The Purposes of the Open House are:

1. To celebrate the children and families who are presently enrolled.

2. To showcase the work of the children.

3. To kick off enrollment for the next school year, inviting new families to experience an event at the school.

4. To work together as a collaborative system of families and staff.

The open enrollment period is from January 27, 2010 – April 16, 2010.  You may pick up an application for enrollment at the Open House, or at the school office after January 27.  We hope you can make it to the Open House!

I hope that you have had an enjoyable summer. I’m very excited about the start of the new school year that is just a short two weeks away! To all of the new families who will be joining our wonderful school community: Welcome! To all of our returning families: I’m so pleased that you are back with us! I look forward greatly to partnering with all of you, the school Staff, the Board, and the Family Team for what is sure to be an incredible school year at the Child Discovery Center. We will be celebrating our Ten Year Anniversary as a public charter school!

I wish to extend an invitation to all families – new and returning – to our Parent and Student Orientation Event on Wednesday, September 2nd. If you have not already done so, please contact your child’s teacher or the school office (tel. 616-459-0330) to sign up for one of three times in the afternoon that the Orientation Event will be offered:

• 2:00 pm
• 4:00 pm
• 6:00 pm

We will have many important things to share with you at Orientation. Not everything is designed just for new families, so it’s important that returning families attend the Orientation as well!

We have been working hard this summer to make everything ready for the start of the new school year. I look forward to having you join us for the Parent and Student Orientation on Wednesday, September 2nd. Please bring with you the information requested by the Family Team (enclosed in this same mailing). New families, please be sure to bring to the Orientation any remaining enrollment forms and other docs. (e.g. immunization records).

Remember that the First Day of School is Tuesday, September 8. School starts at 8:15 a.m. and gets out at 3:10 p.m. Please contact the school office if you have any questions about enrollment, paperwork, or other important issues. Thank you very much. See you next week on the 2nd of September!

Sincerely,
David R Hill
Principal

I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful early summer. It surely is a beautiful time of year to get out and enjoy the splendor of nature. I’m writing both to extend an invitation to you to attend our first Popsicles in the Playground social gathering on Tuesday afternoon, June 30 and to request your participation in and support for our very important Summer Enrollment Drive.

As you may or may not already know, the success of our school depends greatly on strong enrollment. The State of Michigan provides the primary funding source for the school based on the number of pupils who attend the school. State funding provides most of the revenue to pay for all of our expenses, including salaries and benefits for our dedicated teachers and staff, rent and utilities for our school facility, instructional materials, etc. Currently, the State provides GRCDC approximately $7500 for each pupil who attends the school.

You can readily see how enrollment is directly tied to the school’s financial well-being. An increase of just ten students provides approximately $75,000 of additional revenue for staff or programs. Similarly, a decrease of ten students requires us to trim approximately $75,000 from our school budget. Unfortunately, many of the school’s expenses are fixed, so when budget cuts are required, it is a reduction in staff and program that are generally necessitated. Trimming staff or programs is always painful and frequently demoralizing for both parents and staff. The students, though, are the biggest losers when this occurs.

Current estimates suggest that we might not have enough students in the fall to achieve a balanced budget. Because we wish to forego any painful cuts to staff and program next year, we are launching an aggressive Enrollment Drive this summer. A committee of active, dedicated parents and staff has met and is laying the organizational groundwork for our summer drive, but we need your active participation in our Enrollment Drive in order to achieve our target enrollment goal of 218 students. While I am confident that we can achieve our goal with the support and participation of our entire school community, I don’t think that we are likely to achieve this goal with only limited participation on the part of our parents. Please join us!

Word of mouth from parents is, without a doubt, the best marketing strategy we can devise. Talking with your friends and colleagues about the wonderful opportunities afforded students and families at GRCDC can help us a great deal. In addition, the Enrollment Committee is organizing packets of marketing material to target the local neighborhood around the school as well area health care professionals, community centers, and other venues. These materials will be available to you at the Popsicles in the Playground social event in the school playground from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday,
June 30. Members of the committee will be present to provide you with marketing materials and to discuss our strategies for increasing enrollment over the summer.

One of our goals, in addition to increasing enrollment, is to increase awareness in the Greater Grand Rapids area of the existence and mission of our dear school. Clearly, not enough people know about us! The Committee welcomes your ideas both for increasing enrollment and for helping us to reach out to the community. We want to substantially increase awareness in the community of GRCDC and foster the development of enduring relationships with the community. Please contact me in the school office if you wish to participate in the Summer Enrollment Drive or share ideas regarding community awareness, but cannot attend the event on June 30.

Please plan to attend our kick-off enrollment event (which is also a social event for parents and children) on June 30 and to help us achieve our enrollment goal this summer. Your participation is vital to our success! Together, we can do it! Thank you very much!