I am happy to report that we have increased our re-enrollment from 70% to 75%, are enrolling applicants from the outside at a good pace and remain quite busy touring the school with prospective families.
Also, I'm grateful for your continued trust in our team during this challenging journey of permitting, community outreach, fundraising, construction, staff retention and hiring.
Permitting & Community Outreach
On a technical level, through the continued effort of our professional team including architects, engineers, construction project management, and a community outreach specialist, the team managed to submit a partial use permit application and a zone text amendment (ZTA) on March 17. The objective is to complete the use permit application at the end of April. This phase includes several site surveys and the final report of the traffic study. This is one month earlier than initially planned which will benefit the tight timeline on a political level. Furthermore, we have formed a facility committee consisting of the senior administration and teachers, Carol Ferrieri (PS), Monika Oser (PS) Birgit Schweingruber (VS), Ina Berenger (ES), Janine Weers (IMS), Alex Norwood (IMS), Debbie Trimble (IMS) and four parents from each section, Carl Hesse, Chris Kogelnik, Silke Nock, Claudia Weber who are supporting the space programming - the facility master plan. I would like to thank the facility committee at this point for their extra time, effort and dedication in supporting the process in regards to facility requirements and the new operational complexity.
On a political level we have organized the Fair Oaks Beautification Association (FOBA) playground maintenance day from March 14 to March 16 with GAIS volunteers. In addition, on April 10, we have scheduled a Traffic Demand Management (TDM) committee meeting with concerned neighbors in order to get input for the TDM plan and other related challenges such as the collaboration with an existing neighborhood school that is applying for an extension, too. Moreover, further plans are being developed for several open houses and walkthroughs, and opportunities to reach out to the planning commission team, fire chief and board of supervisors.
Capital Campaign
The Capital Campaign is officially underway, now in the initial phase to secure lead gifts toward a total goal of $5 million to renovate the new campus. The Capital Campaign committee is working on an aggressive plan to raise major contributions from individuals between now and the end of summer, and has already made substantial progress. The entire campaign is estimated to run approximately 20 months, and there will be many opportunities for everyone in the GAIS community to be a part of the success of this effort. I would like to thank all capital campaign committee members for their time and support of this important project: Peter Graf, Kristen Hughes, Jon Kessler, Scott Petry, Claudia Weber and Daniel Zimmermann. If you would like more information about getting involved, please contact Claudia Weber or myself.
Board
Aside from the campus initiatives we are developing the new strategic plan 2014-2019. The draft has been analyzed at the class rep meeting, various staff meetings and during the Board offsite. The senior admin has incorporated all the valuable feedback and next the strategic drivers, high level goals and the objectives with clear key performance indicators (KPI) will be reviewed and finalized by each board committee by the end of May. The objective is to communicate the new strategic plan 2014-2019 in June.
Administration Personnel Change
Uschi Waite, our School & Admissions Manger, is relocating to Boston in June and in order to manage the move and family effectively, she requested to have her last full day at the front office last Friday. Nevertheless, she continues to support us remotely during this transition and you might see her coming in and out.
For the remainder of the school year, Susi Lindley and Roman Bruegger will share the front office responsibilities until the summer when we will hire a new receptionist. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Manfred Oesting (moesting@gais.org), who has been assisting part-time in the school already, will support them with back-office tasks and also support the GPA with their event planning and volunteering tasks.
To conclude, let me acknowledge our teachers and administration for all their hard work and tremendous dedication; likewise the involved directors on our Board and parent volunteers. You will receive the next campus update beginning of May and please note due to the dynamic nature and scheduling complexities, the final assignment of our team will be announced as usual in the June update.
I acknowledge and value your support through the many changes that have occurred at GAIS over the last year, and look forward to continuing to warrant your trust over the years to come.
Yours sincerely,
Dominic Liechti
Managing Director
