Hello GVA Families, Staff and Community,
This page will be the constant in a hopefully, ever-revolving series of updates. You will see below, a little about me, resources related to the Superintendent's Campaign and more. Please feel free to explore.
Tom Anderson has been in public education for over 30 years. Teaching for 12 years, at all grade levels, in both general and special education classrooms. Over the past 20 years, he has served as a site administrator, Director, Assistant and Associate Superintendent, mainly overseeing Special Education and Student Services. As a two-time Special Education Local Plan Area Director, Tom has a passion for creating enriching programs and places for all students, including those with unique learning needs. As Superintendent of Great Valley Academy, Mr. Anderson is excited to continue GVA’s tradition of providing safe and loving learning environments for students in Stanislaus County and to doing it The GVA Way.
GVA Community,
Welcome Back to Great Valley Academy for the 2025-26 school year. We are so excited to see all of our students and families beginning tomorrow, Tuesday August 12th. I hope you had an opportunity to experience some wonderful adventures this summer and create lasting memories. We hope to do the same for your children this year at school.
As you know, we’ve been busy over the summer with construction projects and preparing our campuses to start the year. With unfortunate delays on a few things, we understand that ingress / egress at the Salida campus will be tricky for a little while. Our hopeful timeline of ‘the start of school’ simply did not come to fruition, between permits, permissions, coordination with other agencies, etc. Nevertheless, our construction crews press on, making up time where they can and arranging their work to the greatest degree possible to not interfere with school traffic. Your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated and you can rest assured that the end result will be a safer, more efficient system for pick-up and drop-off. Please pay close attention to Principal Jefferson’s communications and videos, remembering to show grace to each other and our neighbors at Modesto Christian and in the SunRidge West community.
Modesto’s campus has also seen improvements with a repaved parking lot, beautifully updated sensory garden, additional office space for GVA’s growing social-emotional / behavioral support staff and ...The Grass is Back! Yay! Again, please make sure to follow Principal de Visser’s instructions about parking, pick-up / drop-off and being good neighbors to the surrounding community. GVA Homeschool is bigger and better than ever with added instructional staff and space. Ms. Kerr-Owens and her team have even more great things planned for your children this year.
Ok. Enough of that. Our students and families have a lot to look forward to this year at GVA. As I mentioned, we’ve once again added teachers, support staff and special service providers, ensuring all of our students’ individual needs are met on a daily basis. In Year 2 of GVA’s NEXT3, we focus on the LOVED aspect of Safe, Loved and Learning. This year we will build connections The GVA Way. In order to do so, we will embark on a concerted effort to define The GVA Way for all of our most important educational partners; students, parents and staff. Once school gets up and running you will receive messages explaining what we mean when we say The GVA Way. It’s often reported as a feeling that you have to experience to understand, which is very true. That said, there are very specific tenets that make GVA such a special place and we will be providing those in context throughout the year, through Superintendent’s messages, staff and administrative communications, as well as a website dedicated to The GVA Way with literature on the subject, videos, social media, podcasts and more. These tenets include GVA’s vision, mission, core values, beliefs and pillars. Connecting starts with a shared understanding of, in this case, the unique and welcoming place that is Great Valley Academy.
With added classroom management and instructional support for our teachers, an administrative focus on positive classroom instruction and our continued commitment to Conscious Discipline and Mutli-Tiered Systems of Support (M.T.S.S.), we are incredibly optimistic about staff impact, student outcomes and parent satisfaction. Our revised schedule allows for greater teacher and staff collaboration which has shown to have a positive effect on student learning. We’ve rebuilt our site Advisory Teams with thriving Parents as Partners groups on both campuses. Communication is a priority for staff this year, with families and each other . We pledge to involve parents in decisions to support their students, including accelerate and extend learning through GVA Specials and a steadfast commitment to Mastery Learning.
Rita Pierson said it well, “Every child deserves a champion - an adult who will never give up on them, who understandsthe power of connection and insiststhat they become the best that they can be.” GVA champions safe, loved, learning communities for everyone. We value each child’s unique gifts and individual talents. We believe that children learn best when there is a strong connection between home and school. And we pledge to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. Thank you for choosing GVA for your children. Let’s have an amazing year!
Sincerely,
Tom
Messages, announcements and communications from the GVA Superintendent.
Superintendent Welcome Back Message to Families 25/26