Family Community Meeting Recap

Dear Friends,

Thank you to everyone who attended our last Family Community Meeting of the school year. Here is a recap of what was discussed:

Upcoming Events

• 4/30: BASI Testing
• 5/1: PTO Meeting
• 5/5: Fundraising Campaign Kick-Off
• 5/10: Mother's Day
• 5/29: Camp Kulaqua
• 5/31: Last Day of School/EOY Ceremony

What's Important to You Group Activity

• Everyone participated in an activity that allowed the entire group to talk about what was important to them in the education of their children.
• By consensus we honed in on 3 character traits that were voted the most important out of the 20 discussed: Personal Responsibility, Integrity, and Humility.
• Our teachers presented how these 3 traits are taught, modeled, and assessed in each class.

Montessori Math Lessons

• Vrindavanesvari, Satyaki, and Shantipur each gave sample demonstrations of how math is taught at each level using the Montessori materials.
• In particular we focused on the golden beads and stamp game.
• Thank you to our fearless parent volunteers, Anapayani and Rohini Kumar, for stepping forward to receive lessons in dynamic addition and squaring.

Expansion Update

• Preparations are in full swing for our upcoming Krishna Sharanam Middle Years Program expansion.
• We are capping the first 7th grade class at 12 students and have 8 already enrolled/applied.
• We submitted our application for candidacy to International Baccalaureate and will be informed of our status around mid-May. This is our first milestone in the accreditation process.
• We are in the initial permitting stage of in the construction process. Our civil engineer has submitted site plan revisions to the county and are in the process of review/comment. We hope to have planning approval by the end of May.
• Although our ultimate goal is a site built campus, due to the constraints of zoning, time, and financial resources, we are utilizing modular classroom buildings for this particular expansion. They provide the most cost and time efficient option for us at this time.

Fundraising

• Between now and 2015 we need to raise a total of $425,000 to ultimately take us through providing education for students though 10th grade.
• The initial phase is estimated to cost $296,000.
• With the help of a loan from our bank, we can proceed with the expansion, but still need to raise $175,000 between now and August.
• $34,000 has been donated/pledged to date. The remaining amount will be raised through an online campaign and larger contributions from supporters.
• We have enlisted the help of a social media/online fundraising expert, who has volunteered to help us raise funds online. We will be kicking off a $60,000 campaign around the beginning of May.
• We are going to depend on everyone's help to participate in the fundraising campaign by making pledges (our goal is 100% participation), manning tables at the New Raman Reti temple, and spreading the word through contact with friends and family.
• Fundraising will be a major focus of the school between now and the end of the school year.

Again, thank you to everyone who came to the meeting. For those that were unable, I hope this recap gives some idea of what was discussed. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or ideas. We welcome your input.

Yours in service,

Visvambhara das
Head of School