Reports and grades were mailed January 23 and 24, in time for you to receive them and digest the information before parent conferences. If you have not received this mailing, please contact your Division Head immediately. It was a pleasure for me to read through the reports and see the progress that our students are making, the breadth and depth of our curriculum at each grade, and the clear sense that our teachers know their students well – and enjoy working with them!
Remember that Parent Conferences on January 30 are different in the two divisions. Upper School has a half day of school, with busses running at noon (no lunch), then conferences in the afternoon. You are welcome to have your student stay in Extended Day and take her/him home with you after your conference. Just let the front office know in advance. Lower School has conferences all day so no school. Extended Day is available for your conference.
State of the School
I enjoyed talking with those parents who braved the icy drizzle and opted for our State of the School presentation instead of Governor Deval Patrick’s! I appreciate the time that Board President Ron Feldman, Board Treasurer Beth Lindstrom, Director of Finance and Operations Dave Wood, and Director of Admission and Financial Aid Emily Bracchitta devoted to preparing for that meeting. You will be receiving a summary of that meeting in the mail, also, because it provides the tuition schedule and the timing for both re-enrollment and for financial aid for the coming year. I encourage you to read through those materials (and also to always read the E-velope, of course!) and get in touch if you have questions. Re-enrollment contracts will be in the mail by February 10 and due back by March 2.
As we reported, the school is healthy and strong. We are among 15 out of the approximately 1,700 NAIS schools to be recognized for our work in Core Values and Core Competencies. These are the bedrock that makes Applewild such a magical school, providing coherence to our curricular and co-curricular offerings and establishing the culture and climate in which students enjoy coming to school and being stretched and challenged. Alumni continue to report that they are well prepared for secondary schools, and recent graduates have gone on to receive prestigious awards from schools such as Concord Academy, Cushing Academy, Groton School, Lawrence Academy, and Lunenburg High School. We count among our recent alumni a senior with early acceptance to Harvard and others excelling at such institutions as Boston College, Brown, Colgate, Cornell, Harvard, Lafayette, Muhlenburg, Washington University (St. Louis), Williams, and in the honors program at UMass – Amherst, among many colleges here and even overseas.
Our curricular reviews continue this year, with science and health/physical education being reviewed, even as English and mathematics continue to evolve based on their recent reviews. Please mark your calendars for 4:00 February 23 for a K – 8 Family Math Experience and Exhibition. Our eighth grade leadership program is growing, including a connection to Longsjo Middle School that will give each of our students the opportunity to mentor a group of three or four fifth graders, including support for some close observation of nature and some writing exercises.
Applewild is healthy financially, also. We had planned for the demographic dip and then responded quickly to the financial uncertainty of the past three years, even as some of these choices were difficult. The plan is working. We have healthy reserves that provide us with flexibility to project manageable budget deficits if necessary, and we have actually finished the last two years with balanced budgets, all while maintaining and even enhancing our superb program.
The commitment from faculty and staff during this time has been exemplary. Despite stagnant compensation for two years, including the loss of the school’s match to the pension, they supported the Annual Fund at 87% last year and are already at 85% this year (NAIS average for schools our size is 72%). Clearly, our teachers’ “Belief in the Future” and their focus on each student’s progress have been impressive, and I am both proud of and grateful for their dedication. It was particularly gratifying to share with them the Board’s decision not only to plan for a second year of increased compensation but also to be reinstituting our pension match in the coming year.
We can all take pride that parent participation in the Annual Fund has been setting the standard among NAIS schools over the past two years, at 92% and 97%. That is strong evidence that you value our program. By comparison, NAIS data shows the average parent participation for all NAIS schools is 62% and 54% for schools our size. In other words, 30% to 40% more of our families than the average respond positively when invited by our parent volunteers to make a gift! This is a tribute to our program, to all of you who contribute, and to our conscientious Parent Volunteers with the support of the Development Office. That support has been essential to our balanced budgets the past two years.
During this economic climate, the school has also successfully launched a $7,500,000 Building Community campaign. With over 200 gifts to that campaign so far, we have raised $7,456,000 and expect to complete the most successful campaign in the school’s history by May. The Dining Hall project remains on time and under budget. We look forward to a few introductory events in the space this May and June before a formal dedication next fall. In addition to the dining hall, we have added $2,000,000 to endowment for financial aid, both for younger students reflecting the diversity of the region and supporting faculty and staff children qualifying for financial aid. We have renovated faculty housing at Flat Rock that has been instrumental in providing for transitions for several teachers over the years. Our new Wood Shop for grades 5 – 8 reclaims and repurposes beautiful space. We also have endowed an Innovative teaching grant to support faculty who seek creative ways to refine their offerings or approaches.
As positive as each of these indications is, the most powerful remains the daily interaction and healthy growth of your children. Thank you all for this wonderful gift!
As we look ahead to next year, we have also seen strong interest in enrollment. Applications are up over the past three years year-to-date, and several students have joined us mid-year. We will continue to look for opportunities to grow to two sections in Lower School. The successful third grade experience this year provides a model for how to move in that direction. Our scholarship program for students joining us in grades five and six has been named the AppleCore Scholarships to reflect our Core Values and Core Competencies. In addition to our successful program, our gifted faculty, our standard financial aid, and our Take A Look first Thursdays, the AppleCore Scholarships provide you with another specific item to mention as you encourage prospective families to consider exploring Applewild for their children. Our new view book will be mailed to you in mid-February to share with others, too.
The Lyres and Liars world premier Radio Play has been great fun for the fourth and fifth grade – and their audiences. The Eleanor Crow Eighth Grade Public Speaking contest will be in early February, we continue with our Wonders & Smiles story time for three – six year olds, and we look ahead to our mathematics celebration and our Eyes on Owls program for our Lower School and visitors on February 23. Enjoy February!