International School Moshi Letter from the CEO - 19th February 2009
Dear Parents,
I returned from the annual recruiting trip late last week and I am happy to report that our hiring for 09/10 is almost complete. I am also very happy to be back in beautiful, warm Tanzania after experiencing some very cold weather abroad.
Development trip to Dar
I am writing to tell you that I will be attending the Dar ISM alumni Chapter dinner this weekend. If you are available Friday afternoon between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., before the dinner, I invite you to come to the Peacock Hotel and meet our new Development Officer, Mrs. Chinta Beez and our Development Volunteer, Kate Robertson. I am happy to discuss any concerns you may have about the school and it will be a good opportunity to meet many of you again.
You may recall that one of the stated aims in the Strategic Plan was to hire an East African Development Officer (Chinta is from Kenya) - this goal has now been achieved. Regarding enrolment initiatives, I am hoping that by mid-May the extension to Kivuli boarding house will be completed, giving us 8 more double rooms above our current capacity. It will be my aim to try to replace our graduating and leaving boarding students and add an additional 16 students for next year.
Kate Robertson has also organized our third Dar alumni dinner for this weekend, which we hope will raise a little money for the scholarship fund and also bring the alumni together around their old school. The better engaged our alumni are with the school, the better the chance of them telling a friend with children about us.
Doing the Hard Stuff
Several Moshi teachers and students made another trip to Kidachini School north of the campus for two days of Hard Labour last weekend. This project involved building the walls for the new dining hall at the school. Students on the last hard labour trip to Kidachini dug out the foundation and filled the trench with boulders. Last weekend our students were able to lay five courses of blocks around the entire building - FYI, that is a lot of brick-laying! This sort of commitment to the community by our teachers and students should be inspiring to all of us and I know several new teachers who will join us in August are very interested in getting actively involved in this way. That positive attitude helped them get their new jobs at ISM.
Recruiting
I had a successful recruiting trip recently and almost all of our hires have been made. I am continuing to follow-up with several good candidates this week and next to fill the remaining three positions. Of the new hires, I think we have struck an excellent balance between experience and youth. All the teachers who are coming to us are positive and very excited to be joining ISM. I was also pleased to learn that several of our leaving teachers have secured good jobs at new schools for next year - Congratulations!
Two Campuses -- One Reputation
They say that your honour is the one thing people cannot take from you and the only way you can lose it is by giving it away. Likewise goes ISM's reputation in the community. As you all know, we enacted the immediate withdrawal of three students on Moshi Campus two weeks ago and handed down severe suspensions to two others who were implicated in a substance abuse situation. ISM simply will not tolerate substance abuse at our school and anyone implicated will face these serious consequences. In addition, we have increased our supervisory staff in the dorms. It has been great to receive many supportive letters and phone calls from our parents about how the situation was handled. Substance abuse happens in schools - it is a fact of life - what distinguishes a good school is how quickly, responsibly and transparently it responds.
Director Search
Three candidates have been selected for a series of interviews early next week. They are:
Jon Lane, British, currently working in Ethiopia,
Paul Shepherd, Canadian, currently working in China, and,
Robert Woods, American, currently working in Finland.
The candidates are all well qualified for the position and will undergo a comprehensive series of structured interviews with the following panels: Teachers, Students, Curriculum Committee, Parents, SMT and, of course, the ISM Board of Directors. The results and ratings from the interview panels will be forwarded to the Search Committee and the Board will make the final selection of the candidate who will be offered the contract - ideally by the end of next week. Parents on both campuses will get an opportunity to meet and talk with each of the candidates. Please plan to be part of this important process.
You take the High Road
The Kilimanjaro half marathon is looking to be full of ISM parents, teachers, students and local ISM workers in addition to those doing the 5km fun run. I want to thank Kate for doing a brilliant job of organizing the day. Many runners are asking for sponsors for their run, so please give generously. Fundraising from runner sponsorships will go towards to ISM Scholarship Fund. I anticipate watching the staff, student and parent runners fade into the distance ahead of me as I try to quietly hail the nearest dala dala. If you are not running on Sunday, March 1, please come out and encourage the ISM runners - you will recognize them by their bright yellow t-shirts and the spring in their step.
I look forward to seeing many of you in Dar on Friday.
Best Regards,
Barry Sutherland Chief Executive Officer
International School Moshi
