Director’s message 40

ISO Community,

Quarter IV: Questions and Answers Before a Long Weekend.

The Month of March …. Questions ???? The Month of April … Answers!!!!

With almost a full quarter of school remaining, there is much teaching and learning to be done at the International School of Ouagadougou. During the month of March, I received many great questions, about next school year, from our parent community. I would first like to extend my appreciation to our proactive parents, for using ‘quality communication’, and for addressing the following concerns directly to me, or their student’s teachers:

  • The projected increase in school-wide enrollment, and individual class enrollments for next year
  • Teachers who may be leaving our community this year, or joining us next school year
  • The inflation-adjusted tuition for the 2021 – 2022 school year
  • The further use of technology integration in the classroom to create a more authentic blended learning, “real life”, experience
  • How best to assist our students in accepting responsibility for their choices, and also improving their academic performance here at the International School of Ouagadougou.

Of all the issues that have been raised using our ‘quality communication’ model, the two questions asked most frequently last month were: “What will the inflation-adjusted tuition be for next year?” and “Which teachers will be joining our community?”

Next year, based on present projections, ISO is expecting around 165 students. This will require the International School of Ouagadougou to add more high-quality teachers to our educational program.

Pursuing our model of “quality communication”, arriving teachers will be introduced at the end of the month, while departing teachers will say their personal farewells, first to their students, and then to our community, in May.

In regards to next year’s tuition, the Board of Trustees and I worked diligently on the fee structure. We have identified several areas that we deemed “vital” in the review of our tuition model:

  1. The need to maintain a high quality individualized academic program
  2. The staffing needs that are required to deliver this type of program
  3. How best to realize our goal of ongoing school improvement
  4. The overall economic needs of our non-profit school
  5. The perceived financial impact of our school fees on all of our various stakeholder groups.

The Board of Trustees has had several meetings to determine the school’s economic model for the 2021-2022 School Year. This information can be found here so that you, and if needed, your sponsoring agency, will have enough time to prepare for our first day of school, on August 23rd.

One of the areas that our team of educators has been actively working on is the enhancement of our technology integration in the classroom. To that end, over the summer months, we will (for the first time in eight years) make significant improvements to our school IT infrastructure. They will include two new servers, consistent dedicated internet cables for the whole school, and expanded Wi-Fi internet access that will be quicker, more reliable, and less expensive, as it will deliver “more for less.”

In addition, there is one question that I can answer directly at this time … and that is: “How best to assist our students in accepting responsibility for their choices, and also to help improve their academic performance here at the International School of Ouagadougou.”

The research points to our students’ best teachers … YOU! A study showed that students in homes where parents talked positively to them about what they were studying and learning in school had a 42% gain over students in homes where parents accepted answers such as “I don’t know”, or “nothing”, or focused on a “teacher picking on them”. As a community, we all share the responsibility of building an even better International School of Ouagadougou.

We need to continue to work together, side by side, with our master teachers, in keeping ISO on its journey of going “from Good to Great”.

There is still a quarter of the year remaining, so, parents, please remember … you are your child’s first and most important teachers. We cannot do it without your continued help and assistance. We look forward to it, and we count on it!

Have a great three-day weekend.

Jeff

Important Date:
Teacher Professional Development Day: Tomorrow – No School