Dear Castilleja Community,
As the school year draws to a close, we want to reflect on these past few months and share our priorities as we look forward to the 2020-2021 academic year. Since early March, the Board of Trustees has been deeply involved in supporting Head of School Nanci Kauffman and the leadership team in ensuring the well-being of our students and community; transitioning to distance learning; maintaining our near-term financial stability; preparing multiple options for a return to campus this fall; and stewarding long-term institutional health. Like all of you, our foremost consideration is keeping our families and community safe and healthy.
Castilleja remains committed to delivering the highest caliber academic programming and student experience as we have always done. We hope that you and your student found the distance-learning portion of this year to have been as seamless and as robust an experience as the previous portion of the school year had been. We are thankful for families' help in making it a remarkably smooth transition, infused with joyful virtual community events. The leadership team provided steady guidance and we couldn't be more proud of how well our faculty and staff rose to the challenge presented by these unprecedented circumstances.
Now that we have several months under our belt and the summer months to continue preparations for the fall, we know that Castilleja leadership and faculty will excel in providing an unparalleled learning experience for your children, including the deep connections and sense of community that distinguish Castilleja—whether on the actual or virtual Circle. For all the reasons that you chose Castilleja in "normal times," we hope that your experience in the last few months has only increased your faith in the school in times of crisis. Our confidence in the value of a Castilleja education is as steadfast as ever, and we hope yours is as well.
As we focus on health, safety, and fulfilling our mission to educate motivated young women as only Castilleja can, like other schools and institutions, we are facing financial headwinds. Although we are fortunate to start from a sound financial foundation, the fallout from the pandemic has included significantly reduced summer camp proceeds, heightened demand for tuition assistance, an expanded umbrella of services and equity measures for our most impacted families, and unanticipated expenses to support distance learning. Anticipating an uncertain environment for fundraising and market returns for our endowment, we are making difficult trade-offs and decisions to maintain the school's financial stability. In making these choices we are motivated by two key values: taking care of the people in our community and maintaining an excellent teaching and learning environment for your children. Bearing all of this in mind, our Associate Head of School for Finance and Operations Kathy Layendecker in conjunction with the Finance Committee of the Board, is looking to lessen other expenses and will explore reductions first through trade-offs and allocation of resources, all without directly impacting the student experience.
A fellow trustee recently shared a social media post that has stuck with us: we are all weathering the same storm, but we are not all in the same boat. The guiding principle for all of us on the Board in this moment is the welfare of our families. Castilleja tuition has for many years included costs around the whole student experience, such as food service. While breakfast and lunch did not continue on campus, we continued to pay food service staff and also provided food security to our families in need. Our leadership team has been proactive in reaching out to and anticipating those who may now need more assistance. We did not launch a separate fundraising drive for this crisis, because equity and care of our families have always been a part of our expenses, covered primarily by funds raised through View360 and the annual endowment draw. If you are a family in greater need for tuition assistance, or who needs to consider assistance in some form for the first time, please reach out to Director of Admissions,Tuition Assistance and Summer Programs Jill Lee. If you are a family who is weathering this storm from a more comfortable boat, thank you for understanding that your tuition fees and any additional contributions are greatly appreciated and are used to keep all of us afloat.
On days when shouldering the emotional and physical needs of family feel especially heavy, we are profoundly grateful that the Castilleja portion of life feels rock-solid. We hope that you share in that feeling of solidity and stability when it comes to your student's education at Castilleja and your family's bond with the school. We all appreciate your continued partnership and engagement, and thank you for supporting Women Learning, Women Leading.
We wish you a summer in continued good health and hope to see you soon on the Circle.
Mary Speiser
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Sarah Sands
Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees
David Merenbach
Chair of the Finance Committee, Board of Trustees