Taking Stock (Jan 08)

January is a great time to “take stock” and make course corrections. In fact, we’d probably invent January if it did not already exist. Much has happened at The Girls’ School in the past six months. We landscaped. The faculty re-examined our math curriculum, and after having spent the fall looking at options and testing various programs, will likely replace it or modify it significantly. We’ve had a successful annual fund and a well-attended Gala Kick-off party. We’ve had some great press (although not nearly what we would like to have), and our girls have achieved community recognition in the visual arts, music, robotics, and writing. We have a part-time development director, Jenny Smrekar and a part-time placement director, Frances Ramberg. We had a middle school volleyball team and now, a basketball team. We have introduced a competitive speech program after school.

Meanwhile, course corrections continue. After the rounds of meetings with engineers and landplanners and conversations with many of you and my firsthand experience with gardening in Austin, the constraints of the Tarrytown location are becoming more obvious, and, at the same time, our opportunities even more precious—something we treasure every time our students walk to the library or take a short drive to a museum or the theater.

Now we are looking forward. We are in the process of sharing our draft of the vision statement and will soon turn that into a strategic plan. We’ve applied for a Conditional Use Permit on the Windsor property. The faculty is heavily involved in projects leading up to an accreditation report. We are on the cusp of our “admissions” season with the first round of admissions decisions in just a couple of weeks. This is an exciting time for us at The Girls’ School and the next few months will likely provide many opportunities for celebrations and course corrections. As second grader, Austen, writes in her letter, “We can be a 200-year old school because all of us encourage it to be one.” Knowing when to “stay the course” and make strategic course corrections will make the difference between a school that merely survives and a venerable 200-year institution, and it requires true vision and occasionally nerves of steel. A little bit of luck also helps. So, thanks, Austen, for believing in us, and thank you to everyone who has helped, in one way or another this past fall, to make us a great little school (truly a hidden gem!).