Board of Governors Minute Excerpts
Excerpts only
"The Director General (JJ Streuli) reported that his work with the Governing Board had never been easy since the relationship between the trustees of an organisation and their chief executive officer should never be taken for granted. However a strong sense of mutual trust was necessary to success and he was grateful to all Board members that this had existed.
The second part of the Director-General's report concerned the proposed expansion of the Foundation. Over the past two years there had been a trend for rising enrolment and while it was difficult to predict long-term trends, there was now a significant pressure on places with unusually high re-enrolment and considerable waiting lists, largely due to the arrival of new companies and the expansion of existing ones in the areas. In order to address this increased demand for places, the most recent Board meeting had recognised the need to find a temporary solution for September but this would only be acceptable if a long-term solution were possible and planned.........It was difficult to predict exactly what lay ahead and the Director-General understood the parent's anxiety. However the magnitude and details of the problem had only become apparent in the past six weeks and it had been necessary to take rapid action.
(parent) pointed out that many parents were very concerned as they felt there was a lack of transparency. He asked that the Board set up a mechanism to inform parents adequately. In response, the Director-General pointed out that the present situation had entailed working to very tight deadlines and it was difficult to disseminate detailed information as the situation evolved from day-to-day."
15 February 2000 Excerpt from Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Governing Board held at LGB
Decision 274/D-8
The Board felt that it was important that the Task Force (on Expansion) be asked to continue its work and that Mr J. J. Streuli should continue to act as consultant to this group after 31 December 2000. This would enable the expansion project to benefit from Mr Streuli's experience and the contacts he had established. The Board therefore agreed that Mr. Streuli be asked to serve as project manager to follow the current expansion through to its conclusion in 2003.
The Director General then addressed the question of expansion....a new building would be opened in Grand Saconnex as a satellite to the Pregny/Rigot campus. This would house 8 new primary classes and would be put in place during the summer holidays. The Director-General wished at this point to register his appreciation of the assistance of the State of Geneva in this connection.
For the longer term (2003-2004) the Foundation's Board had decided to establish a new campus of up to 1000 students. No plans were as yet finalised, the the Director-General was working very closely with the State of Geneva to find a piece of land to accommodate the new campus and he hoped to have more concrete news by the end of the summer. The local government was being very helpful and was determined to try and find best solution for the International School. As a further plan to relieve the pressure on existing facilities, the Board was hoping to be able to move the primary school of La Chataigneraie to another site nearby.
Selected sections of the Minutes of the 278th Meeting of the Governing Board held on 12 September, 2000 at La Chataigneraie, relevant to the process that led to the decision "in principle" to create a 10-13 fourth campus...
Present;
Prof. S. Antonarakis, M.M.Baquerot, Mme.V.De Marnix, Mr R.Forrest (in the chair), Mrs S.Hafner, Mr L Hamzavi (teacher observer), Mme C.Panchaud, M.L Pierleoni, Mme C.Vallenas, Mme F.Wallin.
In attendance; Mr D.Billingsley (Director-General Designate), Mr M.Lee (head of Student Services), Mr J.J Streuli (Director-General).
Apologies for Absence;
Mme D.Aldridge, Mr J.Boggs, Mme J.Buvelot, Mr R.Enix-Ross, Mr P-A Hirschy, Mme C.Quart (teacher observer).
Agenda item No 2 "Election of Board Committees"
The Exective Committee (Excom) was elected to be composed of the following...
M.Baquerot, J.Boggs, R.Forrest, S.Hafner, P-A Hirschy and C.Panchaud.
The proposed slate of officers was accepted as follows...
Chairman; R.Forrest
Vice-Chairman; P-A Hirschy
Treasurer. J.Boggs
Secretary. S.Hafner Decision 278/D-2
Agenda item No 9 "Expansion"
9.4 New Campus
Mr Streuli reported that a suitable plot of land had been obtained through the kind offices of the Etat de Geneve. A new projet de loi was awaiting distribution to the deputies of the State Council and once that had become official it would be possible to announce the siting of the new campus. It had been agreed that the new campus would be known as Saconay and a building programme had been submitted to the Admin Council ("made up of the Principals of the Foundations schools") and was now being further refined by the architecte conseil. Fifteen architects had been invited to participate in a competition for the design of the new campus. Nine replies had been received so far, of which seven were positive, and the jury would hold a preliminary meeting on 19 September.
9.5 Issues for Board Consideration
Mr Streuli reminded Board members of a series of questions which the Board should address in the context of the expansion. In the first instance the Board would need to determine what it felt the final size of the Foundation should be. This was crucial for any further expansion considerations. Expansion projects currently underway would entail the need for the future use of the Old Cafeteria at LGB, with a probable cost of around SF2 million, on the transformation of the old library at La Chat, the projected music facility and sports facility on that campus, all of which would total around SF15 million, and the future of the La Chat Primary School. The Pregny/Rigot CDG request for a media centre should also be reassessed in the light of discussions regarding the future of that campus. All of these decisions would involve considerable expense and much of the work was already launched.
9.6 Regarding the funding of the new campus, initial contacts with FIPOI (Fondation Immobiliere pour les organisations internationales) had been unsuccessful. However, it was suggested that further enquiries would be made in that quarter and the projet de loi concerning the new campus would be made available to M.Baquerot for that purpose as soon as it was published.
Signed R.Forrest (Chairman) and S.Hafner (Secretary).