The 2008-09 academic year is well under way, but from the financial perspective we are well into the planning stage for the 2009-10 school term. For instance, a few weeks ago many of you completed the re-enrollment survey whereby you indicated your plans which will help us determine how many teachers we will require next year. This is important as 60% of our annual budget goes toward salaries.

Given the general economic uncertainty, we tried to be both responsive and responsible as we set the new tuition scale for the 2009-10 school year - responsive to parental requests for advanced notification and a moderate increase; responsible so as to not jeopardize the pedagogical projects and positive learning environment already in place or planned.

After much discussion and analysis, we feel we have found an acceptable balance. In summary, tuition will increase approximately 4%, $500 per student next year.  All other fees and discounts will remain the same as for the current year.  To supplement the tuition revenues, we will continue to pursue more proactive fundraising initiatives, allowing parents and others the opportunity to make tax-deductible donations while allowing us to meet our budgetary needs. An official rate card will be included in the re-enrollment packet you will receive in January.

If you did not complete the re-enrollment survey, or now knowing the new tuition would like to modify your answers, please go to:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=YW5tU_2b_2f22WjcysF8WvFtqg_3d_3d

before December 19^th.  All feedback is confidential and quite useful as we look forward to the next school term.

As always, thank you for your continued confidence; we thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the opportunity to educate your children.

L’année scolaire est bien entamée et pour des raisons de conjoncture économique, nous travaillons déjà sur la planification de l’année scolaire 2009-10. Par exemple, il-y-a quelques semaines, beaucoup d’entre vous ont répondu à notre  sondage de réinscription par lequel vous indiquiez vos plans, ce qui nous aidera à déterminer combien d’enseignants nous aurons besoin pour l’année prochaine ;  ceci est très important puisque 60% de notre budget annuel est réservé pour les salaires.

Etant donné l’incertitude économique, nous avons de façon sensible et responsable, déterminé le nouveau barème des frais de scolarité pour l’année 2009-10 – sensibles à votre demande d’être informés le plus tôt possible et pour  une augmentation modérée, responsables afin de ne pas  compromettre les projets pédagogiques et l’environnement  positif d’enseignement déjà en place ou bien planifié.

Après maintes discussions et analyses, nous pensons avoir trouvé un équilibre acceptable. En résumé, l’année prochaine, les frais scolaires augmenteront d’environ  4% soit $500 par étudiant. Tous les autres frais et rabais seront les mêmes que l’année en cours. En vue de compléter les revenus des frais scolaires, nous continuerons à développer des initiatives plus proactives de levées de fonds qui offriront aux parents et tout à chacun, la possibilité de faire des donations déductibles d’impôt, tout en nous aidant à atteindre nos besoins budgétaires. Les frais de scolarité seront inclus dans le dossier de réinscription que vous recevrez en janvier.

Si vous n’avez pas rempli le sondage de réinscription et si vous désirez modifier vos réponses maintenant que vous avez connaissance des nouveaux tarifs, s’il-vous-plaît, visitez le site suivant :

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=YW5tU_2b_2f22WjcysF8WvFtqg_3d_3d

avant le 19 décembre. Tout commentaire est confidentiel et très utile et nous attendons impatiemment la prochaine rentrée scolaire.

Nous vous remercions de votre constante confiance.  Nous apprécions pleinement d’avoir la chance d’enseigner vos enfants et c’est une immense joie.

A day before October break, our new college counselor, Alex McGregor announced that he was resigning immediately and would not be returning to LILA.  The announcement was a surprise and Deborah Thornburg and I met immediately with all secondary school teachers to announce the sudden departure and to discuss how best to handle the situation.  Although everyone was in shock, all agreed that the most important thing was to make sure that this rapid departure would not affect the lives of our students in any way.

As the head of school, I was faced with the difficult situation of how to staff this key position.  I felt that it was imperative that we find someone who was familiar with both the IB and the university system in the United States as well as with the special challenges our students face in dealing with a dual immersion program.  I knew that both teachers and parents wanted to see someone come in and plant some roots and develop the program over several years… and then I remembered a wonderful informal coffee chat I had had with one of our own LILA teachers who had expressed an interest in the position last May, which was too late as I had already committed to hiring Alex McGregor.

And so it was, I went up to the teacher in question and brought him the formal, heavy, 4-page job description and asked him to sleep on it.  I knew that this was someone who would fit all the requirements that we needed, and someone who the students trust implicitly… I also knew that he would truly consider what he was getting into and would not take it unless he felt comfortable with the challenge…

So when David Redfield, long-time LILA English and TOK teacher, called me last Saturday to accept the position, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief… and then panicked a little as I thought of the enormous shoes I needed to fill for the junior high students who would be losing a very popular English teacher eight weeks into the year… one of which was my own son…  We placed an ad and immediately received a truckload of resumes.  Guillaume Dupont, Secondary Pedagogical Coordinator, and I spent the week interviewing the candidates who seemed most promising.  We saw several talented individuals, but one stood out above the rest as he walked us through his philosophy of education and explained his techniques and strategies for making group work efficient and productive.   And so we hired Thomas Halpenny from Boston to become the newest member of the LILA team.

To make sure the transition for the students is smooth, David will continue to teach class for a few days and Thomas will sit in.  Progressively the baton will be passed over the course of the week, until Thomas takes over altogether for the 7th, 9th grade English, and 9th grade Tech & Skills.  David will keep his TOK class with the 12^th graders.

And so it goes, a new page in the LILA book is turned; an exciting chapter starts on Monday.