State of the School

Since the summer, I have had over 120 individual and group meetings to connect with students, families, faculty, and alumni. These meetings were scheduled with two goals in mind:

1. To build real relationships with our school constituents
2. To learn their views on RCDS’s greatest strengths and areas of opportunity

Here is what I have learned:

• Our community values warmth, inclusion, and support.
• Our teachers and employees possess an inspiring level of passion and dedication to their work and our students.
• Our students are eager learners, interdisciplinary thinkers, and active participants in all their endeavors.
• Our parents/guardians want to see their children’s school experience prepare them for enriched, fulfilled lives, and they are ready and willing to partner with the School to achieve this.
• Our alumni are ambassadors for this outstanding school and our excellence education. They are leaders in their fields and communities and they carry our motto, Not for Self, but for Service, into the world.

I. Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan is our roadmap for moving ahead through 2025, ensuring that RCDS remains an ever-evolving school that provides students with an excellent education that will prepare them to succeed. Our progress in the Strategic Plan’s six articulated priorities is as follows:

1. Academic Programming

• Our academic committees and division leaders continue to evaluate the lessons learned from the pandemic, and the following improvements have been made:
  • We continue to use Zoom for select parent meetings, which has increased participation.
  • We have opted not to use Zoom for any teaching and learning in the Lower School and only for audit-during-illness purposes in the Middle and Upper grades.
  • We are researching ways to expand participation in the Community Engagement Fellowship. My vision is that all students have an opportunity to actively practice Not for Self, but for Service. 
• The divisions are looking closely at this year's schedules with an eye to homework, assessments, and class time.
• We are looking at our Pre-K - Grade 12 experience to ensure seamless transitions from year to year in academic content and social/emotional development.

2. Faculty & Staff

• Our work to build a positive employee culture continues with the addition of professional development days and opportunities, as well as opportunities to build community bonds.
• The Dean of Employees established new professional evaluation and growth systems that make employees active participants in their assessment, professional development, and goal setting

3. Community

• Our efforts in building and sustaining community have been fruitful and palpable, from the Parents Association's increased activity to boosted school spirit in general. And, there is more to come! 
• The more we all invest in our community by volunteering and being present at important moments, the better our school will be.

4. Academic & Institutional Technology

• The additional technology acquired during the pandemic has been retained and redistributed around campus.
• We continuously monitor our tech infrastructure and wireless network for speed and connectivity.
• We are currently working with a consultant to evaluate our use of technology (hardware and software) for administrative purposes. A major goal is to centralize our data, as much as possible, to be able to better streamline school procedures.
• Given the recent rapid growth of artificial intelligence, we are taking a more targeted looked at the impact of this technology on education and learning.

5. Campus & Facilities

• Scroll down to read about the RCDS Master Plan and the newly acquired property across the Boston Post Road (Thruway property).

6. Financial Strength

• The endowment value is currently at $71M.
• RCDS is currently debt-free.
• We continue to explore and expand non-tuition revenue growth, including facility rentals and summer programs. Scroll down to read the financial report.
• We continue to provide competitive salaries and a robust financial aid program through strong fiscal management.

II. RCDS Master Plan

Delivering on our mission’s promise of an excellent education and school experience requires the right campus spaces and optimal overall layout. Leading global architecture, design, and planning firm Gensler and the Master Plan Steering Committee are currently examining all of our facilities to evaluate their efficacy and interaction with our curriculum, programs, and Strategic Plan priorities. This research will guide campus updates, additions, and renovations going forward. Gensler is coordinating multiple-constituency focus groups to gather feedback from parents/guardians, students, faculty, staff, contracted employees, and community partners.

RCDS closed on the Thruway property on December 6, 2022. The Master Plan will guide our development of this exciting new space, which represents a milestone for the School and our partnership with our neighboring communities. Our intention remains to develop the 8.971-acre parcel into athletic fields and facilities that will be available for use by both RCDS and the public. The purchase agreement requires that the property be made available by RCDS for public use approximately 30 percent of the time at a nominal or no cost. RCDS is excited to take this milestone step for the School and our healthy partnership with our neighbors–namely Rye, Port Chester, and other surrounding communities. 

III. NYSAIS Accreditation

Our 20 Accreditation Subcommittees are hard at work delving into the questions that will ultimately give us a descriptive measure of how effectively we are delivering on our mission. This work is supported by employee, student, parent, and young alumni surveys looking at all aspects of the RCDS program. Naturally, a self-study of this nature helps us affirm the ways we are delivering our mission and identify new and improved ways to do so, if needed. Accreditation is a time-honored tradition that speaks to the guiding philosophy of education: There is no end to learning and growing for the educator and student alike. We are partners in this pursuit of knowledge and excellence. In leading the accreditation, Dr. Meredith deChabert, Assistant Head of School for Academic Programs, has been encouraged by our constituents' active participation and genuine desire to best serve our students and deliver on our mission.

The home-school connection is paramount to our success as a school and as a community. We are building and sustaining a bidirectional culture of constructive sharing and collaboration both in everyday interactions and through formal initiatives.

School >> Home

• Parent Education Programs: RCDS offers regular opportunities for parents/guardians to learn about the curriculum and key issues related to education and student development. These educational opportunities include our yearlong grade-specific counselor meetings, academic information sessions (such as the Math workshops in the Lower School), and workshops on technology and youth development, substance abuse, and national conference takeaways.
• The division principals, counselors, and the administrative team are researching additional ways to provide parents/guardians with education on developments in teaching and learning and child development.
• Rye Country Day prides itself on consistent, clear communication between teachers and parents/guardians. It is our commitment that parents/guardians be aware of any and all issues relating to their student's experience at the School.

Home >> School

• The Parents Association Feedback Loop: Three times throughout the year, the PA administers parent surveys. The survey data is then shared by grade-level liaisons with the principals, who then take the feedback into their division management and visioning work.
• PA-Sponsored Opportunities to Connect: The RCDS PA is extremely active and added even more opportunities for parents/guardians to connect with the daily life of the school. Since September, PA committees and grade liaisons have hosted the Fall Luncheon, the Book Fair, Parent/Guardian Socials, two Wildcat Weekends, canned food and coat drives, the Family Skating Party, countless coffees, faculty discussions, several Fun Fridays, employee appreciation days, two hikes, a culinary tour - and more! The PA's spring slate of events is just as plentiful with the upcoming Arts Festival & International Fair and division-wide parent/guardians socials in May.
• In RCDS, parents/guardians have a dedicated partner. We work to keep the lines of communication open so that parents/guardians can provide educators with important information regarding their students.

Sustaining the professional circumstances that engender the dedication of our outstanding employees has included tending to esprit de corp, examining workload, evaluation, compensation and benefits, and facilitating professional development and growth. Building a positive, collegial culture among employees is a top priority that correlates directly to RCDS’s excellence. To continue to attract and retain the best teachers and non-teaching employees, we recently conducted an analysis and benchmarking review of our compensation structure. RCDS is competitive with peer schools in the area of professional recruitment, retention, satisfaction, and development.

LEADERSHIP SEARCHES:

• Athletics: The search for a new Director of Athletics is underway, and it is being guided by Rice Bryan, a senior consultant for the leading educational search firm Carney, Sandoe & Associates. The candidate pool is outstanding, and RCDS plans to have the new Director on campus by July 2023. Earlier this month, RCDS hired its first-ever Sports Information Coordinator who will spearhead sharing our athletic program’s excellence and the Wildcats’ many achievements to internal and external audiences across platforms.
   
• Interim MS Principal and Assistant Principal Team Extension: In October, Betsy Stedman and Brian O'Callaghan accepted my request to continue in their respective roles of Interim Middle School Principal and Interim Middle School Assistant Principal for one more year. Having their capable and dedicated leadership in the Middle School through 2023-24 will ensure continuity for the division. At the start of 2023-24, RCDS will launch a national search for the role of Middle School Principal to be completed in time for the 2024-25 school year.

Rye Country Day’s Portrait of a Graduate and our Signature Programs are the strategic initiatives that make up the roadmap to delivering on our mission. I am working with Assistant Head of School for Academic Programs Dr. Meredith deChabert and the division principals to review our academic program with a keen eye to ensure these foundational elements are always present. The goal is to make sure that every grade level provides each student with the appropriate academic content and social-emotional development, extracurricular activities, and engaged citizenship opportunities. 

Class of 2023 College Process

I am especially inspired by the Class of 2023. They have worked thoughtfully through the application process to select prospective colleges and universities that will enable them to do the things they love and be the people they want to be. 

• 2022-23 is RCDS's best year to date in matriculation rate at this point in the year—we have the most students enrolled in the college of their choice than ever before. 
• 99% of seniors applied Early Decision (ED), Restricted Early Action (REA), or Early Action (EA) to at least one institution of higher education. 
• To date, 52% of the class (55 Students) have committed at 40 different schools.
• Because college decisions for the entire class are still in process, I want to respect that process and honor those seniors who are still awaiting decisions. The complete 2023 list of college choices will be posted in June. The matriculation list from the past few years can be viewed here.
• Below is a SAMPLE of colleges/universities to which some of our seniors are committed. Our students are attending a variety of leading universities, ranging from large research institutions to liberal arts colleges across the country.
   

Dr. Kamauru Johnson and the counseling team are leading the charge in elevating our focus on student well-being. They are delivering an intentional program that entails working with students and families to ensure that ours is a community that recognizes the importance and breadth of human well-being.

• A new committee focusing on student well-being has been established. The group (which comprises nurses, counselors, athletic trainers, and student support staff) meets monthly to make sure our program is in step with what our educators are seeing on the ground. It is in effect a real-time audit of our programs in terms of health and wellness both physical and social/emotional.
• Our goal is to make sure we have the programs, structures, and people in place to clearly signal and provide support for our students. We want to make sure we and our curriculum are capable of identifying that student who may be struggling and unable to seek help.
• It is critically important for the support dynamic at RCDS to be bidirectional, where students and support professionals know how, where, and when to find each other.
• Rye Country Day is committed to being a community where support is not a concept alone, it is a daily palpable practice that is woven into the curriculum, teacher and advisor meetings, coaching, and the other experiences of students.

There is a particular student-centering practice that is sometimes used by educators during strategy and brainstorming meetings. It’s a simple exercise, but not necessarily an easy one. We place a chair in the middle of the room and require ourselves to picture a student in that chair at all times. This serves as a reminder to keep our thinking wholly student-centered when discussing any topics pertaining to school and curriculum. I want to bring the guiding belief of this practice to our home/school partnership. Here is why: Research confirms what we all know–that strong home-school partnership is at the heart of the best education.

We KNOW that students thrive …

• When they are appropriately challenged
• When they are well (both emotionally and physically) 
• When they are known 
• When they are respected
• When they are loved

So what are the factors that compromise or reduce our potential impact as their primary learning communities of home and school? The single answer is the increasing complexity of our rapidly-changing world. A few examples include:

• Student access to information and tools that are beyond us—and some that are potentially damaging to young people. 
• Socio-political dynamics that erode civil discourse and serve to divide us.
• Extreme fear for and a loss of trust in our kids.

These issues were all exacerbated by the stress of the pandemic, but they were present far before COVID-19’s arrival. So, yes, our world is changing, and the good news is that a great deal of this change is POSITIVE. In fact, if we place the student in the proverbial chair, our mindfulness of their central presence could help us reframe some of the complexities that we face as we work to get to that optimal educational experience:

• Let’s work together as parents/guardians and educators to give our students the awareness and skills they need to navigate the breadth of information and technology they will encounter throughout their lives.
• Let’s be champions of civil discourse around the dinner table, in the classroom, and in conversation with each other.
• Let’s remember and teach our youth that fear is the root of mistrust, and knowledge can shed light in even the darkest corners. It is courageous—and imperative—to have faith and trust in one another if we are to sustain an outstanding, collaborative, evolving learning community.

As we collectively recommit to centering students in everything we do, I will remain steadfast in my work in the six areas of focus and ever grateful for your partnership.

KEEPING STUDENTS AT THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING WE DO IS CRITICAL TO OUR SUCCESS