State of School Message 

Dear Parents,

As promised, I would like to take this opportunity to present to you some of the findings from the Parent Survey we conducted in the Fall and Winter, and how we have used them as a framework for developing our new five-year Strategic Plan.  My theme not only for this year but for every year is “Pursuit of Excellence,” and I am confident that you are going to see significant improvements in all aspects of St. Alcuin over the coming months and years.

First of all, thank you for your participation in the parent surveys.  This is a crucial process in the life of any school, especially for schools that have their eyes on the future.  The response rate was excellent and your opinions, comments, concerns and ideas have been integrated into our planning for the future through our Strategic Plan that was approved by the Board of Trustees in February.

You will see our concentrated efforts in the following four key areas listed below identified in the survey results.

1.      Academic and Program Excellence

2.      Safety and Security

3.      Financial Sustainability, Fundraising and Support

4.      Communications

Let me explain. 

Academic and Program Excellence

93% of the survey participants rated St. Alcuin either good or excellent in the area of overall academic assessment.  While this is a great reassurance of our efforts, we can and will do better.  Prior to this survey, we have been using our weekly divisional meetings to map our curriculum across all levels.  This is an extensive process.  Our goal here is to ensure that our curriculum is consistent and focused on skill development.  It is paramount that we establish academic benchmarks to meet each student’s learning potential at his/her highest level.  We are actively working on this and will have the core process completed before we return next fall. 

Safety and Security

An even higher percentage of our parents (96%) said that they believe St. Alcuin to be a safe and secure place.  Even with this large vote of confidence, we are still working to make things better.   Our revised critical response plan will reinforce your child’s safety and well-being.  Also, we are completing the revision to our current crisis plan to incorporate our enlarged campus and new buildings.  This plan will be posted on a secure portion of our website soon.

Financial Sustainability, Fundraising and Support

84% of you rated us very good to excellent in clarifying the school’s purpose for fundraising.  Many would see this rating as an indication of success, reinforced by 100% participation in the Annual Fund, but we need to do better in this area, and we will.  While we are so appreciative and thankful for our parents support, we realize that we must continue to refine our fundraising efforts so the school continues to secure itself with short- and long-term giving opportunities.  Whether it is the completion of our current Capital Campaign or an initiative to build our endowments, we want to approach our community with care and sincerity in the future.

Communications

92% of you considered school communications as either very good or excellent, but again, this is an area that is receiving special attention and development.  Working with parents and teachers, our communications will be enhanced to help you understand your child’s achievements and progress with clarity and insight.

While these are the main areas of concentration in our Strategic Plan, we are pursuing other initiatives as well, and we hope you will see the results of these efforts on a daily basis.

While we appreciate the compliments that came our way, we are taking your constructive criticisms to heart and are acting on them with all due diligence.  Be assured that I will keep you informed as we continue our “Pursuit of Excellence” for St. Alcuin Montessori School.

 

Walter

 

PS:  While we continue to focus on the future of St. Alcuin, I wanted to share with you the successes of some of our recent graduates:

Class of 2006:

20% of the St. Alcuin class of 2006, in their senior year of high school, are National Merit Scholars—two at Ursuline, one at St. Mark’s, one at Greenhill.

Mohammad Housini is a senior at Greenhill, interned with a physician last summer, and attends a high school med program at Southwestern Med School.

Zach Sanders ’06 will graduate Greenhill ’10 and is an Eagle Scout. He’s won the Boy Scout Triple Crown Award (bronze, silver, and gold palms).

Class of 2002:
Rebecca Isaac graduated from Ursuline summa cum laude and NHS and is studying Molecular Biology at NYU (pre-med). She is a bio-med research intern.

Zoe Jones graduates from ESD and is pre-med at Georgetown Univ.

Christine Gargan graduated from the US Naval Academy where she received the Adm. Lorenz Ethics Award and captained the marathon team. Capt. Gargan is training to be a Navy pilot at this time.

Taylor Custer graduated from Ursuline and SMU and is a Marketing Coordinator at Study Island.

Classes of 1990-2001:

Daphne Davis ‘90, graduated from Greenhill and is getting her PhD in counseling psychology at Penn State. (MA from U of Colorado)

Nancy Srebro ‘91 is teaching Freshman English at Southern Methodist University.

Mike Gavin ‘94, graduated a year ago from SMU School of Law and is a practicing attorney in Dallas.

Allison Budner ‘95, graduated from Greenhill and Brown University and lives in Berkeley where she is a radio producer for Berkeley and San Francisco community radio.

Loren Muirhead ‘00 graduated from Ursuline in 2004 is a graduate student at Columbia University in Environmental Health.

Allison Clendening ’01, is serving in the Peace Corps in Paraguay after graduating from Vanderbilt.