Board of Trustees Update - January
Dear French International community,
Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and came back feeling refreshed and ready for the new year.
January has been a busy time for the Board of Trustees, with our initial vote on the 2025-26 tuition and salary rates of increase and the beginning of recruitment of next year’s board members. The tuition and salary recommendation process is intensive, and the Budget and Finance Committee met regularly to review our current budget and actuals, our 10-year financial model, and market data on independent school tuition and salaries. Once Budget and Finance had a solid recommendation for tuition and salary changes, the Board of Trustees reviewed and voted so tuition levels could be set before re-enrollment offers and staff contract offers were made. We try hard to balance many priorities, including competitively compensating our teachers and staff, minimizing the financial burden on our families, and setting our school up for long-term success.
The trustee recruitment process is one of the most important bodies of work the Committee on Trustees (CoT) undertakes to ensure thoughtful succession planning for our trustees and board leadership. The CoT meets with community members - both parents and non-parents - to gauge interest and fit for board service, as well as to share more about the work of the board and the contributions of trustees. If you are interested in board service, please reach out to our CoT co-chairs, Amy Duryea and Ursula Garcia, at cot@frenchintl.org.
The ongoing priority for the Board of Trustees is to set the school up for long term strategic success. We are so pleased that our strategic plan commits to strengthening our sense of place through our campus transformation. Equally important is our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which sits across all areas of our strategic plan and school operations. It is a critical element of our community work to create belonging and central to our ability to fulfill our mission to grow curious and critical thinkers ready to affect change in our interconnected world. Although policies are in flux at the federal level, we are committed to continuing this work.
As always, I am so grateful for this community and for the opportunity to serve. Thank you for making our school special. I can’t wait to see where we go from here!
Xie xie,
Janna