June 22, 2016

Dear Parents,
 
With the second half of June now upon us, I find myself thinking about all that went so well to finish the 2015-2016 school year. At the same time, we are well into the substantial program and agenda we have for the summer months. We do all we can to take advantage of windows of time in June, July, and August that allow us to do some work on the physical plant when it is not in use. With what follows, I would like to reflect a bit on how the year finished and look ahead to some of what we hope to achieve before Labor Day arrives.
 
To start, we had a wonderful Lawn Ceremony and Prize Day to celebrate all that the Class of 2016 accomplished during the past four years. While the year was challenging in many ways, this group of students was instrumental in leading the school to an outstanding year. We enjoyed having an opportunity to acknowledge the many achievements so many in the class earned during their time at Brooks. Yet, we take even greater pride in the leadership this group provided. We began the year reeling from the loss of Anna '16 and Joe Trustey, and felt that loss all year long. The Class of 2016 helped us find and feel joy in the midst of our grief. They did a beautiful job modeling for all of us how to carry grief and continue moving forward, while remembering their classmate in such lovely ways.
 
The talks that students deliver during graduation weekend are always a highlight, and this year's slate was exceptional. Jay Park '16 did a wonderful job speaking about the power and importance of the arts at Brooks. He commented both on what was important to him, and on what the school needs to improve upon as we move forward intent on deepening and broadening this program. Ford Hatchett '16 delivered an impressive address about the school's athletic program. While he is a superior hockey player, he chose to speak primarily about learning to play football at Brooks. In an age when increasing numbers of students feel urges and tugs to specialize in one sport, Ford's message underlined the importance of being a part of multiple sports and activities. In speaking about the academic experience, Monica Abou-Ezzi '16 emphasized that learning how to learn while at Brooks was the most useful skill she picked up during these years. For a student of Monica's caliber to speak about the learning process in this way was an important message for students of any age to hear. Finally, Harrison Rice '16 capped off these great talks with a memorable and meaningful Prize Day address. True to form, he kept us laughing as he shared potential roles and professions he might pursue in his life. He noted that he felt ready for all of them for a host of reasons that centered on his confidence in the preparation he received at Brooks. All four students represented the Class of 2016 beautifully, and left us with much to think about as the summer begins to take hold.
 
The school's trustees were on campus for two days shortly after exam week and our final faculty meetings. We focused on a range of subjects, which included final approval of the coming year's budget. In addition, we spent a fair amount of time considering how best to continue making progress in the direction of building the arts facility and theater that is the centerpiece of The Campaign for Brooks. We have made a lot of progress through the year at securing funding for this essential project, and are eager to close the gap that remains by the end of the calendar year. If we succeed in doing that, we will be on track to begin construction in June of next year. Beyond that, we discussed work that is already underway, which involves swapping the Health Center and Business Office. For some time, we have wanted more adequate space for a health and wellness center and determined this year that the footprint of the business office below the Robert Lehman Art Center would allow for just that. We are on schedule to complete this project by the middle of August and are thrilled about the difference it will make in the work our health and counseling team does with students. Finally, we will begin construction on the remembrance garden behind the Science Center before the summer ends. We are well into the design phase of that project and continue to be excited about what it will mean to the school over time. Our hope is to have it completed by the end of the fall.
 
We also touched on the parent survey we conducted earlier in the year. While the summer will allow for deeper mining of that data, I do want to share some of the returns with all of you as we lean further into thinking about it. In total, the data indicated that we are doing well, while also pointing to areas where we could do even better. In particular, I would highlight the following:
  1. Ninety percent of those of you who responded rated the overall student experience at Brooks to be excellent (53%) or good (37%).
  2. Ninety-two percent of those of you who responded rated the academic experience at Brooks to be excellent (51%) or good (41%).
  3. We asked all of you to rate the likelihood that you would recommend Brooks to someone else on a scale of 1 (least likely) to 10 (most likely), and 67% of those of you who responded rated the school a 9 or 10; 8% of those of you who responded rated the school anywhere between 1 and 6 on this question. By subtracting the latter percentage from the former percentage, we find our way to a Net Promoter Score of 59.
  4. Eighty-eight percent of you who responded commented favorably on the school's strong sense of community.
  5. Both boarding student parents (87%) and day student parents (84%) identified high levels of inclusion and support as one of the school's strengths.
  6. There is a discrepancy between the level at which respondents feel excellent or good about the school's effort to communicate regularly with parents (86% to 94%) and parent involvement opportunities (70%). We will continue to think some more about how to close this gap.
  7. A number of you provided some useful feedback about Winter Term that we are glad to have in hand as we continue to build upon what we consider to be a signature program that is full of rich and deep experiences for our students.
  8. Finally, 86% strongly agree (38%) or agree (48%) that the school delivers on its mission.
 
Needless to say, we would like these figures to be 100% across the board, and your feedback will allow us to think in more focused ways about what we can do to improve in these areas as we head into a new year. We have also surveyed all parents and students admitted to Brooks this past year and will be surveying Brooks School graduates who are between two and 15 years out of the school over the summer. In so doing, we are intent on learning about what we might do better to attract admitted students to Brooks, and about how we have done at preparing students for both college work and life as young professionals. With all of these surveys, we are interested in a range of perspectives that will help us improve the school in a number of ways. Your help is much appreciated. Thank you.
 
I am finishing this letter as I prepare to head home from Seoul after seeing a number of you over the past few days. We are deeply appreciative of the confidence all parents exhibit in the school when making a choice to share your daughters and sons with us through these high school years. Yet, I feel an especially deep appreciation for this confidence when visiting with our international families. The Brooks School community in Seoul is an extraordinary one, and it has been a privilege to be immersed in the pride in the school that is so tangibly evident here. I was pleased to have the chance to visit.
 
By now, you have likely been able to access final grades and comments for the year. We have also posted information about various summer reading lists that are specific to certain courses, and all of us will be reading Ernest Cline's Ready Player One this summer as our all-school read. Laura Hajdukiewicz is leading this effort in 2016-2017 on behalf of the Science Department, and she did a super job previewing this fascinating work of fiction for all of us before we broke for summer vacation. As was the case last year, there will be a number of ways to incorporate this book into our courses and other discussions we will have through the year. I suggest that you consider reading the book with your son or daughter over the next couple of months!
 
Finally, I want to thank all of you who are Class of 2016 parents for your partnership and care for the school through these years. This marks the final time I will be writing to all of you as current parents, and I am deeply grateful for all that you have done to help the school. I trust you heard me say at some point when you were prospective parents that we cannot do great work with students if we do not do great work with parents. As we all move forward and these years settle for you, I hope that you will feel we were true to our word. If we have done well, the school will matter to your sons and daughters for the rest of their lives.
 
To all of you who will be returning as parents in the fall, I will look forward to being in touch with you and our new parents at some point in mid-July. Until then, have a wonderful start to your summer.

Best,
 
John R. Packard
Head of School
 

Brooks School
1160 Great Pond Road, North Andover, MA 01845
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