Board Chair Letter – 2 September 2014
by Marc de Vries
marc@vries.net
The Board of Trustees held its first retreat of the year on Thursday 28 August in the newly renovated MPB rooms. The main purpose of the meeting was to prepare for next school year, including establishing board goals and aligning them with the school’s Strategic Learning Plan. Please find below a summary and a brief discussion of some of the Board’s focus points for the coming year.
Generative Thinking
As part of the Board’s ongoing training efforts, Bambi Betts provided a workshop on Board Development. Bambi is the Director of the Principal’s Training Center, and a thought leader in international school leadership and governance. Her efforts as facilitator of the ISB 2020 exercise two years ago led to the school’s vision where passion, and voice and choice have taken center stage. This time around Bambi helped strengthen the Board’s effectiveness in generative thinking. Generative thinking frames the issues that we discuss, and determines what needs deciding before we make decisions. Doing this successfully will help the Board improve its fiduciary and strategic duties and better help us in defining ISB’s future. It’s our intention to make more use of generative questions at Board meetings.
Head of School Evaluation
A key role of the Board is to evaluate the Head of School which is completed twice per year. Normally, this is not something that is commented on in the Board Chair letter, but in this case I would like to recognize Dr. Davies’ excellent work running the school over the past two years. We are truly fortunate to have Dr. Davies as our Head of School and look forward to yet another year of progress and development with respect to learning.
Safety and Security
Last year, ISB reviewed its safety and security procedures and has implemented several improvements that make the school a safer place. While already much has been done and it may be impossible to plan for all contingencies, safety and security will remain high on the agenda. One of ISB’s unique features is the role the campus plays in the community during and after school hours. We realize that proposed security measure will need to strike a balance between perceived risks to the school and ISB’s distinguishing open character.
School Enrollment
Following a trend of increasing enrollment over the past few years, opening enrollment is the highest it has ever been at this campus. Grades 1,3,5,6 and 8 are at full capacity. The Board will work closely with the administration to evaluate the need to address capacity issues and to determine how to provide for an increasing student population.
Inclusion
Inroads have been made towards supporting students of a wider range of academic backgrounds to attend ISB. This Inclusion initiative has the full support of the Board because ISB will be providing a more complete service to expatriate families, and it is an important step towards individualized learning for all students. Implementation of the inclusion initiative will continue with a slow approach so the impact on the school and the required resources can be appropriately assessed.
BOT Members
The Board Members and elected officers are as follows:
Ira Blumenthal
Dr. Sumiter Broca, Secretary
Gurdist Chansrichawla
Dr. Prathip Chiaravanond
Nimit Damrongrat
Joy Davy
Marc de Vries, Chair
Brent Gros
William Harvey
John Heinecke
Jack Kraprayoon, Vice-Chair
Kristina Kvien
Eric Ma
Kevin Sypolt, Treasurer
Vacancy
An appointed Board seat is vacant and the selection process has started to appoint a suitable candidate.
The next Board meeting will be held on Tuesday September 16th, 2014 in MPB3 at 6:00pm – 09:00pm. The meeting is open for all ISA members to attend.
Yours sincerely,
Marc de Vries
BOT Chair
First Friday with Andy – September 5th
by Dr. Andy Davies
andrewd@isb.ac.th
The next First Friday with Andy will take place on Friday, September 5th at 8:00am in the main administration building.
First Friday with Andy is an open forum for parents to meet informally with the Head of School and address any topics of interest or concern. No signing up is necessary – simply come and participate if you are free and interested.
Adult Education is Coming Soon! Fall 2014
by Gabriela Alvarez
isbadulted@gmail.com
Adult Education is Coming Soon! Fall 2014
The Adult Education Program provides a variety of classes for the adults in our community such as: physical fitness, language, dance, cooking, creativity classes and much more… You are NOT required to be an ISB parent in order to join.
A detailed class list will be available around September 8th. Online Registration and Payment (at the registration office in front of the school) will start on September 15th and Classes will run from October 6th to December 5th.
Don’t miss the chance to meet new friends while learning a new skill or just refreshing an old one.
This is a volunteer-run fundraiser for ISB. Funds raised from this program go to support the activities of your PTA, including grants supporting our students at ISB.
For further information, please contact me at: isbadulted@gmail.com or go tohttps://inside.isb.ac.th/parentportal/adulteducation/
Thanks,
Gabriela Alvarez Fourcade
PTA ISB Adult Education Coordinator
Philippine Parents Group Meeting – Sept. 9th
by: Ruby Lazatin
Country Rep, Philippines
We’d like to invite all Filipino parents to attend a “Meet and Greet” get-together meeting on September 9, 2014 at the ISB MPB3, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.
The purpose of this meeting is to be acquainted with members of the ISB Filipino community and discuss future ISB events that the Filipino community may want to be involved in, for e.g. the ES International Day, the International Food Fair, etc.
Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate.
Please join us on September 9 to meet your other “kababayans” and have a nice time!
If you have any questions about this meeting, please contact me at this number: 0879785377 or email at: mrshark98@gmail.com.
U11 Basketball coaches needed
by Kerry DYKE
kerryd@isb.ac.th
We have had excellent numbers turn out for U11 basketball in both the boys and girls teams. We don’t make cuts at that level and allow all to participate. However, with the increase in numbers we have had to make 2 female teams and 3 male teams.
As a result, I am looking for 2 more coaches for the following positions:
- U11 girls basketball (B team)
- U11 boys basketball (C team)
Thank you,
Kerry Dyke
Learn to Swim Program up and running
by Justin Wah
justinw@isb.ac.th
ISB is piloting a Learn to Swim Program this semester. We have started with only Pre-K kids but hope to add more Elementary grades in the near future. Currently, there is still space in the Monday – Wednesday 2-2:30 session. If you have are interested in signing up your Pre K child for this session please contact corryd@isb.ac.thIf you have a child in grades K-5 and would be interested in joining the ISB Learn to Swim Program in the future please go to this link. This will help us gauge interest as we begin to expand the Learn to Swim Program
Friday Night Basketball at ISB
by Justin Wah
justinw@isb.ac.th
In coordination with ISB’s community basketball league (NBBL) Top Flight is offering Friday Night Hoops beginning Sept 12. Please go to this link for more information.
Poster and Banner Guidelines
by Marianne DEROW
mariannd@isb.ac.th
Getting the word out to a community about an activity or event can be a challenging, yet creatively inspiring task! As we are all becoming more environmentally aware, using social media and digital eNews to advertise an event are more effective ways to get the word out! Attached are ISB’s Guidelines regarding advertising through printed media. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Marianne Derow, Arts and Activities Director, mariannd@isb.ac.th, to clarify. Happy Advertising!
eNewsletter Guidelines
by Tony Arnold
anthonya@isb.ac.th
ISB eNewsletters provide a valuable avenue for communication within the ISB parent community. For your convenience we have provided you with our eNewsletter guidelines below.
Submitting an announcement for publication
ISB accepts announcements from ISB families for potential publication in our eNewsletters. The announcements are generally intended to highlight events that occur at ISB and/or highlight information about ISB.
What to include in the announcement
• A title for your announcement
• An email contact for further information
Where to submit your announcement
4publish@isb.ac.th is for announcements of interest to the entire ISB community.
tinaratr@isb.ac.th is for Elementary School (ES) announcements of interest to ES families.
maurilib@isb.ac.th is for Middle School (MS) announcements of interest to MS families.
vijitl@isb.ac.th is for High School (HS) announcements of interest to HS families.
Your announcement will be submitted to the appropriate Principal and/or to our Marketing Director for review. ISB reserves the right to determine which announcements will and will not be published, and to edit announcements that are approved for publication.
Frequency of eNewsletter mailings
The ISB eNewsletter that is for the entire community is sent out on Thursdays. Announcements for potential publication in this newsletter must be received by noon on Thursdays.
The ES, MS, and HS eNewsletters are sent out on Fridays. Announcements for potential publication in these newsletters must be received by noon on Fridays.