Board of Trustees Update | January 19, 2024

Dear Burke's Community,

Happy New Year! I hope you and your families had a chance to rest and recharge during the break.  

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am pleased to report on some exciting developments that form part of Burke’s Strategic Plan. As many of you know, the Strategic Plan is the result of hundreds of hours of committee work and extensive community interviews. The plan was designed to reflect the values, ideas and dreams of Burke’s broad community and serves as the school’s roadmap for the years ahead. The three key strategic goals of the five-year Plan center around Experience, Connection and Growth and are nourished by Burke’s core values of joy, rigor, inclusivity, resilience, sustainability, wellness and belonging.  
In Burke’s second year of the implementation phase of the Strategic Plan, our partnership with the marketing firm Zehno is complete and the work is being used by the Admissions team in support of increasing diversity in our student population. This project has resulted in gorgeous media about the Burke’s experience (check out this inspiring video) and we are hearing that the reaction from prospective families and the broader community has been very positive. Inside the classroom, sustainability is a central theme in designing and implementing units across various areas of the K-8 curriculum, thanks to the excellent partnership between Burke’s Curriculum Council (comprising a rich cross-section of the school’s faculty and administration) and the Cloud Institute. Some examples are Kindergarten students learning to look at waste differently and developing agency around the waste, fifth graders working on a humanities and makery project about the Natural Commons and seventh graders learning about harvesting rainwater.  

Burke’s students are also exploring how they can solve real-world problems through service learning and social justice. Burke’s is in the exploratory phase of establishing relationships with community organizations like its years-long partnership with the Richmond Neighborhood Center where Burke’s girls roll up their sleeves and participate in the RNC’s community outreach, including its food pantry. And, in Upper School, in support of the goal “Experience: Ready Today for Tomorrow,” students are meeting Bay Area community changemakers like Lyslynn Lacoste and Pam Tau Lee perhaps inspiring Burke’s girls to become changemakers themselves.   

These highlights offer a glimpse of the ongoing work – some visible and some behind the scenes – to carry out Burke’s Strategic Plan. We are thrilled to see it springing into action and look forward to supporting the school in these efforts in the coming years.

I would be remiss not to take this opportunity to reflect on the blessed circumstances in which Burke’s finds itself at this time. We know that Burke’s is a 100+ year-old institution with a compelling mission and a stellar reputation. It is on solid financial footing thanks in large part to the generosity of our community throughout the years and the diligence and discipline of the people charged with fiscal responsibility over the school like Director of Finance, Patricia Neville and current and prior Trustees. Importantly, we are fortunate to have Michele Williams in her twelfth year as Burke’s exceptional Head of School – incidentally, a length of tenure that is a rarity these days. Her steady leadership holds our community together and has yielded positive changes for the school throughout the last 10+ years, too numerous to list here.  

Most recently, Michele announced the creation of a new administrative position beginning in July 2024, Associate Head of School, whose focus will be to support and fortify Burke’s academic programming and initiatives that are so central to its mission. The fact that Michele has selected none other than the talented and beloved Alice Moore to step into this position is icing on the cake. In turn, Michele will have more time to meet the increased and rapidly changing demands on independent school heads, as well as amplify her focus on driving community engagement. Importantly, the Board’s focus remains on Burke’s mission, strategic goals and oversight of the school’s financial health, as well as selection, evaluation and support of the Head of School – not on the day-to-day affairs of the school like personnel or admissions decisions over which it does not have discretion. (To learn more about the role of the Board of Trustees, please visit Burke's website.) Nonetheless, we are incredibly excited about the possibilities that this change in administrative structure will allow for future generations of Burke’s students.  

Last but not least, it goes without saying that 2024 promises to be an interesting year. Whether the focus is on the election cycle, conflict throughout the world or keeping peace among family and friends, the challenges to our unity and collective sanity seem never-ending. And yet, it is during these times of uncertainty that I feel all the more grateful for our family to be a part of the Burke’s community. Whether it’s our daughter’s palpable joy in describing her classroom experiences, an interaction with a member of the admin team about the school’s strategic initiatives or a thoughtful conversation with another parent around our shared values, I feel incredibly fortunate to have near-daily reminders that our Burke’s community is strong, connected and solidly delivering on its mission to educate, encourage and empower our girls. I can think of no other area of life more important in which to have that measure of confidence, than in the world our children inhabit. 

I’m honored to serve Burke’s and on behalf of my fellow Trustees, we look forward to partnering with the administration and with all of you to support the school’s mission, Strategic Plan and all Burke’s students, now and in the future. 

 
Sincerely,
Johanna Calabria
President, Burke's Board of Trustees
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Burke's mission is to educate, encourage and empower girls. Our school combines academic excellence with an appreciation for childhood so that students thrive as learners, develop a strong sense of self, contribute to community, and fulfill their potential, now and throughout life.
Burke's admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.