Regents School of Austin
FALL UPDATE
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A Letter from the Head
Dear Regents Community,
It is a blessing to get into the rhythm of a new school year. Honestly, beginning a new school year for all of us is like getting into shape. I am reminded of an app called “Couch to 5K.” It is designed for someone to go from couch potato to running a 5K in a specific time period. Whether a teacher, parent, student, or administrator, a new school year is a bit of a shock to our systems and the pace of summer. There is a process to get from where we are in summer mode to the pace of a new school year.
I am so thankful for the team at Regents for working so hard to prepare us for a great year. I am grateful to our school community for the support you give.
It is always healthy to stop and reflect. In fact, it is biblical. We are called to rest and ponder. Regents is a special place made up of amazing people. This Fall Update is a chance for us to highlight some of the ways we are seeking to improve as a school. As we begin this 2023-24 school year, let’s be reminded that we are a sending institution. We are training this next generation to be sent out and our hope is they will be strong trees reflecting the language of Psalm 1:3, which states, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does he prospers.” What an amazing vision for our students! May our students begin the journey to be strong trees that bear spiritual fruit serving God and man.
Soli Deo Gloria, Dan Peterson, Ph.D. Head of School
CONTENTS 02 03 04 05 Enrollment Survey Results Christian Education Charitable Trust Grant Award Safety & Security The Regents Campus Momentum Capital Campaign Regents Communications Curriculum Review The Residency Program Learning Initiative Upcoming Events
Enrollment
I am pleased to share that our 2023-24 enrollment is 1,073 students, with the addition of 104 new students from 49 new families. New families, what a blessing you are to our community!
Many thanks to our amazing Admissions staff and volunteers who work tirelessly throughout the year, our host families, and all of our community for helping make our new families feel welcome on our campus.
2022-2023 Survey Results
We survey our community each spring to give us feedback on our school’s areas of strength and opportunities for growth. We read each response and are thankful for your insight as it helps us in our continual pursuit of excellence. Responses included:
Areas of Strength
• Excellent, caring faculty
• Strong faculty/staff/student discipleship
• Classical Christian education
• Christian worldview
• Community
• Beautiful campus
Areas of Opportunity
• Student and parent culture
• Campus safety and security
• Racial and economic diversity
• Accessibility to the board/administration
• Needed campus facilities
• Consolidation of communications, IT logins
Christian Education Charitable Trust Grant Award
Regents has been named as one of five schools in the United States to receive the Christian Education Charitable Trust grant awarded by the Maclellan Foundation and Colson Center. This grant will provide funding for advancing Christian worldview teaching and allow other schools nationally to come visit Regents to learn how we inculcate a Christian worldview. This award is a credit to our amazing teachers and coaches who continue to provide a classical and Christian education founded upon and informed by a Christian worldview.
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Safety and Security
Our Chief of Security Collin Fallon has already implemented many improvements in the areas of access control, armed security, threat assessment, and emergency response. Collin has hosted security briefings with students, faculty, and parents this semester. We look forward to welcoming an outside security firm this fall to provide security consulting services.
Anonymous Tip Line
Last month we introduced an anonymous reporting program, which will allow students and parents to make anonymous reports about concerns of safety or student wellness. This is part of our continuous effort to increase campus and student safety, and provide students and parents with a safe, completely anonymous outlet to share concerns. Once a tip is submitted, it will be sent to the Regents security team for further investigation. We encourage you to use the tip line if you see or hear anything suspicious on campus or online. To submit a tip, click here. Please only use this link for safety and security concerns.
Obeying Traffic Laws
When you are driving in the parking lot or on Travis Green, Travis Country Circle, or Republic of Texas, please monitor your speed and watch for pedestrians. Children are crossing these streets before and after school, and we want to keep everyone safe.
Updates to the Regents Campus
Over the summer, our facilities team was hard at work making updates to our campus to keep it as beautiful and functional as possible. Among many updates, the perimeter fence addition was completed, the parking lot was repaired, seal coated and re-striped, the final phase of the press box was completed including additional glass and new sound system, SOL received new heating and cooling systems, an additional classroom was created in SOR, the Grammar common areas were painted, and Grammar received new flooring. Thank you to our amazing facilities team led by Director of Facilities, Wade Pellerin!
Community Stewardship of Our Campus
We all love our Regents campus, and we need your help keeping our campus clean and beautiful! If you see trash, please place it in one of the many trash bins on campus. Sometimes we will need to close our fields for maintenance. If you see signs saying a field is closed, please abide by those signs and keep children (and animals) off the field.
Momentum Campaign Update
In the first six months of the Momentum capital campaign, families have committed 36% of our $50 million goal, representing over 100 (of 625) families. These commitments are acts of worship, expressions of gratitude, and investments in our future. This fall is a critical time for Momentum. Please consider how your family will participate in celebrating our foundation and serving our future. You can learn more about the Momentum campaign and give by clicking here.
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Streamlining Regents Communications
Communications from the school, especially at the beginning of the school year, can feel overwhelming! In order to streamline our communications, we are working to reduce the number of emails we send. All general school news and information on upcoming events will be in the Thursday weekly newsletter. You can also get information on social media, so be sure to follow Regents on Facebook and Instagram.
Curriculum Review
Director of Fine Arts Dane Bundy will lead the curriculum review on Fine Arts, and Head of Rhetoric Josh Simmons will lead the curriculum review on Theology this school year through our Regents Curriculum Review process. The process assesses current curriculum, researches potential curriculum, and implements new curriculum if needed.
Residency Program
This is an exciting year for the Residency at Regents. After putting the mission and vision in place last year, our current focus is making these ideas tangible through curriculum, marketing, and recruitment. In the next few months, we will be launching our website and promotional video to help cast the vision for this classical Christian teacher formation project. We are also currently working to host some smaller-scale events to help grow and encourage future and current teachers in the classical Christian space while introducing them to the good things God is doing on our campus. Please join us in praying for the forthcoming launch of this program and, specifically, for the right residents to join our community soon.
The Regents Learning Initiative
We are thrilled to welcome our new Learning Specialist Jane-Ann Myers. Jane-Ann is a longtime learning specialist, educator, and administrator. She specializes in language, specifically spoken language, reading comprehension, and written expression and is currently working to get her certification as a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT).
To help support families with children in the Learning Initiative program, LIFT is a parent-led community of Regents families who have children with diagnosed learning differences. LIFT’s mission is to share resources and foster parent-to-parent connections among families experiencing similar successes and challenges of raising children with learning differences.
LIFT will be hosting a meet and greet on Friday, October 13, at 8:30 a.m. in the Grammar Hall Conference Room as an opportunity to connect with other LIFT parents and meet Jane-Ann. Click here to connect!
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16 OCT
Upcoming Events
Dr. Daniel Eaton “The Value of Apologetics”
Join Dr. Eaton on 10/16, 10/23, and 11/6 from 9-10 a.m. in the Oak Room for a 3-part parent series on The Value of Apologetics. RSVP here
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27 OCT
Huddles with the Head and Board Chair
Join Head of School Dr. Dan Peterson and Regents Board Chair Kelly Benzon on Tuesday, October 17, at 8 a.m. in the Grammar Hall Oak Room for an informal gathering to hear their heart for the school and have a chance to ask questions. RSVP here.
Dr. Alyson Denson, “Our Kids and Social Media”
We are excited to welcome Dr. Alyson Denson to Regents to discuss specific dangers social media presents to teens, parenting tips to combat those, and specific technology help. Register now 04
NOV Regents Families Helping Families
NOV
Counselor and Author Dr. Ed Welch
Our Families Helping Families event is a biennial celebration for fellowship as well as fundraising with proceeds sustaining our school’s mission and supporting financial assistance for Regents families. Families Helping Families 2023 will be held at Star Hill Ranch on Saturday, November 4. Join us! 08
Anxiety is on the rise, especially among students. Regents is by no means immune to this trend. To help our community navigate this growing mental health crisis, we’ve invited Dr. Ed Welch to campus. Over the span of two days, Dr. Welch will walk alongside Regents parents, faculty, and students to show us how the gospel confronts our fears and counters them with a better hope in this Age of Anxiety.
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