Head of School Message

As All Saints is alive with activity this semester and there are new things afoot, I wanted to reiterate some important items and get some key dates in front of you.

Campus technology has changed dramatically this semester. Our new campus-wide wireless system is now fully functional and powered by state-of-the-art servers. In fact some of you may have already learned to “snag it” with your smart phones when on campus.

This semester, faculty in grades 5 – 12 will begin to experiment with lesson plans well suited for wireless. In these cases, students will be directed to bring a wireless device from home for use in a particular class(es). For students without a device, All Saints has acquired a bank of iPads, which can be loaned to students to ensure all have a device for negotiating the lessons. In the Lower School we continue to move down a path of equipping individual classrooms or labs with up-to-date technology rather than expecting students to bring these items from home. Dozens of iPads have been added to the Lower School this year. In addition we are committed to adding SMART Boards to classrooms without them. Efforts in our Office of Development are directed in part to meeting this important need. Again, we are deeply grateful to a number of forward thinking donors for gifts exceeding $600K to improve campus technology. In other exciting news this month, Apple, Inc. announced that it has reached agreement with some textbook manufacturers to deliver electronic textbooks to its iPad. Prior to the 2012 - 2013 academic year, the school will have clear guidance for our families regarding how to interface with technology on campus, so that these powerful new tools can be fully employed. Right now we continue to experiment.

Admissions and re-enrollment season has begun in earnest. Through online re-enrollment, most of your forms will pre-populate with your information allowing you to dispense with writer’s cramp this year. Hard copy forms will still be available. The 2012 - 2013 Academic Calendar and tuition schedule have been published. For families with financial aid, please complete application on or before February 1.  All Saints is blessed with an expanded financial aid budget of $750K in the coming year. The bulk of this sum is set aside for our current families, however, after February 1, priority for financial aid begins to shift to new applicants. The spring Town Hall Meeting is scheduled for the evening of February 20, 2012 in conjunction with the annual Parent Association’s elections.

Finally, it is a pleasure to announce our honoree for Founders’ Day 2012. For only the second time in the history of the event, the All Saints Board of Trustees has selected an employee, Director of Athletics Eddie Francis, as the recipient of the Flame of Excellence Award on September 25, 2012. We will celebrate Eddie’s twenty-one years of superlative service to the school and look forward to the next twenty. Father “Skully” Knight will make a special trip from Baton Rouge to MC the event.

It is a pleasure to bring this good news to you!

Best 

Randal E. Brown
Head of School

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