This week, one of our school parents brought her new neighbor to St. Robert for a prospective family visit (Thanks, Eileen!). Because the visitor had not chosen to visit us on her own as part of a more typical school shopping process, we got a unique window into how our school may be viewed by outsiders. Her reaction was total, utter surprise. "I had no idea something like this would be going on here!" she exclaimed in disbelief.
Why would an outsider be surprised? Because we're small? Because we're parochial? Because we don't spend at the level of the public schools?
We are frugal, yes, and relatively small, too, but still, school operations come in at over $2 million a year. Maintaining an excellent school in the face of changing expectations and mounting funding challenges demands vision, planning, and hard work. It also demands collaboration. Simply put, the more students we have, the less financial pressure we experience. And the simple reality is that it will never occur to some families to take a look at St. Robert - unless you encourage and invite them.
Bringing in more students is not just icing on a lovely cake. It's what enables us to maintain the staffing, programs, and resources that define the St. Robert brand: innovative instructional practices delivered by mission-driven teachers; personalized learning, contemporary resources, integrated technology and arts; world languages; music electives; small class sizes; inclusion of special needs learners.
This is a critical time of year in terms of organizational planning. Please join us in working toward a sustainable future. Reach out to your friends, neighbors, co-workers - even folks you meet at the grocery store. Tell them the St. Robert story. Invite them for a visit. I can assure you they will be pleasantly surprised - and every new family that joins our community helps us build a strong vision for the future.
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