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Volume 1, Issue 1 September, 2011 Dear IDS Community: Welcome back to the 2011-2012 academic year and the 50th anniversary of the founding of Independent Day School. From time to time, I plan to share with you news of the Trustees’ efforts to support the short and long term health of our school. The 2010-2011 year ended well. We welcomed 8 new students, bringing our student population to 185. We are grateful to the Administration and Faculty for their tireless dedication to the Mission of our school.During the course of the past year, Trustees and the Head of School addressed the need to refinance the long-term debt as well as the necessity to update and improve our campus. The results are an exciting effort that will increase safety, security, and energy efficiency. Improvements include re-enveloping some of our older buildings, along with installing new windows and roofs. This enhances the appearance of the school as well. In addition, the bathrooms and locker rooms in the Grade 3-5 corridors have been extensively renovated, a much needed improvement indeed. Perhaps the most exciting change is the former All Purpose room has been transformed into a Design Thinking Laboratory.Design Thinking, one of the features of the IDS Strategic Plan, was described in an extensive presentation by faculty members Andrew Watt and Frann Ravid at the Trustees Annual Meeting in May. It is a method for teaching critical thinking by building with hands-on play. Design Thinking engages the left and right brains of several participants to cooperatively solve real-world problems. Mr. Watt will be working with students in a collaborative group effort to set up the Design Thinking Laboratory through out the year.A great example of Design Thinking at work and in action can be seen by clicking here.Our 50th year anniversary celebration was kicked off by Trustee Will Hunter, Class of 1994, addressing our 2011 Graduates with a heart warming talk which reminisced about his days at IDS and how the values he learned here have helped him throughout his further schooling and career. You may remember the picture of Will in the Beech Tree Connection, standing on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, IDS flag in hand and looking as if climbing a 19,000 foot mountain was part of his weekly workout routine. His wonderful speech can be seen and heard by clicking here.The 2011 Graduates are moving on to excellent secondary schools. Thanks to the strong academic foundation provided by the excellent IDS faculty, we are confident they are prepared to climb any mountains they might encounter. Along with other projects in the 2011-2012 school year, the Trustees will be working with the students and faculty to capture and commemorate the stories and memories our 50 years worth of alumni have to share. This project will not only highlight how far “our little school” has come, but will help us continue to guide and prepare our young people for their very exciting futures.Finally, I invite you to visit the Trustee’s link by clicking here. Here you will find out who we are, and the role and structure of the Board. I encourage you to read our Trustee Newsletter at this link. We welcome your comments and suggestions at anytime. You can email us at idstrustee@independentdayschool.org. With Warm Wishes,Giovanna Tiberii WellerPresident, Board of Trustees |
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