From the School Board
Growth at the Singapore American School SAS School Board: left to right, Marybeth Shay, Bon Soon Koo, Chairman Garth Sheldon, Sheila Wang, Maya Roll. Back, Carl Stocking, Bart Broadman, Devin Kimble, Bob Comstock, Joseph Anderson, Kirk Hulse. Not shown, Tom Linton.
Dear Parents, Faculty, Staff and Alumni, We began the fall 2007 semester, our 52nd year of operation, with 3,824 students from more than 50 countries, 345 professional staff and a waitlist of 550. SAS is the largest single-campus international school in the world, and the facility we occupy represents an existing economic commitment to our community and to Singapore in excess of $270 million. We are proud of our school, our teachers and administrators, our students and the academic, community service, sports and cultural endeavors they undertake with distinction. We are grateful to our community, which supports everything we do with time, money and enthusiasm. Given the accomplishments of our students, teachers, administrators and community, the educational program we deliver and the facility we have, it is not surprising that the number of people who wish to send their children to SAS is growing. Balancing the need to accommodate this growth in demand with our commitment to the continuous improvement of what we do remains the principal focus for the Board of Governors. SAS remains committed to growth on terms that meet the operational and fiduciary imperatives of The American School Trust Limited, the registered not-for-profit entity under which the school operates. These imperatives include upholding the standard of educational programs and facilities and maintaining the sound financial foundation of the school. At each stage in the past growth of the school, the trust has found the required financial resources through maximizing its existing assets and through student facility fees. In the case of our biggest expansion to date, the 1996 move to the Woodlands campus, we were able to utilize the substantial asset of the King’s Road land (our previous high school campus). The King’s Road campus
was donated to the trust many years ago through the generous contribution of Citibank. This asset provided the seed money to finance the development of the present campus. No such ready asset is now available to the trust to provide the initial capital while protecting fully the existing school. In developing a realistic strategy for funding the expansion of the school, SAS will examine its current method of funding the school facility and look for new sources of funding in order to balance the demands of debt repayment with the limits on school fee levels. It is likely that we will be looking to the corporations, institutions and philanthropic individuals within the community we serve to follow the historical lead of Citibank and others who have contributed to SAS over the years. The urgency felt by the Singapore government to provide additional space for foreign education is matched by the parents who wait for space to open up in their school of choice. At SAS we are honored to be that school of choice for a majority of Americans living or intending to live in Singapore, as well as for the parents of the 50 other nationalities represented at our school. We are working to find a way to continue our time-honored commitment to expanding to meet the needs of our community and expect to do so in partnership with the government and the constituencies we serve. We invite comments from you at any stage in this process and intend to keep you fully informed with ample opportunity to engage in discussions with us as we move forward. Garth Sheldon, Chairman, SAS Board of Governors 6
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11/19/07, 4:24 PM