{"id":9426,"date":"2016-03-25T15:19:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T21:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animashighschool.com\/staging\/?p=9426"},"modified":"2016-03-25T15:19:23","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T21:19:23","slug":"year-synopsis-letter-to-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animashighschool.com\/staging\/2016\/03\/25\/year-synopsis-letter-to-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Year Synopsis Letter to Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nDear Osprey Families,
\nAs we near the end of the year, which also marks the end of my first year as AHS Head of School, I wanted to share some updates and reflections.\u00a0 I am happy to report that we are in an excellent place as an organization–unified in our mission and vision, fiscally sound, and staffed by talented educators who are excited to be at AHS.\u00a0 When I was hired around this time last year, there were several items that the AHS Board of Directors, our community, and our staff had recognized as important areas of growth. The Board identified three top priorities for the 2015-2016 school year: right-sizing of the school, school culture, and instructional leadership.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to share our progress on each of these fronts with you.
\nRight-sizing <\/strong>for a school means that we have the right number of students enrolled and staff employed such that our per pupil revenue (PPR, which is at $7,145 this year) is enough to balance the AHS day-to-day operational budget without any additional fundraising.\u00a0 If we are sized correctly–in terms of both students and staffing–we are financially solid.\u00a0 The ability to be financially self-sustainable is a trait of a successful school, especially for a charter school like ours that receives roughly $1,000 less per student from the state than district-run schools. I am proud to say that we have been able to meet this Board-directed goal and we are financially stable as an organization thanks in no small part to the fantastic work of Christine Imming, our Director of Finance.
\nThe staffing changes we have experienced this year have enabled us to get closer to our goal of being a high-achieving school that funds daily operations solely through PPR.\u00a0 In all cases, trimming staffing has not negatively impacted class sizes; we are still a school where class sizes are small and students receive lots of individualized attention.\u00a0 We are excited to share that we will see very little turnover in our faculty and staff for next year.\u00a0 Currently, we are hiring for just two positions for the fall: a senior science teacher, as Dave Heerschap is taking a one-year sabbatical, and an ESS support position, because Torrey Baldwin has decided to pursue other adventures with her family.\u00a0 Though Crystal Pennington has departed, we do not plan to hire a Spanish teacher to replace her; Jenny McKenzie will teach Spanish 1 and 3, Susy Raleigh will teach Spanish 2, and Jessica McCallum is excited to teach Spanish 4 in addition to her junior Humanities duties.\u00a0 Continuity in our staffing is clearly beneficial for our students; teachers who know our school well and continue to grow within it are better able to design excellent projects, assess student growth, and develop meaningful teacher-student relationships.
\nBalancing a budget as a charter schooI has its unique set of challenges, and we have additional expenses as a project-based learning school. What this means is that the roughly $2,500,000 budget needs to be utilized in an efficient and effective manner that enables us to fulfill our mission and vision.\u00a0 Our model works best with small class sizes, larger than normal classroom budgets, time for teacher collaboration, and ample physical space. My goal has been to trim areas in our budget that we do not need so we can prioritize:<\/p>\n