Welcome to school year 2026–2027 – proudly our 20th school year! I’m honored to work alongside you, our extraordinary team, to provide the best possible education for some of our city’s most vulnerable students. The collage on the right, along with the attached graduation collage, captures highlights from last school year and reminds us of our most worthy goals.
It’s hard to put into words what a milestone like this means, so I want to reflect on how far we’ve come. We started out primarily as a high school equivalency program, offering GED instruction to students in day and residential substance use treatment programs. That work, though smaller today, remains highly successful. We also began with just a few high school sites, offering mostly elective credits. Over the years, we added more required courses, and today our high school students stay on track — many even completing diploma requirements while enrolled at ReStart.
Our most significant shift came when we were asked to develop a middle school program for overage 8th graders. The population, curriculum, and site model were all new to us, but we pivoted to meet the need — and that program is now our largest and is very successful. Our newest innovation, school-based virtual learning, lets students across all our academic tracks complete coursework virtually when they can’t attend in person. None of this growth would have happened without a team willing to bring excellence, resilience, and creativity to the classroom every day.
This year, we’re excited to welcome eight new staff members eager to join our team and support our students. We’re also looking forward to implementing multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), the reading intervention framework introduced last June. Our focus remains what has always driven our results: social-emotional wellness, targeted academic interventions, and strong college and career pathways for our students.
The assistant principals and I are committed to working alongside you this year through regular coaching and professional development centered on our program goals. Please make the most of these opportunities — investing in your growth is one of the clearest ways we invest in our students and in this milestone year.
