Welcome to the 2026-27 School Year at VSAA
It is my honor to begin another school year as principal of Vancouver School of Arts & Academics. Last year, I had the privilege of stepping into a community that values creativity, intellectual curiosity, and the power of student voice. This year, I get to build on that foundation alongside a school community I now know and trust.
One of the most meaningful parts of last year was the work our staff and students did together to identify the core values that will guide VSAA moving forward: Community, Trust, Integrity, Depth, and Passion. These weren’t handed down from an office. They came from real conversation among the people who live this school’s mission every day, and they now shape how we teach, how we make decisions, and how we treat one another.
This year, our Literary Arts focus, “A Beautiful Path,” centers on Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Her writing on reciprocity, gratitude, and interdependence gives us a shared language for exploring those values throughout the year, starting with Community: the understanding that we don’t succeed as individuals, we succeed together.
As a musician and conductor, I’ve always believed the arts teach collaboration, critical thinking, and empathy in ways that strengthen every other area of learning. That belief is at the center of how we lead this school, academically rigorous and artistically alive, with neither treated as secondary to the other.
I look forward to continuing this work with our students, families, and staff: carrying forward VSAA’s mission, living out the values we built together, and writing the next chapter of this school’s story.
Here’s to a year of bold ideas, creative risk-taking, and shared success. I can’t wait to see the incredible art, performances, and learning that emerge from our community in the months ahead.
Sincerely,
Joseph Accuardi-Gilliam, Ed.D.
Principal, Vancouver School of Arts & Academics