Author: ahawes

Notes from the Head

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Dear St. Michael’s Parents and Families—

I hope all of you enjoyed some rest and fun this past Labor Day weekend with your children. It is good to be back! 

Please be sure to keep pace with all of the upcoming events in September…there are lots of them, including our “Back to School Night” for Upper School (Grades 5-8) on Thursday, September 12, from 6:00-8:00 pm, and for Lower School (Grades K-4) a week later, on Thursday, September 19, from 6:00-7:30 pm. Please join us as well for our newly initiated “Welcome Back Night” event for all families, Friday, September 20, 5:00-8:00 pm, hosted by SMA (St. Michael’s Angels, moms and dads) and Vaqueros (St. Michael’s dads’ group). These two events, despite their similar-sounding names, are two very different events—Back to School provides an overview of staffing and program for the respective divisions; and Welcome Back is purely designed as social time and community-building. I hope to see you at both.

Our Board of Trustees spent the better part of this past Saturday, for our annual retreat, engaging in conversation and learning more about the role of the Board of Trustees at an Episcopal day school. We currently have 12 voting members on our Board (plus me, as Head of School, and Brother David Hedges, Rector of St. Michael and All Angels Parish; both of us serve as ex-officio [i.e., non-voting] members of the Board). Six of the voting members of the Board are members of the Parish of St. Michael and All Angels, and five are current parents. We also have one at-large trustee, the Reverend Peter Cheney, who has been a longstanding member of our Board; more recently, Rev. Cheney led the head-of-school search that resulted in my appointment last year. What a wonderful group of grounded, smart, and passionate adults we have serving as trustees! 

The Board training itself was led by Reverend David Madison, Executive Director of the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools (SAES). Rev. Madison is an expert in all things governance-related and was kind enough to return to St. Michael’s again this year to lead the retreat. 

You will see and hear the SAES acronym frequently this year, mainly because SAES is the accrediting organization for St. Michael’s School. The Board members present on Saturday thought it was important, as do I, that I send a short ‘primer’ on the great importance of accreditation for schools (ours included!) and the role the entire school community plays in the process. To that end, below are some of the basics of accreditation, which I hope will lend more insight for our accreditation visit toward the close of this year, in March 2020:

  • We earn our accreditation with SAES every ten years; we are currently accredited with SAES and are working to earn our re-accreditation for the next ten years. 
  • SAES is the only accrediting organization for Episcopal schools in the U.S., serving more than 110 schools in the Southwest region of the country. 
  • Accreditation standards, particularly for SAES, are rigorous and require lots of work; the imprimatur of accreditation signifies that St. Michael’s School is true to its mission and has met or exceeded the standards of excellence required of an SAES school.
  • The accreditation process itself is one of both accountability (assuring we comply with legal and best practices for schools, namely Episcopal schools) and a firm commitment to ongoing improvement and excellence, for all components of our school: Our Mission; Episcopal Identity, School Climate & Culture;  Governance; Organization & Administration; Teaching and Learning; Fiscal Responsibility; and Facilities & Safety. 
  • The accreditation process requires, and thrives with, the full participation of all members of the school community—trustees, parents, faculty and staff, and students and alumni.  
  • The completion of the self-study process, at the end of March and moving into the summer months, will provide a timely opportunity for the Board of Trustees and the school community to articulate a long-range vision and compelling strategic goals for the coming three to five years. 
  • To learn more about the SAES accreditation process, please visit: https://www.swaes.org/accreditation/

In the next few months, please look for and reply to the requests for parent surveys from Dr. Matt Teller, our Associate Head of School and Director of Admissions and Enrollment. Dr. Teller will be coordinating the self-study process throughout the year, leading up to the accreditation visit in March. 

Please be in touch with me at any time with questions or comments, about the re-accreditation process or for anything else. I am here for you, and I am very grateful that you have chosen St. Michael’s for the education of your sons and daughters.

All good wishes,

Brendan J. Sullivan

Head of School

Chipotle Fundraiser for 8th Grade

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Make dinner a selfless act by joining us for a fundraiser to support St Michael’s 8th Grade graduation plans. Visit the Chipotle at 6501 E. Grant Rd. on Tuesday, October 1, from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. Please bring a hard copy or electronic copy of the attached fundraiser so the school gets credit.

Chipotle Fundraiser