Welcome, and welcome back! We had another fantastic summer program this year. And, as soon as it was finished, a significant construction project began. The parking lot has been repaved and the parking space lines have been redrawn. The playground was scraped down with all of the mulch and asphalt removed. The area was then re-graded in order to ensure that the playground area drains well when it rains. In addition to the grading, new drains were installed. In the process, the climbing structure was moved, and some other changes were made. We are looking forward to inhabiting this "new" space for a while to see what else we might want to do with it in terms of equipment and usage.
We also became a "Google School" over the summer and installed an entirely new phone system. If you're trying to dial someone in the main building, you may simply add the number 1 in front of their previous extension to get them on their new line. The Business Office is now on this system, too, so everyone there has a new extension number rather than being on individual outside lines.
All of these projects were part of a five-year capital plan that was put together by committee and approved by our Board of Trustees. Future projects include replacing the windows in the building, adding window treatments, installing central air conditioning, retro-fitting the elevator, and much more.
Also new this year are a few programmatic changes as well as some new faces on campus. In the toddler classrooms, we made the decision to have our youngest children experience language exposure in the classroom. To that end, our second assistants in the toddler classrooms will speak Spanish and only Spanish when interacting with the children. We also committed to having the assistant teachers in the primary classrooms stay in the classrooms for the full day with the children rather than covering lunch and ASP in the afternoon. As a result, we have hired four new people to work in our After School Program. In order to maximize the time the children have in the classroom, on task, we shortened the drop-off time in the morning. This seemed a natural thing to do after observing the drop-off process last year and realizing we could be much more efficient.
On September 18th and 20th, between 8:45 and 9:45, we'll be holding "Coffee and Conversations" in the church auditorium. If you are able to attend, please stop by. This is an open forum where I will come prepared to speak to several topics (community and diversity being two of them). This is our third year doing this, and I learn a lot from all of you who attend. I hope to see you there.
I look forward to seeing all of you at Coffee and Conversations, Parent Association Meetings, Back to School Night, the Fall Festival, and myriad other events that will take place this year. I hope you are all as enthusiastic about the coming year as I am. See you there!
Kevin Clark
Head of School