Communications From Board Members

Dear Pike Community,

In this season of gratitude, thank you for your partnership. Pike is a community grounded in inclusivity, belonging and connection and is a school where all children are embraced and valued as their authentic selves. This is our mission, vision and values brought to life. As we shared with you at the beginning of the school year, it is the purview of the Board of Trustees to uphold and determine the long-term vision and strategy for the school to ensure the administration, faculty, and staff are designing learning experiences that align with our mission, vision, and values. This means that in theory and in practice, we do not determine specific curricula, programs or assessment for faculty; it is clearly the role of Pike's administration, faculty, and staff to determine the daily, lived experiences of students. 

Pike is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the largest association of independent schools, which supports more than 1,900 domestic and international independent schools. NAIS calls upon all Boards to “exhibit best practices relevant to equity and justice” and asks Boards to consider questions such as “How are diversity, equity, and inclusion goals stated in the school’s strategic plan?” and “How is the board oriented and trained to understand the role of governance in diversity, equity, and inclusion work?” 

At Pike, the Board of Trustees has explored these questions for decades, as our first Board committee centered on diversity began in 2003. Since then, Pike Trustees have attended and presented at the Association of Independent Schools in New England’s Annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEIJ) conference, engaged in sustained anti-bias training, and partnered with nationally recognized practitioners. Our standing DEIJ Board committee, as described in Pike’s Board of Trustees, Chair Tasneem Dohadwala’s letter in September 2021, ensures these values are woven into all aspects of the Board as well as our school-wide vision, values, and policies.

As a Board, we, unequivocally, believe in the power of our differences and actively seek to build an inclusive community. We believe that transformative learning environments do not evolve organically, rather clear intentions are essential to sustain a school culture that values diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice. We believe that student outcomes are greatest when their learning environment embraces their authentic selves, including their race, gender, sex, age, ability, socioeconomic status, religion, and others. We are committed to continued learning and analyzing of any practices that may unintentionally lead to inequities in the classroom. We also believe that in our role as the Board of Trustees, our clear directive is to ensure Pike's long term thrivability by uplifting our school values around issues of diversity, inclusion, equity and justice; we support and hold Pike’s Head of School and Administrative team accountable for prioritizing these values in all aspects of the Pike student experience. In 2014, Pike established an office to oversee DEIJ work (originally the Office of Community, now the Office of Equity and Justice) to plan and execute organizational-wide DEIJ initiatives, professional development sessions, policies, and systems to foster diversity, equity, inclusivity, and justice across the community, as well as serving as a support and resource for Administrators, Faculty, Staff, Students and Families. The introduction of our school-wide Pike Fest, our library’s curation of a diverse collection of literature that mirrors the identities of our students and the self-discovery work exemplified by student’s “I Am” poems are all manifestations of the hard work and dedication of our Head of School, Administration, faculty and staff to bring Pike’s values and vision to life at the Board’s behest. 

As we continue with our strategic design process and our embrace of best practices developed by NAIS, the timeless Pike value of teaching students to develop and use their own voices to be effective self-advocates and contributors to the community will remain true and will continue to guide us further down the path of creating a transformative learning environment. We look forward to learning and dreaming together about Pike’s future with you. 

Sincerely, 

The Board of Trustees
The Pike School

Dear Pike Community,
 
I hope the start of the school year has been exciting and filled with joy for your family! In my home, we feel very fortunate that our children are all healthy, in school and are being celebrated, challenged and nurtured.

This weekend, Pike’s Board of Trustees gathered for our annual all-day meeting to discuss the future of our school. It was exhilarating to hear from diverse perspectives about the hopes and dreams for Pike as we embark upon a new school year together. Our Board of Trustees is composed of current and past parents, alumni and professionals from varied sectors outside of Pike. It is our directive to uphold the mission and vision of the school, articulate (and live) our core values and ensure the long-term sustainability of the institution. By design, we do not get involved in the day-to-day operations of the school. Instead, we focus on the future of Pike. 

Our structure as a Board allows us to maintain our focus on the long-term thrivability of Pike. We’re organized in the following standing committees that are aligned with our central tenets: 

Governance: The Governance committee is tasked with sustaining a learning culture of generative and strategic discourse. For instance, this group is charged with charting the path for what every trustee must know and understand to ensure we’re prepared for challenges that may lie ahead. 

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice (DEIJ): The DEIJ committee’s charter is to foster active modeling of Pike’s mission and values that support DEIJ. For example, this team is entrusted with clarifying the DEIJ values that are integral to Pike. Further, Trustees provide guidance for the school’s vision, mission, values and policies to ensure they reflect the school’s commitment to DEIJ. 

Stewardship: Our Stewardship committee is charged with evaluating the resources of the school by examining external factors, e.g. economic, social, technological, and internal trends which may impact Pike’s ability to prosper. In this vein, this group may cast a vision for our philanthropic needs or fiscal policies. 

As you know, we have officially launched our next strategic planning process. We aim to tap into the hopes and dreams of every member of our community. The Board has hired Greenwich Leadership Partners (GLP), to facilitate the strategic design process. Next week, you will be invited to participate in a survey from GLP, which will provide the Board and the Strategic Design Committee with key data as we move forward. It is critical that all constituents take the time to complete this survey because the feedback and data we receive through the survey will serve as a springboard to a deeper, richer vision – for Pike’s current and future students.

Further, I would like to extend an invitation to you to join members of the Board of Trustees, Greenwich Leadership Partners and Head of School Ashley Marshall in Coffee & Conversation: Planning for Possibilities in the (new!) outdoor courtyard on Wednesday, October 13 at 8:15 - 9:15 a.m. Questions for the event can be submitted in the RSVP registration form.

Thank you for being a valued part of the Pike community.
 
Appreciatively,
Tasneem Dohadwala
Chair, Board of Trustees

Dear Pike Community, 

Welcome Back! 

I hope that your summer was rejuvenating and joyous. Reflecting on our last year, it was one of shared challenge and sacrifice, yet also, it was a year of shared joy, enthusiasm and achievement. The Board of Trustees is truly grateful for our Head of School, administrative team, faculty and staff who committed their time and energy to ensure Pike flourished in the face of weighty challenges. And, likewise, I extend my thanks to all Pike families for your partnership and dedication.

The Pike School has played a central role in my life for decades. My Pike journey started when I was an anxious fourth grader and now continues as Chair of the Board of Trustees as well as a proud parent to a current 7th grader and a recent alum, from the class of 2020. Throughout my time at Pike, the school and its community have always looked forward and kept the students at the very center. To this day, the joy I feel when stepping into Pike’s lobby still comforts me. As we start this new academic year, I am filled with gratitude and my desire for connection. I hope that I am able to see old friends and make new ones as well. 

Our work as the Board of Trustees is to steward this wonderful institution so that it may nurture and educate many generations to come. I speak for all Trustees when I say that we put our hearts and mind into this work. And yet, we can only succeed at our goal if each and every Pike community member works together. We invite you to join us in our new endeavor of charting the future of Pike through our new strategic plan. I am filled with hope for what lies ahead - our next year together is full of possibility and will be a time when we will imagine together on behalf of Pike. During this planning process, we’ll want to hear from you about what possibilities you can see. 

Last year, we stayed true to our motto, Non Sibi Solum, and leaned on our ability to be flexible and adapt. It was a perfect example of how when we all come together, the possibilities are endless. Once again this year, let us look forward together as One Pike.

Thank you for being a valued part of the Pike community. I hope you and your family have a wonderful First Day of School!

Appreciatively,
Tasneem Dohadwala
Chair, Board of Trustees

Dear Pike Community, 

Thank you for participating in this survey. Your input is an essential ingredient to our process and the identification of future priorities for the school. We are interested in learning more about your experience at Pike, and your priorities for the school as we design our strategy for the future.  

This survey is entirely confidential. You will need to complete the survey in one sitting. 

The link to the survey is below and will be open until October 12, 2021. 

We deeply value your thoughtful and candid responses. We look forward to sharing what we learn from this survey as we move forward in our work to develop a vision and plan for the future. 

If you have any questions, please contact us at kmoran@pikeschool.org or jeanniesullivan72@gmail.com.

Thank you,

Jeannie Sullivan P'18 '19 '23
Board of Trustees
Co-Chair, Strategic Design Committee

Kate K. Moran P'20 '22 '27
Director of External Affairs, The Pike School
Co-Chair, Strategic Design Committee

Dear Pike families, 

We hope that you and your children have settled back into this academic year. It promises to be a year full of possibility and we are hopeful that there are many bright days ahead. 

We wanted to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves as the Co-Chairs of Pike’s Strategic Design Team. As you are well aware, Pike has spent the past 18 months responding and reacting to the challenges created by the global pandemic. Our community has demonstrated incredible resilience, creativity and compassion throughout this very challenging time. The work we accomplished together to achieve our goals is nothing short of remarkable and set the stage for our next opportunity as a school. Every five years, Pike engages in a process to create a Strategic Plan, which serves as a framework to guide and measure our work. This year’s strategic design process is underway and will draw upon the hopes and dreams of every Pike constituency, to recreate our mission, vision and values.

Pike has hired Greenwich Leadership Partners, a well-respected strategic consulting firm to facilitate the strategic design process. Pike’s Board of Trustees has appointed a team of community members to drive this process. Pike’s Strategic Design Committee includes members of the faculty, Board of Trustees, administrators, and represents both parent and alumni communities, too. Our committee members include:

Tasneem Dahod Dohadwala '96 P'20 '23, Board of Trustees Chair
Marybeth Heyd P'22 '28, Lower School Division Head 
Megan Kristiansen P'19 '20, Trustee
Ashley Marshall, Head of School
Kate Moran P'20 '22 '27, Director of External Affairs, Co-Chair
Kavita Mundra P'14 '16, Kindergarten teacher
Mark Nichols '78 P'20 '21, Trustee
Linda Spence, Upper School teacher & Librarian
Jeannie Sullivan P'18 '19 '23, Trustee, Co-Chair
Mengmeng Wang P'19 '24, Trustee

We are honored to have been appointed as Co-Chairs of this team. We know that charting the strategy for The Pike School for the next five years is critical, and we are honored to accept this responsibility. We recognize that this undertaking will impact all Pike constituencies and we are committed to a thoughtful, inclusive and comprehensive process.

In the coming weeks, you will be invited to participate in a survey which will provide us with some key data as we move forward. It is critical that all constituents take the time to complete this survey. This will be the first of many ways we invite you to share your voice in this process.  In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to us or to any members of the team with any questions or thoughts.

With deep appreciation,

Jeannie Sullivan P'18 '19 '23
Board of Trustees
Co-Chair, Strategic Design Committee

Kate K. Moran P'20 '22 '27
Director of External Affairs, The Pike School
Co-Chair, Strategic Design Committee

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