by Marc de Vries
marc@vries.net
On September 17th the Board of Trustees had its first regular Board Meeting of the school year. Below is a summary of the most important points discussed during the meeting.
Inclusion
Dr. Andy Davies has proposed that ISB become a more inclusive school that would make it possible for ISB to cater to children of a wider range of learning abilities. The Board strongly supports this idea because ISB should cater to the educational needs of expatriate families in the broadest sense feasible. It’s especially disappointing to hear that siblings have to go to separate schools, or families decide against moving to Thailand, because there isn’t appropriate educational support for their children. Members of the leadership team have already visited the few international schools that could serve as models to help us understand the requirements for successful implementation. It’s clear that “inclusion” will require additional teachers and other resources and a flexible approach based on each child’s individual situation. Implementation will be gradual, initially focusing on accommodating students with specific learning challenges currently enrolled at ISB. Later ISB will look at admitting new students with moderate to intensive learning disabilities of families with other children applying to ISB. With the school gradually moving towards differentiated and individualized learning for all of our students, the lessons learned with “inclusion” will better help the school achieve its vision for ISB 2020.
ISB 2020
Last school year’s framework driving ISB’s vision towards more choice, flexibility and passion in learning is starting to take shape in concrete steps such as the introduction of e-based learning and passion day, where students will be able to explore a subject they have always wanted to know more about. The concept of “voice” and “choice” is rooted in the belief that if students are interested and passionate about their subjects, this will lead to better learning. Mr. Graeme Scott also showed research by Tony Wagner that problem solving, collaboration, adaptability, accessing and analyzing information, entrepreneurship, effective oral and written communication, and curiosity and imagination are key skills and traits for success in college and career. In order to see first-hand how these traits manifest themselves in leading organizations, administrators will visit Google, Stanford, and Nueva, a school renowned for being on the cutting-edge of learning.
Financial Results 2012/2013
Mr. Ugo Costessi presented the unaudited consolidated financial results for the school year 2012-2013. Overall the schools financial position is healthy and continues to get stronger. Following the world financial crisis, enrollment has grown steadily reaching record revenues of THB 1,557million, about THB 10 million above budget. At the same time cost control and cost reductions, lower prices and postponement of expenditure made it possible to book expenditures of THB 1,408 million, or about THB 10 million less than budgeted. The school’s overall surplus of THB 149 million brings the school’s equity position to THB 1,110 million. With the new sport center completed, assets increased to THB 1,736 million, despite the old school building now being fully depreciated. On the liabilities side, ISB repaid the outstanding amount of THB116 million for a bank loan, reducing overall liabilities to THB626 million. Evaluating the cash flow from 2008-2013, being the period where ISB embarked on major capital expenditure projects such as the Cultural Center, purchasing land and constructing the new sports center, it is noted that even after repayment of the outstanding loan, the cash position increased by THB 30 million, meaning that these capital projects have already been paid for by the school’s operations over the past five years.
The BOT measures the school’s financial performance against metrics in a financial matrix, and ISB met or exceeded the targets on all fronts, except Net Current Assets where the target of THB 200 million was missed by THB 14 million due to the repayment of the long term loan. In addition the target of having equity being equal or higher than the fixed assets, showed again a positive progression, as equity is now 97% of the fixed assets. With 2013/2014 opening enrollment of 1940 students, which is a record high for more than 20 years, the coming school year is again expected to be financially solid.
Safety Update
Dr. Davies provided an update on safety improvements that were made so far this year. Some of the measures already taken include:
- Hiring an additional nurse so we have cover on Saturdays and in the evenings
- Hiring a consultant to support the existing nursing staff
- All new teachers will be CPR certified and all existing teachers will be CPR certified by August 2015 (80% by August 2014)
- Additional AEDs have been ordered for better school coverage
- All classrooms have clear emergency information displayed and provide emergency response stickers for the back of ID cards
- Enhanced medical screening is now in place for school sponsored athletics, grade 6-12, and require medical check-ups for all new students
- We have been working closely with World Medical Center on emergency medical response procedures
In addition, a heat policy is being drafted and wet-bulb thermometers and lightning meters will be purchased. Another safety improvement is the organizing of a bike safety training for ES and MS students.
IB Diploma Results
Mr. Philip Rogers presented an overview of ISB’s historic and most recent IB results of May 2013. Over the years the number of students taking the full IB diploma has steadily increased to 67 seniors taking the diploma in 2013. This school year there is a big increase with 108 seniors taking the diploma. Nearly all juniors and seniors are taking at least one IB class. ISB has continued to broaden the offering of IB classes. For example Psychology HL and Film SL are two of the four new courses added this year, so that now there are 26 HL subjects and 27 SL subjects on offer. The May 2013 results were consistent with ISB’s historic high pass rates and IB course average. The Diploma average score was 35 (24 is passing, 45 is perfect), with the global average being 29. ISB’s diploma pass rate was 94%, compared to 79% globally, and the course average was 5.5 (out of 7) while the global average was 4.7. This illustrates that ISB’s IB program is very strong. Credit must go to our teachers. The fact that many of our teachers are examiners or teacher trainers themselves may also partly explain ISB’s consistently good results.
PTA Update
Cory Fox, President of the PTA, gave an overview of the many PTA activities that are taking place. Participation at the first coffee meetings, both at ISB and in town, has been overwhelming and PTA enthusiasm is riding high. Mrs. Fox mentioned that the PTA has funds available to support project requests and invites community members to apply.
School Trip Destinations
Concerns have been expressed regarding school trips to countries where students are unable to obtain visas because of their nationality. Some community members feel strongly that ISB should not offer trips as part of GCW if some of our students are discriminated against. In order to better understand the situation and the possible consequences of a Board decision, the BOT will look into the matter in more detail together with the Head of School and will make a recommendation at the next Board Meeting.
Next Board Meeting
The next Board meeting will be held on Tuesday October 15th, 2023 in MPB3 at 6:00pm – 09:00pm. The meeting is open for all ISA members to attend.
Yours sincerely,
Marc de Vries
BOT Chair