| November 23, 2011 26 Cheshvan Shalom KSA Parents: We have an incredible school! When you walk our halls, attend a milestone event, and take stock of how successful our graduates have been, you can feel pride in all that we accomplish on a daily basis. Over the past few years, our school has moved to a state of the art facility, set the standard for leadership transition to our new Head of School, Marc Medwed, and dealt with a severe economic downturn. As a Board, we support the vision and commitment of our school to provide the highest quality education for so many students in our community. We have continued to serve our increasingly diverse population with excellence throughout this period, now with our new name, reflective of the community we strive to maintain at Kehillah Schechter Academy. Even as we maintain an excellent school, our board is faced with the reality that running a premier day school in down economic times poses great challenges. Our tuition assistance program has been extended to over sixty percent of our student body. We have come together with the school's professional leadership to make sure that all children who want a Kehillah Schechter experience can receive it. We have done this despite the financial hardships created by our active, but still unsuccessful, efforts to sell our former building in Stoughton in this difficult market. However, as things stand, the current economic model is simply not sustainable and we need to make plans in order to address our needs now and in the future. Change is hard. Marc, with the full support and encouragement of our Board of Trustees, in collaboration with Russ Lavoie, our new Director of Finance and Operations, is mapping out strategies to ensure our ability to deliver the best in education while maintaining our economic viability. This work is difficult and real and takes incredible vision and courage. We are grateful that Marc possesses both of these traits and is able to lead our school through these times without impacting the daily experience of quality learning our children deserve and parents have come to trust the school to provide. Over the coming months and years we will need to work together to make sure that our school thrives, grows, and remains the transformational institution it has always been. You can help us by referring the school to potential new students, by making charitable contributions to the Annual Campaign, and by helping us secure new donors. We have a great new Director of Institutional Advancement, Fran Kantor, who we can already see making a real difference. Tuition does not cover the full costs of educating our children- other sources of income are vital. Along with Marc, every board member is available to talk with you about our school's future, solicit ideas, and act upon leads. Please engage with us as we open a new chapter in our school's history. Kol tuv and a happy and safe Thanksgiving, Michael Agus michael.agus@childrens.harvard.edu President, on behalf of the entire KSA Board of Trustees |
Dear Kehillah Schechter Academy Parents, 
