Dear IST Families,
Over the summer, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the amazing year of events, work days, classroom moves, packing, cleaning, class parties, field trips, and celebrations in which we all took part last year. One of the central elements through all of these moments was the overwhelming support that our parent community provided by volunteering their time and skills throughout the year. We are very fortunate to have a highly engaged and energetic parent community who love to pitch in and support the school in any way possible!
As we arrive at a new campus, merging all of our students, staff and families, we have the opportunity to evaluate how best to organize ourselves and the support of our parent volunteers. A number of years ago, when IST was a bit smaller and younger, the Trailblazer Parent League was formed to help support a small team in organizing most of the school’s events. The TPL has grown in its scope and traditions in the years following, and many parents have invested countless hours in supporting its various activities. Likewise, the Class Parents have always been a genuinely invaluable resource that helped ensure that the day-to-day life of the school ran smoothly. Last year, both the Class Parents and the TPL were an enormous help to me as a new Head of School in organizing activities.
With this school year, we have the chance to find new synergies with the ways in which our volunteers support the school. We will continue to make an intentional push to celebrate as a unified school community. To that end, we have made the decision to organize our parent volunteer community in a slightly different manner. The TPL will go dormant in favor of a flattened, non-hierarchical structure that allows a wider participation from our parents. This decentralized structure will have clear direction and leadership from members of the school’s staff, guided by both myself and our new Director of Development and Community Engagement.
On this page , you will find a comprehensive list of all the ways in which we both invite and need support from our parent volunteers. Please take a moment to read through the whole list to see what might be your preferred way to support this year, including a few new events and positions. Once you are familiar with the new structure and opportunities, I invite you to complete the IST Volunteer Registration form online. Once we have collected responses, we will communicate final assignments and roles with as much consideration for preference as possible.
We contin e to be reliant on o r arent co nit to ake IST such a special place. While we all benefit from ost from having such a stellar and engaged orking with all of you in this new school year!
