bless and keep everyone safe in these days of uncertainty. As always you may reach me by email at winniemullins51@gmail.com. Until next time, “Happy Trails to All!”