Annual Report 2022
Annual Report from the Board Chair 2022
Dear Ambleside Community,
It is my pleasure to serve Ambleside School Rocky Mountains as Board Chair. I send out this Annual Report with great optimism about the year ahead and the many years beyond that. I have several updates to share with you as well as information about what all of our committees have accomplished and are working on.
Most importantly, I would like to share with you that our interim principal was married earlier this summer. We congratulate Mrs. Carrie Gerbaz on her recent nuptials! Additionally, we are proud to share that Mrs. Gerbaz graduated from Ambleside School International’s (ASI’s) Master Teacher Training Program (MTTP) earlier this month. The MTTP is a 3-year intensive program during which teachers do a deep dive into Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and method. Please join us in congratulating Mrs. Gerbaz on this accomplishment! We are very lucky to have Mrs. Gerbaz leading the school as our Interim Principal this year. We know her deep knowledge of the Charlotte Mason philosophy and method will be a blessing to our teachers, students, parents, and all of our community members.
Pictured here are this year’s MTTP graduates:
We are looking forward to the year ahead and all of the knowledge Mrs. Gerbaz will bring to the leadership role.
2022-2023 information and updates:
Board Members and Roles for the 2022-2023 school year:
Jill Cantway - Board Chair
Peter Martin - Vice Chair
Tanya Moser - Treasurer
Jesse Cowan - Secretary
Leslie Voorhees - ASI Member at Large
Carrie Gerbaz - Non-voting Member
Community Liaison - Jesse Cowan will serve the community as community liaison this year. Mr. Cowan served as staff liaison last year (as a bridge for communications between the staff and the board) and his role will be expanded to community liaison this year. So, if you have any questions or concerns about any board policy or other questions, Mr. Cowan can help to answer those questions, bring those questions to the board, and/or direct your question or inquiry to the appropriate person.
Committee updates - we have created several committees over the past year. Here is an update on our committees:
Education Committee. Mrs. Gerbaz is the chair of this committee. Mrs. Voorhees from ASI serves on this committee as well as an expert in the Charlotte Mason philosophy and method. This committee ensures the quality of education at our school and oversees the implementation of all ASI standards required of ASI Member Schools.
Governance Committee. I have the pleasure of serving as chair of our governance committee. Our treasurer and principal are also members of this committee. This committee creates and tracks compliance with the school’s annual budget, helps to ensure the school complies with the laws and regulations to which it is subject, assists with updating handbooks, and helps with other similar tasks.
Our budget year starts on August 1 and runs through July 31. Some of the highlights from our 2021-2022 budget as our budget year wraps up are that we raised over $40,000 this year in fundraising income, we had $8,500 in grants income, we raised over $26,000 from individual contributions, and more in business contributions. We allocate a large portion of our fundraising income to scholarships and we were able to offer close to $80,000 in tuition assistance to families with demonstrated need. Additionally, we raised over $40,000 in capital campaign donations for our renovation since last August and, overall, thanks in great part to many generous donations towards our capital campaign, we have been able to pay over $270,000 for the renovation of our school (which, when combined with donated services, adds up to 5 years of rent credit for the building per the lease). We are about to end our budget year set up for success for the coming year. Our board recently approved a budget for the 2022-2023 school year that anticipates similar fundraising, grants, and individual contributions. We were able to award $80,000 in board scholarships for the upcoming school year to 16 students with demonstrated financial need. Our budget is based on 45 students being enrolled, but we believe our enrollment will be greater than that once the school year starts. While our middle school does not have much space left, we do still have multiple spots available in our lower grades. Please help us spread the word about our school, especially to those with elementary age students! Word of mouth is the best advertising we have!
The Governance Committee also assists with updating handbooks and this past spring the board approved new, updated versions of the staff handbook and parent handbook. These updates reflect updates recommended by ASI and are tailored to fit our school. Please find the updated parent handbook here. We suggest you add a shortcut to the handbook to your google drive or web browser for easy access.
Marketing and Fundraising Committee. Our vice-chair, Peter Martin, is chair of our Marketing and Fundraising Committee. This committee has been very active and successful over the past year in finding and applying for grants and other sources of funding for the school. Most significantly, this committee has been working hard this summer to finalize our Historical Tax Credit. We are anticipating this tax credit will total over $80,000 after necessary commissions are paid. While much of this will go towards paying off our outstanding costs of the renovation, we plan to have some funds left for future renovations. This committee also oversees marketing for the school (this past year that was done through mailers and Facebook ads) and helps the PVA in planning and executing fundraisers. If you have a desire to serve the school on this committee, please reach out to Peter Martin at peter@martininsurancegrp.com.
Property Management and Development Committee. This committee has no small task in maintaining our building! Ryan Hilborn, 4th grade parent, who owns his own plumbing and heating company, has accepted the role of Chair of this committee. We are so grateful for all of his hard work over the summer in getting this committee going! Some things this committee is working on in the short term are arranging for a company to cut the grass bi-weekly, researching and assisting with the purchase of air conditioners, installing the air conditioners in the classrooms, arranging to get the carpets professionally cleaned, getting costs together for finishing the trim work upstairs, getting bids for finishing the gym floors, and much more! Mr. Hilborn has been very busy this summer. If you are able to help or have any services to offer along any of these lines, please contact Mr. Hilborn at rhilborn@amblesiderockymountains.org.
Parent’s Volunteers of Ambleside (PVA). We are pleased that Mrs. Karla Ayala has accepted the position of Director of the PVA for the upcoming school year. Mrs. Ayala has been with the school since a year after its founding, when her oldest daughter started Kindergarten. Mrs. Ayala will be holding PVA meetings, organizing volunteers for the school (such as for the upcoming volunteer work days), organizing fundraisers and gathering volunteers for those, and organizing and gathering volunteers for school community events. If you are new and aren’t sure where to start with volunteering for the school, the PVA is a great place to start! Please contact Mrs. Ayala directly at kayala@amblesiderockymountains.org with questions and we hope that everyone will attend the work days and PVA meetings if you are able!
Scramble Committee and Raffle Committee. Please look for more information in the future, but our Board Treasurer, Tanya Moser, took the lead on our main fundraiser, the Ambleside Golf Scramble, this past year and is planning a raffle in addition to the Scramble for this coming school year. She would like to form committees for these larger fundraising events and if you’re able to join one or both of these committees, it would be a great benefit to the school. For more information please contact Tanya at tmoser@amblesiderockymountains.org.
Principal Search and Hiring Committee. The board is still in the process of organizing this committee, the goal of which will be to hire an ASI-approved principal to begin working for the school during the summer of 2023 ahead of the 2023-2024 school year. We will update the school community as more information is available about this committee.
Please look for additional information to come about staffing and other information needed for the upcoming school year, which begins on August 15th! Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers for the school as we begin a new school year together. And a huge thank you to each of you for all you do for our school community. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Kind regards,
Jill Cantway
Board Chair
jcantway@amblesiderockymountains.org