A Note from Rachel Li, Aidan's Board President

Dear Aidan Community,

I wanted to provide updates from the Board’s annual meeting in May. First, after eleven years at Aidan Montessori, beginning with Mountain Silverbell class and ending with Sweet Gum, this is my family’s last year at Aidan: My son graduates in June and heads off to seventh grade in the fall—onward to new adventures! This is also my last year on the Board. I am delighted to announce that the Board has elected trustee Zoya Davis as President beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. Zoya has volunteered in nearly every capacity I can think of for a parent at our school—room parent, auction chair, Parent Association, JEDI—you name it, Zoya has done it. I am thrilled that the Board will be under her leadership. 

Zoya will be joined on the Board’s Executive Committee by Eoin Healy as Secretary, Mana Behbin Baltimore as Treasurer, and Josh Ackil and Daniel Widome as Vice Presidents. We will also have continuity on the Board with our other returning trustees Chris Eanes, Ellease Gibson White, Brenda Haendler, Alysa Herrera Taylor, Jennifer Paige, and Emily Skor. I am also pleased to announce that the Board has selected Kirk Freeman, Eloise Hackett, Lucy Liu, and Jacqueline Mendelsohn as new trustees. And I would be remiss not to mention departing trustees and alumni parents Erika Braddock and Kennedy Wright, who between them have served a total of 14 years on the Board. Thank you, Erika and Kennedy, for all your hard work, commitment, and good cheer. The Board will not be the same without you. 

A few highlights from the Board’s work this past school year: 

• The Advancement Committee, together with Aidan’s Director of Advancement and parent volunteers, helped to plan and implement an in-person auction after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The theme of the auction was Shine Bright and Dream Big! A fitting message for Aidan’s 60th anniversary year. The auction was a fun and memorable event—and also a successful one, raising over $160,000 toward Aidan’s financial aid program. The Advancement Committee also was successful in securing 100% trustee participation in the Aidan Fund, the school’s annual fund and its most important source of revenue other than tuition. 

• The Access, Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity (ADIE) Committee worked with the school administration in hiring Aidan’s Diversity Coordinator, Julian Denizard. After Julian joined the Aidan community, the ADIE Committee drafted and shared major goals with Julian and is in discussion with Julian and the school administration about steps to accomplish these goals. The Committee has also worked with Julian and JEDI, Aidan’s parent-led diversity association, to implement meaningful programming for Aidan, including the recent community potluck.

• The Buildings & Grounds Committee has worked with the school on follow-up from the significant construction project that took place this past summer and involved, among other things, replacing the elevator, lighting, and HVAC system. Together with the school administration, the B&G Committee is now engaged in reassessing the facility based upon the ten-year building assessment plan and mapping out future facility-related projects. The Committee also continues to partner with the school in its ongoing monitoring of the redevelopment of the former Marriott property and green space. 

• The Finance Committee, together with Aidan’s Chief Financial Officer, continued its work to ensure the financial soundness and stability of the school as it recovers from the impacts of the past two years of the pandemic.  The Committee’s conservative budgeting and financial stewardship of the school for the 2021/2022 school year is projected to result in positive net revenues for the school.  The Finance Committee worked hard to prepare the 2022/2023 budget and also oversaw a successful audit process. 

I will take a moment here to sing the praises of the Aidan Board. While this perhaps smacks far too much of patting ourselves on the back, the fact remains that the trustees are members of the Aidan community who freely volunteer their precious free time and talents in uncompensated service of the school. I am proud to have worked alongside them, I will miss them, and I think the school is lucky to have such a hard-working and committed group of trustees at the helm.   

I will also miss the Aidan community of faculty, staff, and families. As excited as I am about the future, I am sad to leave Aidan, which has cared for my family for so long and introduced us to the world of Montessori—something for which we will always be grateful. My family and I feel immensely lucky to have known this place and these people. We hope that you will stay in touch.

Have a safe and wonderful summer,

Rachel Li