I invite everyone to join me at BCD’s annual fundraiser for financial aid. “Dangerous Women: A Cabarevusical” will be held on Saturday evening, April 24th, 2010 at Shakespeare & Company.   This year there will also be a special matinee on Sunday afternoon, April 25^th.  BCD’s very own “Dangerous Women” – Pam Rich, Laurie Schiff, Lisa Kantor, along with special guest Debbie Zecher, will be performing.  The event promises to be an evening of raucous good cheer, lots of song, and plenty of sass.  “Dangerous desserts” and cocktails will be provided, and an exciting live auction will also be held.  Tickets go on sale today through Shakespeare & Company.  You can call the Box Office at 413-637-1199 or go online to www.shakespeare.org

BCD hosts one major benefit a year to raise funds for financial aid.  The proceeds from this year’s gatherings will generate the much needed support that we provide to over one-quarter of our students who need some level of financial assistance to help make their BCD education possible.  During these uncertain economic times, we embrace conversations about financial aid with current and prospective families more than ever.  The success of our event this year is essential to our community and the health of the school.

There are other important ways for you to get involved.  Please consider being an Underwriter or Sponsor and/or purchasing an ad for the program.  Invite your friends and family to attend the event.  Volunteer to help before, during, or after the event.  Please contact Maxine Carter-Lome at 413.637.0755, ext. 15, or email her at mlome@berkshirecountryday.org

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.

Please remember that the Board has created a tuition structure for next year that is tied to the deadline for submitting enrollment contracts with a deposit.  This means that the tuition is lower if you submit your re-enrollment contract on or before next Wednesday, February 17, 2010. 

To maintain a balanced budget, an accurate assessment of projected enrollment is essential for our financial planning.  Perhaps the most important reason to be able to accurately project enrollment is that it allows the School to make employment commitments to our faculty in a timely manner.  And, with current applications more than double the number at this time last year, we currently anticipate the possibility of a waiting list for one or more classes next year.  Your re-enrollment contract reserves a space for your child(ren) in next year’s class(es).

Please consider the importance of the February 17, 2010 deadline to you and your School.  If you have any questions about your re-enrollment contract or need to discuss the re- enrollment deadline, please contact Gwen Connolly, or if you would like to have a confidential discussion about financial aid, please contact Amy Broberg.

Please join me in welcoming Marge Blair as our volunteer receptionist on Monday and Tuesday mornings!  Marge is a former BCD parent.  Her son, Kirk, graduated in 1976.  A resident of Stockbridge, Marge also works as a tour guide and lecturer at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

In the re-enrollment packet sent to families back in early January, parents were asked to return their re-enrollment contracts to BCD by February 17, 2010. Here are two reasons why this date is important to BCD:

1.   In February, we continue the budget planning process for the coming school year.  The budget we work with is based on anticipated enrollment and projected tuition income. To maintain a balanced budget, an accurate assessment of projected enrollment is essential for our financial planning.  Perhaps the most important reason to be able to accurately project enrollment is that it allows the School to make employment commitments to our faculty in a timely manner.

2.    With current applications more than double the number at this time last year, we currently anticipate the possibility of a waiting list for one or more classes next year.  Your re-enrollment contract reserves a space for your child(ren) in next year’s class(es).

Please remember that the Board has created a tuition structure for next year that is tied to the deadline for submitting enrollment contracts with a deposit.  In addition to supporting staffing and program planning and reserving a space for your child(ren), receiving enrollment contracts on time contributes to our ability to manage cash flow and accomplish projects planned during the current year.  

Please consider the importance of the February 17, 2010 deadline to your School.  If you have any questions about your re-enrollment contract or the re- enrollment deadline, please contact Gwen Connolly, or if you would like to have a confidential discussion about financial aid, please contact Amy Broberg.

Thank you for the many ways that you contribute to BCD and your continued support of our admissions efforts this year.  Your referrals and positive messages out in the community are introducing many new families to BCD!

Paul

If I have not yet seen you around campus, Happy New Year and welcome back!  As Amy Broberg and others work hard to build enrollment at BCD, and because our blog is accessible to and read by many prospective families, please take a minute to reply to the post on our main blog – “Tell Us About Your Child’s Teachers.”  Thank you to everyone who is participating in our 1:1 campaign this year.

I offer two more resources for parents this week.  I have added a link on the left side of my blog called “Resources for Parents.”  The first is a link to Common Sense Media, a website company.  They are “dedicated to improving the media and entertainment lives of kids and families and exist because media and entertainment profoundly impact the social, emotional, and physical development of our nation’s children. As a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, we provide trustworthy information and tools, as well as an independent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume.”

The latest “from my bookshelf” is:

The authors (Levin is a professor of education; Kilbourne, an authority on the effects of advertising) accuse the media of sexualizing children. Constantly, American children are exposed to a barrage of sexual images in television, movies, music and the Internet. They are taught young that buying certain clothes, consuming brand-name soft drinks and owning the right possessions will make them sexy and cool—and being sexy and cool is the most important thing. Young men and women are spoon-fed images that equate sex with violence, paint women as sexually subservient to men and encourage hooking up rather than meaningful connections. The result is that kids are having sex younger and with more partners than ever before. Eating disorders and body image issues are common as early as grade school. Levin and Kilbourne stress that there is nothing wrong with a young person’s natural sexual awakening, but it is wrong to allow a young person’s sexuality to be hijacked by corporations who want them as customers. The authors offer advice on how parents can limit children’s exposure to commercialized sex, and how parents can engage kids in constructive, age-appropriate conversation about sex and the media. One need only read the authors’ anecdotes to see why this book is relevant. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

We Dream of a World

Recently, our Kindergarten students were asked to share their ideas about peace.  Here are their thoughts as they completed the phrase “We dream of a world where”:

• fish have clean water.  HL
• horses are free.  GS
• people are nice.  CV
• there is lots of food.  RS
• people are healthy. KO
• there is no war.  JM
• there is love.  AB
• everyone has friends.  AC

Thank you for sharing your children and your dreams for them with all of us at Berkshire Country Day School.  On behalf of everyone at BCD, I send best wishes to all for a relaxing vacation, joyful holidays, and a wonderful New Year!  I look forward to welcoming everyone back on Tuesday, January 5^th, 2010.

Berkshire Country Day School is fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).  This fall, at the request of the NEASC Commission on Independent Schools and following up on the comprehensive five-year self-evaluation and special progress report that was submitted last year, we sent NEASC a special report about the state of the school, our new long-range strategic plan and the detailed matrix showing the assignment of this year’s initiatives, and a copy of this year’s balanced budget.  Last week, I received the following letter from William Bennett, Director of the Commission:

Dear Paul:

“The Commission on Independent Schools of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges met on November 16-17, 2009.  At that meeting, the special progress report submitted by Berkshire Country Day School was reviewed.  Your report was accepted with thanks.

The Commission commends the school for its comprehensive long-range strategic plan which will serve to guide Berkshire Country Day School in its quest for continued improvement.

Other than routine annual reports, your next major responsibility regarding accreditation will be your decennial evaluation visit scheduled for 2013.

I wish to express my own personal congratulations to you for a job well done.  Much has happened since your accreditation visit and you and your staff should be complimented.”

Sincerely,

Bill Bennett, Director of the Commission

As we approach the end of this calendar year, I write to give you an update about the school’s fund raising plans.  Our Strategic Plan has three major goals.  One of them leads us to achieve the objective that “Berkshire Country Day School’s financial resources are stable and sustainable.”  Furthermore, the plan states that “long-term financial health is built on a foundation of thoughtful strategic planning, strong leadership, and sound business management.  Our long-range financial plan informs the operation of all aspects of our school.  As stewards of the School and its mission, everyone gives what he or she can to strengthen our resources today and endow Berkshire Country Day School’s future.”

We are on course with a balanced budget this year.  No longer dependent on the contributions from a small circle of donors to close a considerable financial gap to meet basic operating expenses (above and beyond the Annual Fund), we are now able to focus on our current and future needs in new ways and are proceeding in three important directions with regard to our fund raising initiatives. 

First, we are steadfast in our commitment to the success of our Annual Giving Fund.  The Annual Giving Fund bridges the gap between tuition and the actual cost of educating each student.  Each year we seek the full participation of our current community – parents, trustees, and employees – and we reach out for support from former students and parents, grandparents, and friends of the school.  We are extremely appreciative of the many contributions we have received this year and ask that everyone participates before the end of the school year.  Last year, 90% of current parents contributed to the Annual Fund – a school record.  I’m hopeful that we will achieve 100% participation this year.

Second, we are identifying the special projects that will advance our programs and accomplish the need to preserve our precious campus resources.  As we envision new classroom resources to support the innovation of our programs, and ascertain what work is required to renovate our buildings and address deferred and anticipated maintenance issues, we seek to match our needs with donors who are committed to supporting these needs.

Third, we are focusing our sights on building our endowment, an essential and important element of the financial picture in independent schools like BCD.  An endowment is a school’s “savings account.”  It provides additional and permanent resources to maintain and improve the quality of education that the school provides its current students and generations of future children.  An endowment at independent schools is typically used to augment faculty salary increases and professional development, provide additional funds for financial aid, support special program initiatives and/or enhancements, and the ongoing maintenance of the school’s facilities.  With a relatively small endowment, BCD currently relies on tuition income to fund these important needs.  In addition, the size of the current endowment means that there are limited funds available for a rainy day, effecting our ability to plan strategically in the near-term.  Our goals in the areas of faculty salaries, professional development, financial aid, and facilities are important.  We will not be able to achieve our goals through tuition alone, and an increased endowment is paramount so that we can rely less on tuition and ensure the future financial sustainability of BCD. 

If you have an interest in speaking with me further about any of these topics, please contact me directly.

Throughout the year, I plan to share suggested readings for parents and educators.  If you are interested in stopping by to review any or all of the books, let me know.

Raising Lifelong Learners: A Parent’s Guide, Lucy Calkins

Although this work is written as a guide for parents to foster a love of learning along with the requisite skills in their children, it also provides valuable information for others who work with children: child care workers, teachers, scoutmasters, and librarians, perhaps. Calkins is founding director of the College Teacher Writing Project and author of The Art of Teaching Writing (Heinemann, 1991), but she does not limit her attention to writing in this guide. While concentrating on individual skills in each chapter (writing, reading, playing, science, math, and more), Calkins never loses sight of her overall goal of creating interest and skills for lifelong learning. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14

“Yardsticks is an indispensable resource for educators who want to be responsive to the needs, talents, and aspirations of all the children they teach.” –Larry Dieringer, Executive Director, Educators for Social Responsibility Written with warmth and humor, Yardsticks offers clear descriptions of children’s development. This comprehensive, user-friendly reference has been a favorite of parents and teachers for more than 10 years. For each age, this book includes: narrative description of developmental traits; charts summarizing physical, social, language, and cognitive growth patterns; suggestions for curricular areas: reading, writing, mathematics, and thematic units; favorite books for different ages. What’s new in the 3rd edition: a brief overview of issues in the development of bilingualism and biliteracy among Latino/Hispanic children; an appendix on the birthday cluster exercise for applying the information in the book to working with a whole class of students; an updated list of recommended children’s books; an updated list of recommended resources for teachers and parents. Amazon.com