October 12, 2000

Dear Parents,

On 10 February, 2000 the board of Governors took an historic decision - the decision to add a fourth campus to the International School of Geneva in time for the opening of school in September, 2003. This action - the result of many months of analyis and debate-bespoke a bold commitment to improving the conditions of teaching and learning on our vastly overcrowded campuses.

Having made the choice to commit unprecedented funds (50-60 million CHF) to the new campus, it remained to determine the nature of the academic structure of the fourth campus. This decision was taken, in principle, this past Tuesday at the October Board Meeting. On this occasion the Board decided that the new campus would serve grades 10-13. In effect La Chataigneraie and La Grande Boissiere would both cease to offer instruction in grades 10-13. The upper grades would be united on the new campus.

The Board will have to make a rapid decisions in order to maintain the schedule for a completed school for September 2003 - as promised to the community. This means that along the way the Board (elected by the community) will have to do their job and make some important decisions on their own.

I can assure you that the discussion at the Board centered uniquely around the best solution for the educational quality and opportunities for the students. We are already receiving some feedback but many of the arguments that we hear tend to be emotional first impressions or other secondary issues. I urge you all to reflect seriously about this issue during the break and to ask your children what they think. Others that hve been involved in the discussions to date also had your first reaction and have since changed their minds.

Needless to say, this decision brings with it far-reaching consequences and a fundamental alteration of existing campus structures. It also confers an enormous opportunity to enrich the curricular and co-curricular programs of the Foundation. The prospect of additional options in the IB and Maturite programs, united drama, music, and sports programs, a common pedagogical ethos, and an enriched French language program are breathtaking in their potential, but they constitute only part of the picture. The other aspect is that of a school which can finally contemplate true harmony of vision between its campuses.

We are experiencing a unique moment in the history of the International School of Geneva. It is our hope that the present communication will initiate a lively discourse on the opportunities that are created by this new vision for our common future. Such occasions present themselves once in a lifetime. Let us not squander the moment.

Yours sincerely,

R. Forrest - Chairman of the Board of Governors