MULGRAVE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL SOCIETY

November 21, 2007


Dear Parents, Students, Teachers and Staff,

It is my pleasure to write on behalf of the Mulgrave Board of Directors to share our perspective on the School year just passed and on the year ahead.  We have much reason for optimism ¡V our School is full, our finances are very strong and we have a management team and faculty of incredible skill, experience and dedication.  This permits the Board to focus on the future and on the only matters a Board should be concerned with: preserving and protecting the mission of the School, ensuring that we have the best possible facilities consistent with that mission and continuing to build our financial strength.

While the Board has no role in School operations beyond supporting our Head, Tony Macoun, allow us to observe that the strengthening of our Senior School continued last year as evidenced by improved provincial exam marks and an excellent record of university and other post-secondary admissions and scholarship offers for our graduates.  This year marks the first year that our School will graduate students with International Baccalaureate Diplomas and individual subject certificates.  The IB Diploma Programme is uniquely compatible with Mulgrave's mission, values and sense of community and we are confident that under Tony's leadership and with the diligence, enthusiasm and professionalism of our faculty, Mulgrave has been launched into another highly successful year. 

Finance

The enclosed financial statements reveal that we concluded the 2006-2007 school year on a very sound financial footing.  Our net income exceeded $1 million and the School generated positive cash flow of approximately $1.2 million.  A number of factors underlie this continuing improvement in our financial position:

• On the fundraising side, for the year ending June 30, 2007 Mulgrave parents donated over $670,000 through all fundraising activities, including Gala, Annual Fund and bond donation programmes.  This is a fantastic achievement and we are very grateful for such generosity.
  
• The cost of servicing our debt decreased by approximately $200,000 from the prior year.  This is a result of our steady progress in reducing debt and debt service costs on both bank and bond debt.  This reduction in interest costs results in dollars going straight into the operating fund to benefit students and classrooms.
  
• At our September Board meeting we authorized the redemption of $1.6 million in Mulgrave bonds and the issuance of $1.725 million in new Mulgrave bonds.  At our October Board meeting we authorized a further redemption of $700,000 of Mulgrave bonds.  Our financial model anticipates that graduating families redeem their bonds while new families entering the School purchase new bonds. We are happy to report that this seems to be working well, particularly as we are able to replace many of the graduating families' bond investments with lower interest bonds.

Giving

Fall has arrived and with it comes the launch of our Annual Fund campaign. (Hopefully, you have recently received "Join In", our Annual Fund brochure.).   Although we enjoy excellent facilities and programmes, there are always opportunities to enrich our programs beyond the level which can be funded by tuition dollars alone.  There is also a compelling need (and desire) to maximize funds available for tuition assistance.  This is what the Annual Fund is designed to do and building support for annual giving is one of the most important responsibilities that our Board assumes and so we encourage your participation in this campaign.  Your donation, regardless of size, is critical as it reaffirms that we are in this together and that you value and support what the School is doing.

Having proven our readiness to ask for your support, we would also like to formally recognize the remarkable commitment to giving which has been demonstrated by our community in the past.  We are pleased to enclose our first publication celebrating the myriad of ways in which the generosity of Mulgrave parents has been manifested over the last year.  It offers an impressive reflection of a very supportive community.

Mulgrave School Foundation

Last spring, we advised you of our intention to establish an endowment fund designed to accommodate the longer term ambitions for philanthropy at Mulgrave.  Our first priority is to establish endowments which will permanently enhance the level of financial aid available for students and to purchase more land for the School. Inspired by the generosity of several families who quickly committed to this cause, the Board unanimously endorsed the creation of an aligned charitable foundation, to be named (fittingly) the Mulgrave School Foundation.

The Foundation has been incorporated and we are seeking approval of its charitable status.  The Foundation is authorized to receive, invest and manage endowment gifts, but it will have a broader mandate of building financial strength on many fronts.  We are enthusiastic about the Foundation's long-term role and potential, and the range of benefits Mulgrave and its students will surely realize as a result.  I encourage you to contact me if you would like to support or become involved in this important initiative.

Land

Management of land development around the School remains one of the Board's most important priorities.

We have previously reported to you our interest in affecting the direction of change brought by any development plan relating to our Rodgers Creek neighbourhood.  Our interests are (i) protecting our students from construction, (ii) participating in decisions relating to the location of new roads (thereby ensuring that future traffic patterns are as good and safe as we can make them), (iii) providing the School with options for future expansion should it decide that additional facilities are required and (iv) improving parking and traffic flow within and close to School property.

The 2004 version of the Official Community Plan of the District of West Vancouver (OCP), established the "Area Development Plan" process.  The Rodgers Creek Area Development Plan (ADP) will be the first ADP to be prepared and submitted to West Vancouver Council.  Our School is within this planning area, so change in the immediate vicinity of Mulgrave is imminent.
 
About this time last year the West Vancouver Planning Department formed a Working Group of volunteer citizens to assist with the creation of the Rodgers Creek ADP.  The Planning Department also formed a Technical Committee to assist this Working Group with environmental concerns, engineering challenges, road alignments and traffic patterns. Although we had asked the Planning Department several times (over several years) to include us in any such groups, we were not invited to serve an active role on either the Working Group or the Technical Committee. Instead, the Planning Department has consistently, deliberately excluded Mulgrave from the process whenever possible. 

Therefore, it has required dogged persistence to ensure that the Working Group has both an understanding of Mulgrave's long term interests in this area and accurate information on which to base its recommendations. With the help and support of Mayor Goldsmith Jones and Councillor Rod Day, we have presented our case to the Working Group and  believe that we will eventually succeed in redirecting the alignment of the westward extension of Chippendale Road in a manner compatible with the School's and the District's best interests. We believe that if the road is in the "wrong" location for Mulgrave it will (de facto) be "wrong" for our neighbourhood and the District itself - and it will remain "wrong" for a very long time, so it is worth working together with all parties to get it "right¨. When this first consultative phase of the planning process draws to a close in a few months we will give you an update on material developments.

You should know that we have written the Planning Department a letter (June 07) objecting to what we view as unfair treatment but we have not yet received the courtesy of a response. While we have noticed some improvement in this situation recently the Board will pursue this discussion with the Planning Department because the ADP process was expressly intended to be open and inclusive and it mystifies us why Mulgrave, as the only current resident in the planning area, would be treated this shabbily by some planning staff at our Municipal Hall. It makes no sense.

In addition to influencing the shape of development in our neighbourhood, we are negotiating the purchase of more land, both to insulate our School from increased activity in the neighbourhood and to allow for at least the possibility of future expansion of our facilities.  However, we wish to assure you that the School will not grow beyond 750 students and we will not take on more debt to fund any land purchase - our commitment to seeing more and more of our tuition dollars contribute to School programmes, rather than to debt service, remains sacrosanct.

We have an outstanding committee of parents (Al Hetherington, Russ Benson, Chuck Brook, Bill James, Donald Kirkwood, Derek Lee, Pierre Martin and Harry Wierenga) working on our land initiatives and the committee is assisted by our friend and ace consultant of many years, Terry Partington.

Planning

The Board continues to pursue a collegial, committed and focused team approach to Board work. September, in a weekend retreat with the Board, senior management and Vivian Lanko our MVP president, we considered how best to look forward to articulate a vision for the School to 2020.  This time frame should resonate with the School community. When we look back at what the School has achieved in the first 13 years of its existence - starting with 12 students in a portable building - we can all get a sense of how much can be accomplished in the next 13 years.  The Board and management will be working together over the next few months with a view to engaging our community in formulating and pursuing Mulgrave's 2020 vision.  We welcome your interest in this critical process.

The Board and the Annual General Meeting

The Nominating Committee consists of Board members and non-board members and, while it advises the Board (as a courtesy) of its proposed slate of directors, it does not require, and therefore does not seek, Board approval in the selection of its slate.  The Nominating Committee met several times over the last few months, working hard to assess the future needs of the Board and to recommend potential Board candidates for election at our Annual General Meeting (to be held on Thursday, November 14th, 2007).  It announced its slate in September.

As no further candidates have stepped forward, the Board will be elected by acclamation at the AGM.  Since the "business portion" of the AGM can be completed reasonably quickly, we would like to spend a significant part of the evening discussing with parents questions and concerns which you may have.

Much of the heavy lifting on the Board is actually done by committees comprised of Board members, other parents, staff and interested individuals.  We are very grateful for the time, skill and work our committee members commit on behalf of the School and are always happy to have new volunteers come forward.  You will find attached a full list of Board committees and their members.

Salutations

I have been avoiding writing these last few paragraph for weeks but I must advise that with our AGM in a few days we will lose from the Board four outstanding trustees: Peter van der Gracht, Shirleen Allen, Ann Dillon and Russ Benson.

Peter was drafted onto the Board to provide a level headed, governance savvy, business-like perspective and for three years he has delivered this and more.  Peter's daughter graduated last June and as Peter has completed his term he has asked that a parent with a child in the School take his place. We will miss Peter very much but his wisdom will continue to echo throughout and influence our monthly meetings.

Shirleen has embodied our School's spirit of participation for many years and she has been the unofficial and self appointed "Nurturer-in-Chief" of our caring community.  Who can count the thousands of hours, freely given, for meetings, coffees with committees, brainstorming with the administration on new volunteer programs and participating in "fun raising" events - all with the sole aim of improving school life for all? Every school needs a Shirleen but not all schools are so lucky.  Mulgrave won the lottery with Shirleen.  Perhaps Shirleen's primary legacy will be as one of the founders of our MVP and as its first official President - but to my mind she will always simply be Most Valuable Parent.  Not surprisingly, Shirleen has also been an outstanding trustee and the Board will miss her very much.

Ann Dillon has been a steadfast triple threat for five years of continuous commitment.  She is wise, meticulous in work habits, and ferocious in keeping the Board on track. Like the North Star, Ann has been unwavering in serving and protecting the mission of the School. Because of our mismatched intellects, I fear that there have been many times during Ann's unfailing support of me that she must have felt as if she was mentoring a chimp - but she never failed to gracefully illuminate the next step with a simple question which always held the answer within.  Never was this more apparent than during our strategic planning meetings which were held over a busy eighteen month period.  Diligent Dillon would keep the process moving and the group on task - our Strategic Plan owes so much to her care and courage in raising and resolving the tough issues.  As most of you know, Ann was also part of a small group of parents and teachers requested to study the impact and appropriateness of the IB Diploma Programme for Mulgrave - a task that would take her to visit with schools all over the country and take the best part of a year to complete.  Our community owes Ann much for this and for her superlative, inspiring and most enlightened trusteeship.

Russ Benson was the best candidate for Chairman several years ago but deferred instead to the Vice Chair position. There he has served as my better half for five years displaying real fortitude in keeping me between the lines.  Russ is fearless in support of the mission of the School and has always followed his expansive mind and heart wherever they took him.  His critical work on the Bond committee many years ago provided the final link in our financing chain which allowed our current facilities to be built.  When the School was built - Russ was there helping out on the legal front. When we faced the tough job of finding a new Head of School - again Russ was there, and when we needed to investigate the IBDP - Russ was there too. Russ has been Chair of the Nominating Committee for many years and serves on the Governance, Land and Evaluation committees as well. Russ and I have been on the same page 90% of the time.  Whenever we differ it worries us both because we know that the other is probably right. I can't recall a harsh word or short exchange - not even once. If there is any consolation to Russ's six year tenure on the Board coming to an end, it is knowing that our friendship and mutual respect will endure.  When you next see Russ please thank him for his selfless, immeasurable contribution to Mulgrave - a glistening, unbroken line since 1997.

Finally, when I accepted the responsibility of serving the Board as Chair five years ago, I promised that I would not stay beyond my "best before date".  This date is now approaching and I believe it is in the best interest of the School to turn the reins over to an enthusiastic and extremely capable group of "fresher" Board members.  I am pleased to say that if I have done anything right it has been in helping my colleagues attract the right talent to the Board, with the right skills at the right time.  As I have one year left on my current term I will dedicate my final year - my ninth on the Board - to doing my utmost to support the new executive once it is elected following the AGM.  I will remain on the Land Committee and will serve as Chair of our newly created Mulgrave Foundation.

Thank you for the privilege of serving you and our School.

Sincerely,

Tony Allard
Chair, on behalf of the Board of Directors
Mulgrave Independent School Society