Dear Sonoma Valley Community,

The 2025–2026 school year was a year of meaningful progress, important decisions, and renewed momentum for the Sonoma Valley Unified School District. 

Together, we strengthened the district’s financial foundation, expanded opportunities for students and families, welcomed new leadership, and continued investing in programs that support student success both inside and outside the classroom. 

From restoring arts and music education to celebrating outstanding athletic and academic achievements, this year reflected the resilience, dedication, and pride of our entire school community. As students and classrooms begin packing up for the summer, we wanted to share some of the key accomplishments and positive strides made across the district this school year. 

1. Financial stability: The school board has created a balanced budget for the first time in a decade, with an improved reserve balance, assuring fiscal stability for the district in the year ahead.  

2. Building toward tomorrow: The Board committed to three cornerstone priorities for the year ahead: raising literacy rates, reducing chronic absenteeism, and deepening trust across our school communities, laying the groundwork for lasting, measurable improvement. 

3. Leadership stability: The district hired Jason Sutter, a locally sourced Superintendent with strong community ties in Sonoma and established track record of leadership in the Petaluma School District. 

4. Student success: A successful bell to bell cell-phone free policy was enacted across all middle and high school classrooms.

5. Curricular enhancements: Arts and music programming was reintroduced across elementary school classrooms in the district and efforts began to rebuild the music program at the middle and high school levels.  

6. School pride: Sonoma Valley High School demonstrated its strength as an athletic powerhouse in the county with incredible seasons for the majority of its teams, world class sports facilities, and a Dragon winning the highest athlete/scholar honor in the county.

7. College and career readiness: SVHS’s students were accepted at a wide range of colleges including the Ivy League, UCs, CSUs and dozens of selective private colleges. Approximately 85% of all graduating seniors received a scholarship or financial prize at the annual awards ceremony.

8. School choice: Some of the most difficult financial decisions in recent history were made, resulting in the final necessary school closure, while keeping our students at the center of the conversation, and increasing school choice for local families.

The district faced challenges along the way, and we know there is still hard work ahead. However, your School Board, Superintendent, and Principals are proud of the progress made this year and remain committed to building on this momentum as we prepare for the 2026–2027 school year. Thank you for your continued partnership, support, and dedication to our students and schools. 

We wish all of our families a safe, restful, and enjoyable summer. 

Board President David Bell

Trustee Anne Ching

Trustee Gerardo Guzman

Trustee Catarina Landry

Trustee Jason Lehman