General Meeting, March 26, 2012

Location: ISK cafeteria

Time: 7:45 pm to 9 pm

Attended by ISK teachers and parents, school director, Dr. Anna Karola (AK) and board members:

Mr. Abdoulaye Balde (AB), Board President

Ms. Maringa Broekman (MB)

Ms. Victoria Gershenson (VG), Secretary

Ms. Rose Muchiri (RM)

Mr. Chuck Pill (CP), Deputy Board President

Mr. Neil Pogorelsky (NP), Treasurer

AB welcomed parents, teachers, and administration, and thanked everybody for coming.

Tuition and fees

NP outlined the new tuition structure. Starting in 2012/13, tuition becomes two-tier: parents who are reimbursed by their employers will face a larger increase, while the self-pay parents will face a smaller increase in tuition.

Tuition will increase in order to finance six new teaching positions, the acquisition of an additional building, big accreditation expense in 2012/13, and establishment of the reserve fund. Because of this, the 2012/13 budget projects an increase in expenditure by $400,000 compared with 2011/12 (the relevant table is available here). The two-tier system is common to other international schools.

In addition, $500 materials fee will be charged for each student to cover the cost of new IT equipment, textbooks, and stationery.

Q&A:

• How will the new two-tier system be applied?

The higher tuition tier will apply equally to all parents who are reimbursed by their employers, regardless of the exact fraction of tuition that is being reimbursed.

• The Canadian Embassy reimburses tuition for its staff up to the tuition charged by the most expensive accredited school in the region, which in Rwanda’s case is Green Hills Academy. Since the tuition at GHA is much lower than at ISK, a steep tuition increase in ISK will seriously affect the Canadian parents.

ISK should be accredited by the end of 2012/13; hopefully, the Canadian Embassy will start to fully reimburse the Canadian parents from then on.

• The parents did not get enough information from the BOD when they were notified of the decision to raise tuition and adopt the two-tier system.

It took a long time to finalize the budget for 2012/13 and agree on the exact amount of the increase.

Teachers’ salaries will increase by 8% in 2012/13. AB noted that the teachers’ salaries at ISK are higher than in other Rwandan schools but much lower than in other international schools. The salaries are independent of the number of students in each class. Also, unlike some other international schools, ISK has made a conscious commitment to pay all teachers on the same scale regardless of whether they are local (Rwandan), from Africa or from further abroad.

Audit report

NP presented the results of the 2010/11 audit completed in November 2011. The Garry Whiteknight auditing firm issued an unqualified (i.e. positive) opinion of the school financial statements.

ISK has positive cash flow but negative accumulated fund, with the latter reflecting excess of liabilities over assets (see the tables here). This negative balance is the carried forward result of unexpected tax liability from the first year of school operations.  It was significantly reduced in 2010/11 and will hopefully be completely reduced by the end of the 2011/12 school year.

School growth and acquisition of new building                        

The school now has 190 students, up from 180 in 2010/11. For 2012/13, we expect a slightly higher number of students, with a noticeable increase in high school.

ISK will get a new building, adjacent to the playing field and the traffic circle. The addition will accommodate the school’s growing needs and allow separation of pre-K and kindergarten from middle school. The new building will house pre-K and kindergarten classes. High school will be relocated to the current middle school building, while the current high school building will house 5^th grade, art classroom, and offices. Library will move to the current administration building. Elementary and middle school will remain in their current locations. Lunch for pre-K and kindergarten students will be served at their building.

The school will have a music program starting in September.

Q&A:

• Have the sports facilities been improved?

The sports field has not been improved since it was leveled last summer. The students are still actively involved in sports, with badminton, volleyball, and taekwondo. PE teachers use the fields outside ISK to practice soccer.

• Can the lunch break for elementary students be moved to noon?

AK promised to work on that.

Accreditation

AK noted that ISK is on track to be accredited by May 2013. All the documentation should be submitted to New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and Council of International Schools (CIS) by February of that year. Every teacher is involved in the process.

Committees

MB presented information about the committees. The committees are the way for parents and teachers to help the Board and the Administration to improve existing policies, facilities, and planning. The following committees either need additional members or must be created:

1. Review of Policies and Procedures: to be created
2. Review Teachers and Student Handbooks: to be created
3. Marketing: to be created
4. New School Building: existing, looking for more members

Volunteers can approach AK. All committees will be chaired by a Board member.

A parent suggested that the Board provides more information for each committee, regarding the type of work that needs to be done and the time frame.

Board rotations

AB outlined the situation at the Board. The Board has six members; one of them will be leaving in June. The Board wishes to recruit two new members, bringing the total to seven. In order to keep the membership balanced, only one new member can be a U.S. citizen. The new members will be elected during the Annual General Meeting, currently scheduled for June 15.

In addition, CP—who had been appointed by the U.S. Ambassador—will resign his position at the end of March. A new member, Ms. Katie Brown, has just been appointed to replace CP. The formal announcement to that effect will be made shortly.

Finally, AB noted that it would be beneficial to the school to have one outside Board member (in addition to the other seven members), somebody who does not have direct connection to the school, but who can provide guidance for further development of ISK.

Miscellaneous

• Swimming lessons have been discontinued due to the cold weather; they will resume after the spring break.
• Mr. Fabrizio Cross, the PTO president, addressed the issue of low participation in PTO meetings and asked all those present to encourage other members of the ISK community to participate.