From the Director’s Desk:
March 30th, 2022
“March came in like a Lion and left like a Lion.”
With two weeks remaining in the third quarter, our school year is indeed moving very fast! However, prior to the break, I did receive many great questions from our parent community. I would like to first extend my appreciation to our proactive parents for using “quality communication” and addressing these concerns directly with me, or their students’ Principals.
The three questions that were raised most often were:
- What will the inflation-adjusted tuition for next year be?
- Which teachers will be leaving, and joining our community?
- What is the 2022 – 2023 School Calendar (it was in the last edition of the Turtle Talk)
With regards to next year’s “Economic Fee Structure”, the Board of Trustees and I have spent the last three meetings, working diligently to finalize next year’s Economic model. To date, we have identified several areas that are crucial to our budgetary process:
- The need to maintain a high-quality dual accredited international program, while ensuring an individualized academic program.
- The staffing needs that are required to deliver this highly complex type of both an MSA/IB Accredited program.
- How best to realize our goal of continuous school improvement.
- The overall financial needs of our non-profit school.
- The perceived financial impact of our school fees on our private parents and our corporate/diplomatic and NGO community.
To start your planning for next year, on March 1st, the Board approved next year’s school Calendar. It can be found here.
Lastly, when it comes to International Schools, “the only constant is change!” Sadly, that is true with both our student and teacher populations. Six students have been transferred after the Spring Break period. Prior to the break, our Upper School Math Teacher and English Teacher resigned for personal reasons.
This week, we are pleased to welcome Ms. Janet Aston who will replace Mr. Chaffin in English. Ms. Aston comes to us from the U.K. with over twenty years of experience in teaching both the MYP and IB. She has worked for Directors I have known in Mozambique, Senegal, and China. She has also supported International Schools in India, Bangladesh, and Ukraine.
Mr. Serge Ouonde, who, until this week, was supporting instruction in IB Math Analysis, will assume the full-time responsibility of Ms. Browne’s classes for the remainder of the school year. During the last few years, Mr. Ouonde has been working with our students as our SAT teacher, tutor, and as a highly valuable assistant. He understands our students’ instructional needs and is working diligently to ensure the high standards and expectations of the International School of Ouagadougou are maintained.
Having both teachers start for the last 25% of the school year will give them a running start on ensuring the success of our students going into next year. It will also allow them to help support the continual improvement at ISO, and the additional new faculty members that will be joining us.
Although the only constant may be change here at the International School of Ouagadougou, the one thing that has been consistent over the last 40+ years is that your students will get an excellent education here!
Remember: it is not what you have, but what you do with what you have that makes all the difference. This week, we got two great new teachers joining our team!
Welcome Ms. Aston and Mr. Ouonde! Our community looks forward to meeting you in April.
Jeff