Dear parents, alumni, and friends of Country Day,

I want to thank everyone who attended yesterday evening’s meeting with the Board of Trustees. My sense is that it was a productive meeting. The Pavilion was packed. Parents had a chance to hear the Board of Trustee Chairperson, Gerry Groner, speak about the process through which we are working to mitigate our expected decrease in enrollment. They also were given the opportunity to ask questions, articulate their concerns, and share their opinions and ideas. There was real passion in the room! The message that we hope you took from the meeting and that you will share with your friends and families is that our first concern is for our children. Our attention is on continuing and completing a successful school year. As for the future, we are committed to the process of strategic planning that will ensure that we remain current, vibrant, and responsive to the needs of the community we serve.  … You got it from the horse’s mouth.

One of the things that came out of the meeting was that parents felt that a survey should be sent out to determine your thoughts about returning the school next year. I’ll be creating that survey this weekend and sending it out next week. Please, we need everyone’s feedback.

Thanks to Brandon Balwant, Kevin Ryan, Alex Hensley, and Michael Straker for providing entertainment as people arrived at the yesterday’s meeting. They were good! (I asked them if I could sing a couple of numbers with them, but they politely declined.) Thanks also to the members of the National Honor Society for supplying and serving tasty treats.

I noticed over the past few weeks during morning drop-off and after-school dismissal, when traffic is at its thickest, that some students are not using the marked cross-walks when they cross the road to get to or from their parents’ vehicles.  This is dangerous. We’ll talk to the students about this; and we encourage parents to remind their children that they must cross the roads at the cross-walks.  Thank you.

We won! Congratulations to the National Honor Society whose efforts helped us to win the VIWMA Don’t Trash Your Cans, Cash Your Cans Aluminum Can Collection Contest. We took first place and were awarded $300 prize money and $48 for the 84 pounds of cans. Congratulations also to Randolph Lockhart School and School of the Good Shepherd who placed 2nd and 3rd in the contest.

One of our parents recently shared with me an idea that I think has great merit. She suggested that Country Day consider running a Spanish language immersion program during the summer. That’s a good idea! So, we first need to do a quick market study. Unlike the big corporations that pay profane amounts of money for such a study, I’m just going to ask the question: Would you be interested in enrolling your child in a Spanish language immersion program this summer? You can respond via the “reply” button, or just give me a call.

Congratulations to high school students Sam Watterson, David Kleeger, and Harry Hoffman who participated in last weekend’s Around St. Croix Race. The lads crewed on the winning vessel, Hotel California Too. Well done, gentlemen.

On Tuesday, February 7th , at 6:00 P.M. in the library, there will be a meeting for parents who are interested in enrolling their children in the Readak Reading Program. Mr. Garrett Huddy, the instructor of the program, will be making a presentation and answering questions.

Congratulations to our boys’ varsity basketball team who travelled to St. Thomas last weekend for a pre-season tournament at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School. Our lads took fourth place, after playing some very close games against outstanding competition. Congratulations, also, to the Central High School team who won the tournament. That’s a fine squad, with outstanding athletes and great coaching. We’re glad that we get to play them several times this year.

Does anyone out there have some good lumber lying around? (That’s a loaded question.) We’d like to expand the fitness room in the gym (We have equipment for which we have no space.); however,  we want to keep our costs at a minimum. So, we need the following construction lumber:    2 x 8 x 14 (2); 2 x 8 x 10 (2); 2 x 6 x 10 (6); 4 x 4 x 10 (5); 4 x 4 x 14 (1); ¾ plywood (6). We’ll take anything you have, and we’ll pick it up.

Please check out the auction information and forms for volunteer choices, donations, and ticket purchases for this year's auction "Las Vegas Wedding."

I think that’s it for now. Enjoy the weekend.

Warmly,

Bill