Funding and capacity building - - WE NEED YOUR HELP!!
November 16, 2009
Dear Elementary family,
I am writing to all of our elementary families with some information I hope will be a help to you. Our teachers have worked hard to provide an exceptional first quarter of the school year. We have a remarkable group of wonderful children who are very fortunate to be in an environment that promotes Christ-like character and life style. Please let us know if you have specific ideas about how we can serve you in an exceptional way.
We are looking forward to using the services of some professionals who will train us in recruiting students and give us insights into building capacity. While we never want to have large classes, we are understanding more about how capacity building frees us to offer the exceptional educational experience you have come to appreciate. Our goal is 12 to 15 children in each class with a capacity of 60 or 70 children. It may take us a few years, but we are headed in that direction. We hope by fall of 2010 we will use the upper level of the building which could house a class of 15 comfortably.
One of the critical elements of "capacity building" is the part you can take in sharing your positive experiences at Red Hill Christian School with friends and like-minded people with young children at your church. Did you know that we offer a tuition incentive for your referral to our Christian elementary school, and want to let you know that we are counting on you to help us in this initiative? As one of our families, you are the biggest reason we continue this vital ministry and you have a high degree of influence and say over what we are all about.
As we network with other private schools and public charter schools, we are discovering a theme that is very prevalent: parent involvement. While parents see this as a great opportunity to be on the inside of school, being closer to their child's experience, the school views "parent involvement" in quite another way. They see it as "fundraising". We recently heard of a family who enrolled in a public charter school and discovered this very thing. They are expected to fundraise a certain amount and contribute time and effort in a dozen or more events and product sales. The hardest part for me to accept is a charter school is a government funded entity!
A number of years ago, Red Hill Christian School took a stronger approach to fundraising, and parents participated willingly. More recently, as you notice, we have avoided placing parents in a position to do this, and encouraged alternative means for involvement. However, we are considering examining the role of funding and fundraising, and our first step is to inform you so you can consider some of these thoughts.
Specifically, this year (as well as last) our Deep Creek budget has had a large gap. We funded this primarily through the full capacity of our main campus preschool and kindergarten classes. It is time now to consider how parents can contribute in a more substantial way to help fund this elementary gap - perhaps through some well-conceived fundraising events, perhaps through gifts in kind, or time and tasks donated on a regularly scheduled basis. Private schools expect parents to participate and so we make no apology for improving this area of our school life.
One opportunity coming soon is the Christmas program where friends and family will be invited to help us with this budgetary gap. We will take an offering at this program and it will be designated for the following items with a goal of $500:
A globe for each classroom
A school paper shredder
Two book display shelves - one each for 2nd and 3rd grade
In the next few weeks we will be sending a form home that will ask you to consider carefully and prayerfully how you can come closer to helping us sustain our elementary school. Perhaps your church, or a person you know or are related to would be open to a special "gift" to the school to fill the gap. One local church who recently heard of our need contributed $3000. to fund the music teacher at Deep Creek Campus. This has enabled us to continue offering this special class weekly in spite of budget constraints. The economic climate and small enrollment has caused us to cut back in several areas such as field trips and paving our parking lot. It is our goal to begin to build enrollment capacity as well as initiate funding opportunities so that no more cuts are necessary. Since you are a part of our family, we felt you should know our thinking on these matters.
Of course, God owns all the riches of the universe, and we are extremely confident He is watching over us and will provide exactly what we need. If you do see us putting some funding opportunities "front and center" you will know why having read this letter. Please do all you can to help us as we progress through this year together, and remember, our "race for education" in the spring is one of the best opportunities to help us "fund" our mission. I can't help but think of the scripture verse that assures us "My God will supply all our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus."
Here is some good news I am sure welcomed by every family: Our leadership team had deep discussions about the 2010-11 school year and how to proceed with tuition. We came to the conclusion that there will be no increase, and we will trust God for scholarship monies from various sources. In this way, any family desiring to be a part of our school will not consider tuition as a barrier to enrolling. We hope that this decision will be another piece that enables us to build capacity (enrollment), especially with new prospects. This should be good news to those families feeling the strain of the economy right now.
My very best wishes for a family-pleasing Thanksgiving as you count your blessings and give thanks to our wonderful God who provides us richly with all things to enjoy. Please call me if you have any ideas or just want to respond in any way. It is a privilege to be a part of your child's life here at Red Hill Christian School.
Sincerely,
Karin Klein, Ed. D.
Administrator
P.S. Have you visited the new Wegmans in Collegeville? I've been there once and it was definitely at capacity. I could hardly get through the aisles. This is my dream for our Deep Creek Campus. We can be the Wegmans of private schools in our area.
Please respond below with your comments or how you can help.
THANK YOU.