Highlights from my February Report to the Board

Academic Team: At their next meeting, the Academic Affairs Committee will review a draft of a new professional development plan for the school.  Framing annual expectations for each teacher that are tied to professional practice, department initiatives, and/or institutional goals, the new plan will require increased funding.

Administrative Team: We have proceeded and made a commitment to partner with IS183, who will run a four-week morning preschool arts camp program this summer.  While I outlined the many positives of this venture in my last report, I am pleased to share that this new program will be called “IS183@BCD.”   This name opens the door for an expanding partnership in years to come.  IS183 Director Hope Sullivan and I have met twice during the past month, ironing out details about communications plans and space usage, and we anticipate announcing this new program (to include some joint press releases) soon.

Admissions: With applications more than double the number at this time last year, we are also experiencing good interest in several significantly under-enrolled grades including next year’s PK, K, 1^st and 3^rd grades.  Of course, we need to see these applicants complete the process and matriculate.  Amy Broberg is working carefully to arrange many school visits while continuing to work with an increasing number of families who are inquiring and arranging parent visits – almost all of whom meet with me during their campus visit. We actually experienced a fairly typical week in independent school admissions in January – hosting student visitors every day while providing parent tours to first-time campus visitors.  While we entertain the possibility of waiting lists in next year’s 4^th and 6^th grades, we still have openings at every other grade level.

            Now is the time to make the strategic shift from a traditional “wait and see who calls and comes” approach to a more active, targeted and outreaching approach.  To capitalize on recent momentum in admissions and to support increased recruitment efforts during a busy cycle in the admissions office, we have hired an Enrollment Associate for the next few months.  The goal of this position is to identify qualified families and present BCD as a viable option for their child/children with the goal of the families making a personal visit to tour the campus and meet with the Director of Admissions and/or the Head of School.  I am pleased to announce that Joel Kalodner has accepted our offer.  Joel, a BCD alum, current long-term substitute English teacher, former attorney and marketing associate, brings a terrific mix of energy, drive, and experience to the role.

            Several initial projects will be able to launch with Joel on board.  With the demographic resources of NAIS, we are able to drill down in a fairly sophisticated manner and create focused mailings to families.  Initial targeted campaigns with different messages and action plans have been created for Columbia County, Pittsfield, and Great Barrington.  Joel will work closely with Amy, Maxine, Jenny, and Joanne – assuming responsibility for follow-through and personal calls and possibly meetings with families.

Our admission DVD, a wonderful collection of student interviews and testimonials, is almost ready for production.  We anticipate using it as a mailing piece in some of the aforementioned campaigns.

Development: As identified in Maxine’s report, this year’s Annual Fund is almost at $144,000, $56,000 from our goal of raising $200,000.  With some targeted leadership asks and quite a gap to close to reach last year’s level of parent participation, we are hopeful that we can meet or exceed our goal for the year.  Of special note is the level of faculty participation – up from last year’s level at this time.

Diversity: At a recent faculty meeting, the All-School Diversity Committee presented a statement of “why we focus on diversity at BCD.”  The committee also led faculty in a workshop to assess BCD using rubric provided by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) as a starting point for evaluating BCD along a continuum from exclusive to inclusive.  Although structured primarily to assess institutional change with respect to multiculturalism, the rubric provides a useful starting point for discussion about a range of diversity identities and topics.  As you may recall, advancing our work in the areas of diversity and multicultural education was identified as a priority after last year’s review of the new NEASC accreditation standards.  Next steps for the committee will include a more detailed survey of the faculty before planning ways to support curricular and community initiatives. 

The BCD Diversity Philosophy Statement:  Our mission, philosophy, and core values as an institution guide us to provide an education for our children in which they will achieve excellence as students and develop as citizens of the world.  An education that thoughtfully, deliberately teaches and values diversity and diverse perspectives leads to this excellence by requiring students to regard and respect others and to understand the world from multiple viewpoints.  It requires students to grow academically and to develop a social and emotional intelligence. A diverse curriculum requires strong critical thinking skills and flexibility.  It moves students from the parochial to the global.  A diverse curriculum asks students to understand who they and others are, in relation to the increasingly connected world that we all inhabit.  It also asks students to understand the structures that convey privilege or lack thereof, while emphasizing a concern for equity and justice.   We all possess multi-faceted identities.  Understanding the richness and complexity of ourselves and others leads to a more empathetic and sophisticated understanding of the human condition as a whole. This understanding will prepare and enable BCD students to function as well-informed, just, and fair-minded citizens in the 21st century.

Facilities:  Eight firms were contacted, and I have met with each of the six architects that have responded to our RFP which outlines our needs for a comprehensive existing site conditions study and plans for a master facilities planning process.  Larry Bingham provided each firm with a comprehensive tour of the campus.  All six firms have submitted their proposals, and the Buildings and Grounds Committee will begin reviewing them and making plans for interviews next week.

Faculty: Within the framework of our new guiding standards for the faculty as seen in last month’s Board report, I have been conducting annual review meetings and have met with about two-thirds of the faculty thus far.  I have also been engaged in similar processes with members of the administration and staff.  Instituted last year, this process provides every employee with an opportunity for self-evaluation and goal setting, creates a structured opportunity for feedback in a meeting with me, and enables us to check in about how things are going and to discuss plans for next year.

Finance: Gwen Connolly and I continue to closely monitor our financial position this year, and we are staying within the parameters of our balanced budget scenario.

As we work to unite some strategic initiatives, the Finance Committee and Development Committees are both discussing endowment needs and the case for making significant strides in this critical area.  A sub-committee of the Finance Committee met to think about stewardship and some financial assumptions related to our strategic priorities.  It is the opinion of this group that we should try to raise funds for endowment, balancing the school’s need for unrestricted endowment (for sustainability, reserves, and operating budget support for areas like financial aid) and restricted endowment (focusing the proclivity of some donors to invest in our long-term needs in the areas of faculty salaries, professional development, and facilities and maintenance).

Our first meeting with the Finance Advisory Committee went relatively well.  We are fortunate to have a talented and experienced group of individuals who want to help us look at current practices while providing perspectives and insights as we think about some of the larger challenges/issues such as debt reduction and our investment portfolio allocation.  The hope is that we will focus our review and discussion on these topics with interested members of the committee at our next meeting.

Service: I am proud of the work that our students have done to bring the community together this week to raise funds to support people in Haiti.  They identified the need to respond to this crisis, developed plans, built a framework of collaboration, attracted the investment and involvement of our community, and acted with tremendous energy and purpose.  No wonder that they have been successful!  We look forward to supporting their endeavors to provide assistance to this crisis and ongoing support during the coming months. 

We have worked this year at BCD to make a shift from “community service” to “service learning.”  It has been my experience that all great service is rooted in one’s capacity to care deeply about an issue.  And, today more than ever, and if we are to accomplish our mission, I believe it is essential that we teach our children how to access those thoughts and feelings, to facilitate their ability to learn and collaborate with others, and to support their potential for action and impact.  Our children need to know that they can make a difference and that they can make change happen.  Please join me in applauding our students and Sarah Pitcher Hoffman (Service Club advisor) and Laura Piasecki for their facilitation of our work for Haiti and other projects this year.

Strategic Plan: I have reviewed each strategic initiative using our planning tracking document and am pleased with the progress made in many areas.  The exercise has also been useful in reviewing the projected start and completion dates of a number of initiatives.  I look forward to refining this effort, and identifying modifications and new strategies/initiatives as we work as an administrative team and as Board committees during the coming months.