Dear Parents & Staff,

Greetings. As often happens in the midst of necessary changes within families, schools, churches, etc., there can be mis-communications, misunderstandings, and general uneasiness, even when everyone has the best of intentions.

That seems to be the case with the changes proposed in the new Class Assignment policy we told you about last week. The Logos School Board received a fair number of comments and suggestions from our school families. The board discussed these at length at their meeting on Monday night. As a result, the board has written an important letter to our school families (below). Please read it carefully.

One question that might come to mind after you read this letter is, “How will this system affect what we as a family need to do to register for next year?” Here is the plan:

1. We will continue to accept your re-registrations on-line through the end of January, just as we have been. You need not wait or go back and change anything you’ve submitted.

2. Soon we will send you an on-line preference indication form to fill out and submit to Logos. The form will provide you the option of indicating some preferences, or you may indicate ‘no preference.’ In either case, once the rosters are finalized, you may rest assured that your child(ren) will be in a class where they will continue receiving the quality education Logos provides. We will accept these preference forms through March 31.

Thank you very much for your commitment to providing your family with a Christ-centered education. We pray we will continue to be a significant assistance to you in this joy-filled purpose.

Blessings,

Tom Garfield

Superintendent

 

January 22, 2013

 

Dear Parents and Staff,

We would like to begin by seeking your forgiveness for the confusion we caused in our roll-out of our new class assignment procedure. Some of the confusion was caused by our inadequate explanation of how we were planning to implement this in the details, and some of it was the result of some issues we had clearly not anticipated. We offer our sincere apologies.

This is to follow up on that announcement to see if we can’t allay the concerns that a number of you have expressed to us. As we discussed this, it was clear from your concerns that we really should start over from scratch. Some of the same elements are present in the new policy below, but in a significantly different order. As always, please continue to give us your feedback.

The board was (and is) in full agreement that the old system needed to be replaced, but we are sorry for the unnecessary consternation we caused in the transition. This is all the result of us growing into two classes at every grade level, which means that it certainly qualifies as growing pains. God is blessing our school greatly, which means we have to make room . . . and some changes. Please pardon our dust as we remodel.

After taking your feedback fully into account, this is what our current plan looks like:

1.     Each year during the re-registration process, parents of children re-registering for grades with multiple classes will indicate their class preference.  Parents may indicate a primary and secondary preference for each student such as a teacher preference or a peer preference (including siblings or cousins). While our intent is to honor parental preferences, we may not be able to honor them all.

 

2.     At the close of re-registration on March 31, classes will be rostered.  Initial rosters will be based on preferences for all student families who:

a. Have paid registration fees by March 31

b. Do not owe back tuition

c. Pay full or discounted tuition (as opposed to full or partially waived tuition)

 

3.     If the class rosters need to be adjusted, adjustments will be made as follows:

a. The administration and teachers will review the rosters and make changes to promote healthy class environments and resolve any remaining conflicts of preference if possible.

b. Any remaining conflicts of preference will be resolved using a random selection process as a last resort.

 

4.   The class rosters will be sent out to parents during the last week of school.

 

We will obviously need to work out some additional details as we go, but this is basically what we intend to do.

One of the impressions that some of you got was that if parents requested a transfer of section, or if they indicated concern about the class their child was going to be in, that this would be seen by us as an example of them “seeking their own honor.” We genuinely regret creating this impression. The response we received made it clear that we unwittingly offended some of our highly dedicated parents, folks who are characterized by self-sacrifice—and not just where their own children are concerned. Please forgive us for doing that. We are very grateful for you all, and we appreciate you working together with us in the education of your children.

Openness to parental input has always been one of the guiding principles of the school. We want to remain hungry for that parental input, even when the input is critical of our decisions—or even especially when it is. Thank you for your faithfulness to us in this and for your love for the school.

On behalf of the Logos School Board,

 

 

Marc L. Rust

Chairman