March
22, 2007
Dear Parents,
This coming August will mark the
start of our eighth year of operations for Country Day School in
Guanacaste. In this short time, our small school has grown faster than any
of us could have predicted.
With this growth, and thanks to your
support, CDS-Guanacaste has matured significantly across the board:
- It was not long ago that we
still had combined grades. Today, all our classes are self-contained
and independent – a significant milestone for any school. Additionally,
the lower grades have adopted Boston University’s Early Learning Center
program, and have teaching assistants in 3 grade levels to better
support the overall curriculum.
- Our investments in technology
now allow students to access the internet practically anywhere on
campus, and we continue to make strides in integrating technology into
our curriculum. As a recent example, we implemented new library
software, which allows anyone with an internet connection, to browse our
library collection. In the very near future, you will be hearing about
EdLine, a web-based application which will allow you to see how your
child is doing, review homework assignments, grades, and communicate
directly with your child’s teacher, all from your computer.
- Our Experiential Studies
has become more focused and integrated into the curriculum, and we
continue to believe this is a “must-have,” given our unique environment
and location in the world.
- Our investment in teaching
materials, laboratory supplies, library books and PE equipment has
surpassed $140,000 in the last three years, and $400,000 since 2000.
Our teachers have more materials, methods, and supplies available than
ever before and our students have more options than ever before.
- In the high school grades, we
now offer 7 AP courses from Environmental Science and Calculus, Spanish
and English Language and Literature, to US History and Human Geography.
We also offer 2 honors-level science courses, a business and personal
finance course, and a college preparation class. We have also become an
SAT, AP, and ACT testing center – one of only two in Costa Rica. All
this, with a high school population of fewer than 60 students!
- Our school is fully accredited
in the U.S. by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools as well
as by the Costa Rica Ministry of Education.
Most visible has been the continued
investment in our infrastructure. Our new Upper School facilities, built in
2005, created new educational spaces for our growing middle and high school
enrollment. Our new elementary facilities, cafeteria, kitchen, play areas,
and performing arts stage are currently under construction, adjacent to the
Upper School and will be ready by the start of classes this August. We
expect the performing arts stage to be “one of a kind” in Guanacaste and
hope it will become the home to many annual performances.
Since its founding, CDSG has had
investors willing to underwrite and capitalize the entire operation,
including covering operating deficits for six out of the past seven years.
Cost to investors will soon surpass $4,000,000.00, including operating
deficits and outlays for new infrastructure and the new elementary now under
construction.
Once construction is completed,
investor participation will conclude. Going forward, CDSG, like other
private-independent (P-I) schools, will have to pay for operations and
upkeep entirely from revenues it generates through tuition and fees.
Starting next school year, tuition will increase by six percent. Our policy
going forward will be to gradually boost tuition upward at rates that allow
us to start new programs and to improve and fully fund existing programs in
keeping with the school’s Mission.
Year-to-year costs for P-I schools
such as ours typically increase at rates 2 points above inflation. This is
due to the fact that P-I schools are people-intensive, that salaries
normally consume a minimum of 80% of their budgets, and that they are under
intense pressure to add new personnel and specialists, develop new programs,
and constantly improve infrastructure, services, and technologies. CDSG is
no exception, other than having benefited from investors willing to
underwrite losses during its first few years.
Added to the above are the
phenomenally higher costs of doing business at the Guanacaste campus vs. our
campus in Escazu, San Jose. To cite a few examples:
- 85% of our full-time staff is
foreign-hired vs. just 30% in Escazu. This adds significantly to our
payroll, recruitment, and housing costs.
- Escazu foreign-hires receive a
modest rent subsidy while CDSG foreign-hires, due to a prohibitive real
estate market, are provided free on-campus housing, including utilities.
- Due to climate, the CDSG
electricity bill, with 180 students, is 2 times that of our bill in
Escazu, with five times the number of students.
- The costs of construction,
materials, transportation, skilled and semi skilled labor are all
significantly higher than in SJ.
These higher
costs are not surprises for us in the sense that we’ve been aware of the
differences almost since the beginning. We have absorbed these added costs
throughout the years, and continued to invest in and run the school as
efficiently as possible while still meeting or exceeding our standards and
our commitment to you in every way possible.
We hope you understand and ask for
your continued support. We will continue our commitment to excellence in
education and to improving our programs to provide the best education
possible.
Sincerely yours,
Robert W. Trent
Director General
The Country Day School |
Patrick Brown
Director of Operations
Country Day School,
Guanacaste |
|
