The Day After the Annual General Meeting
(français ci-dessous)

A. Introduction
B. French School Dismissal and Saturday Demonstrations
C. The ISO 2021-2022 Board of Trustees
D. Presentations and notes from yesterday’s Annual General Meeting

A. Introduction

ISO Community,

We had an excellent turnout to last night’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). I would like to thank everyone who gave so generously their time and spirit to the process of working with both our School Board of Trustees and me, and hearing the Director’s and Board’s summaries of our prior “unique” year.

Last night, during the “Wine and Cheese” social after the meeting, one father who will be transferred at the end of this year said to me, “when anyone asks me, I tell them that they don’t have to worry about the school. Their children will get an excellent education.”

Those words went a long way in making the Annual General Meeting even more enjoyable yesterday evening.

B. French School Dismissal and Saturday Demonstrations

I also want to take a moment to thank the parents who contacted the school directly to inform us that the French school decided to do an early dismissal yesterday. It took us some time to find out “why”, but as a community, we did. There was a mourning procession that was taking place by their school and they decided to show solidarity by ending their school day early.

I am sure that most of us are aware that there are various protests planned around the city on Saturday. The International School of Ouagadougou will take the following steps:

• Close the school campus on Saturday. We had originally planned our annual activity “Teachers Train Teachers.” In this activity our teachers work with local teachers here in Ouagadougou for the day. However, that activity has been suspended until further notice.
• Remind our teachers (our most important asset to our program) that it would be wise to catch up on their work, or enjoy their various streaming services – Internet permitting.
• On Monday, we have an ISO Holiday, and school will not be in session. This was planned in January of last year, however, it is clearly “luck” in our planning to have this weekend be a three-day weekend.

C. The 2021 – 2022 School Board of Trustees

Serving on the school board is a significant investment of time and effort. On behalf of the entire community, we thank all members of the board for volunteering for the role of:

• Establishing the school’s vision and mission
• Determining and enforcing policy, to ensure ISO’s long-term financial viability
• Looking after the overall fiduciary responsibility of the Board

This is a critical year for the Governance Model of our School, and our new Board of Trustees has been getting ongoing training from both SAGE Associates (Virtually) on School Fiduciary Responsibility, and Dr. Chris Muller (on-site) last month.

The physical Board Training was paid for by a grant from the Association of International Schools in Africa. The COVID pandemic has created new challenges for ISO, like for many international schools, necessitating the need for detailed personalized Governance training. The Board Facilitator was Dr. Chris Muller who has over 40 years of experience in International Education.

Our Board has been entrusted with great responsibilities, and, with its training now, has both the tools and the knowledge to make our school stronger, better, well suited, and adaptable for the challenges that our community will face now and going forward into the future.

D. Presentations and notes from yesterday’s Annual General Meeting

Some information that was sent from the Annual General Meeting:

• Board Chair’s Presentation in English and French
• Director’s Presentation in English and French
• IT 8-Year Restructuring Plan
• Minutes from the May 2021 Association Meeting

Have a good afternoon,

Jeff