News & Weekly Letters

During the months of January and December, we invited parents of The École to answer a satisfaction survey. I would like to take the time today to thank all of you who responded. I must confess that personally, I tend to drag my heels when it comes to answering surveys. However, these semesterly satisfaction surveys are invaluable as they give us the opportunity to get formal feedback from you, to measure the progress we are making, and take note of the improvements we have yet to make.

On the first Thursday of every month, members of the school’s administration have a meeting with the officers of the parents association. Recently, coming together over coffee and croissants has been replaced by Zoom meetings, but it would take more than not being able to meet in person to dampen the enthusiasm of the PA officers.

We have to talk about the pandemic and the impact it is having on The École, its students, families, and employees. I have mentioned before that being as transparent as possible and sharing information as quickly as possible are of paramount importance to us. We also endeavor to be as clear as possible when we explain the procedures to follow. And of course missteps, oversights, repetitions, and inaccuracies sometimes happen. The Test-to-Stay (TTS) Program can be confusing and seem at odds with the protocol we were following just three weeks ago.

My office in the Elementary & Middle School Building is on the 2nd floor at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Yesterday, a little boy who was passing by paused in the doorway, walked shyly into my office, and confided in me that he wasn’t feeling too well because he’d lost his water bottle around two weeks ago now.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been focusing on the next school year. After opening a Pre-Nursery class in September, and announcing a High School track that will allow our students to extend their unique bilingual education beyond Middle School, there’s no denying that The École is dynamic and agile when it comes to providing the best options for our students and families.