International School Moshi Direct from the Director - 15th December 2009
Dear Parents,
We have held several meetings since the beginning of my term as Director of ISM. In those meetings we have made efforts to work on greater transparency and rebuild credibility. What we all need to understand is that this is not a one way street. Credibility and transparency must be maintained in all segments of our community.
Just recently I was forwarded an email communication entitled, "Open Letter on behalf of group of concerned parents". The electronic address indicated that this communication was for the Director, the Governing Board, the Share Holders, and the PA. I responded to the message thanking the sender indicating that I would include the message on the agenda for the meeting of the Governing Board under Correspondence. This would direct the message to the Governing Board and the Shareholders. I had not intended to forward it to the PA. Why, because the issue concerned fees and the strategies that the school has put before the school community as its intended direction which is in no way an area of decision making for the PA. There may have been a provision for this in the past involving the PA, but it is not present now. It has now been brought to my attention that this same communication has been forwarded to individual parents in the community and posted on a public notice board on the Arusha campus.
If we are working to build a better community environment for ISM, we will not be successful, if there is an insistence on using methods of communication that have pulled us apart in the past. We must set lines of communication and we must respect those lines in order to make certain that the appropriate parties receive the appropriate communications. A part of this also means that if communications are addressed to specific individuals, then the communications go those individuals and no one else. This builds credibility. By sending a communication addressed to specific groups and then resending it separately to others erodes the very thing that we are trying to build. It promotes a double standard; that being, the school is expected to be credible and do what it says, but not members of the community. Regardless of the intent, that is the message that is sent. If the intent is to have the message sent to the entire school community to make them aware of a particular line of thinking from a group within the community, then let's at least deal with this openly and make certain that the entire community gets the message and not just a select few.
The lines of communication within the school community are clear. According to school policy 9.20, it is the school administration that has the responsibility to send materials to the school community. No one else is authorized to use school email address lists for the purposes of communication. To support the work to which we have committed ourselves, we need to follow our policies to the best of our ability.
What we are trying to create is an environment where differences of opinion can be expressed and discussed openly. If these diverse opinions concern policy and practices within the school, then they should all be put before the Governing Board for their review. But, we must all remember, that despite our individual or collective opinions, it is the Board and/or the Share Holders who are responsible for making the final decision.
The order of events surrounding this message has left me somewhat perplexed. It is clear from the address that the message was meant for some specific groups. It is clear from actions taken by other parties, that they feel the message should have a broader circulation. Knowing that the message has reached a portion of the community, it is unclear whether or not it has reached everyone. This creates a very fertile atmosphere for confusion, rumor and conjecture; all the things we are working against. It is for this reason that I have included the "Open Letter on behalf of group of concerned parents" below. I have removed the names of the authors. I have done this because, I have no indication that it was the authors who forwarded the message to the broader community and therefore do not wish anyone to think that this communication is directed at them specifically.
Open letter
Att: Shareholders ISM
Board of ISM
Bob Woods, director of ISM
Parent Association Committee
Arusha, December 3rd, 2009
Re: Financial crisis at ISM
This letter is written on behalf of a group of concerned parents who are afraid the board of ISM will take decisions that will endanger the continued existence of the school that is very dear to us.
ISM is having financial problems due to decreasing enrollment. It is presented to us that there are merely two ways of solving this problem: cost cutting and raising school fees.
Cost cutting will affect the quality of the curriculum. What concerns us even more is the intention to raise the school fees.
The only long term solution to the financial problems ISM is facing, is an increasing number of students. Raising the school fees is particularly high-risk as it may result in a further decrease of the enrollment and consequently further and bigger budget deficits. This could result in a possible bankruptcy of ISM; as we gather from the presentations and correspondence, a bankruptcy scenario is much closer on the horizon than we would all like to believe. Management is reluctant to disclose the full facts on the school's financial condition, which makes one fear for the worst.
The Board's intention to decide on a raise in school fees and communicate the same this month is critical for the school's future. The impact on enrollment will be immediate and hard to reverse. New arrivals are more likely to choose for other schools. And there will be children/parents leaving ISM to go to other schools (either in Tanzania or abroad) and parents deciding to home-school their children. Several families already informed us about their intention to take their children from ISM if, indeed, the fees will be raised.
We simply do not believe cost cutting and raising school fees are the only solutions to solve the budget deficit. Other possibilities should be investigated. Therefore we recommend to appoint a Finance Committee, consisting of experts in finance, that will analyze the financial situation of ISM and come up with solutions to the present crisis that will not effect the enrollment in a negative way. This Finance Committee must be able to come up with a plan before March 1st, 2010.
We consider major parent representation in this Finance Committee of vital importance. At present there is a credibility issue between the Board and the parents about the Board's financial management capabilities. This credibility issue needs to be restored quickly - as this could in itself lead to a bankruptcy scenario. The Finance Committee should include the aspect of restoring credibility in its plan.
We also believe that a long-term strategy needs to be devised for the school, including a clear marketing strategy that is based on in-depth understanding of the trends and way the market is segmented and developing. But this can be organized in parallel.
We can't see any possible objection to this proposal and hope sincerely that the shareholders, board and director will endorse it for the benefit of the school, and will not make the mistake of raising the school fees, right now.
Yours sincerely,
On behalf of a broader group of concerned parents,
As you can see, the communication contains a view point that is different from that of the school. There is no problem with this. In fact, an environment with diverse views on given topics will most often produce better solutions to problems. Diversity of thought and differences of opinion are not an issue of concern, they should be celebrated. We recognize the value of diversity by holding community meetings where opinions can be expressed. In fact, the Governing Board is in agreement that the concept of a financial planning committee would be beneficial in devising a roadmap for the long term financial health of the institution. Such a committee would be linked to strategic planning in order to guarantee alignment with initiatives from other parts of the school program. The constituency of this committee should be such that there are representatives who have a background in either business or finances from both campuses working jointly with a consultant who has expertise in school financing. Further review of the possibility of forming such a committee is currently underway.
What is an issue of concern is partial communications, communications that are sent through channels that do not follow policy. Communications sent in a manner that in the past has been destructive to our community. We must make a conscious decision to be a part of the change we wish to see. If we do not, we will not be a part of the solution; we will be a part of the problem.
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