from Newcomer
I was at a social function in town maybe a month or so ago. I struck up a conversation with a very nice man who was seated next to me. I had never met him before that day but as our conversation continued, he told me that he was on the WA BOT (Board of Trustees). He was very enthusiastic about WA’s endowment fund. He said that a lot of work is now being put into building up the endowment so that the school will be able to fund the projects that are goals in it’s long-range plan. I was informed that Dr. Caron has particular knowledge in overseeing endowment building and that plans are in the works to seek corporate sponsors and public and private donations to build up the endowment.
I don’t feel comfortable disclosing this person’s name without his consent but I can tell you that he seemed absolutely sincere about what he told me. He didn’t come off at all as an unofficial PR person for the school.
Assuming his statements are true, and I have no reason to doubt him, it demonstrates to me that the powers that be at WA are cognizant of their impact on other areas of town, such as WPS and are trying to address it.
In October 2011, I wrote a negative review of Woodstock Academy’s website HERE comparing it to Pomfret School’s website and other school websites. Today I visited the WA website again and found it dramatically upgraded. Here it is. The old site was unnavigatable where as the new site is easily navigatable. There are now photographs of all of the faculty and administrators and contacting them is facilitated. The site is vastly improved but still weak on providing information. For example there are no Faculty Bios. There is no explanation of the rich history of the Academy which I have been reading about in “A Journey Through Woodstock , 1682-2011.” It seems like the Academy has much to talk about in fleshing out their website and this further improvement would be helpful in raising an endowment. All they need to do is to summarize their well-documented history using this carefully documented book which can be purchased at the Historical Society. John Leavitt
Once again our posts are disseminated state-wide by CT weblogs.
I have no doubt about sincerity or confidence, but where is the money?
The answer is that in the kind of sums needed the endowment is, unfortunately, just not going to happen and the town of Woodstock will one way or another foot the bill for sports stadiums or foreign student housing.
I hate to rain on the parade but it is naive to think otherwise.
To put Doubtful’s comment in other words…”Show me the money!!” Didn’t the long range plan expire after 5 years?
Doubtful,
I don’t think that it’s naive to keep an open mind and take a wait and see attitude. The person I was speaking with said he was very in favor of the science wing being built, among other projects. He said that the school is stepping up its efforts (my paraphrasing) to seek funding for the endowment to pursue projects such as that. Dr. Caron hasn’t been there very long so we have to give this a chance if we’re fair-minded. Also, I’ve not heard anyone before from the powers that be at WA voluntarily discuss the matter so openly and be so positive that funding efforts will be successful. This person sounded genuinely confident that the future looks bright for the endowment, given some time.
I left that conversation feeling like WA cares and they get it, but that big projects like funding an endowment don’t magically happen overnight.
Newcomer, I have no doubt as to the good intentions of the Trustee. But, without full and honest disclosure of the financials by the Academy, no one will really ever know what the endowment holds or what the school is spending town tax money on. I’ve always wondered why the school doesn’t disclose honestly — this is the single most important act that could restore faith in the leadership of the school. I think everyone wants the WA to thrive but all of us question, at what cost?
Newcomer-
Perhaps you are right that the academy trustees are sincere and “are cognizant of their impact…on WPS and trying to address it.
But unfortunately evidence would indicate you are, in fact, naive if you believe this. What would indicate anything has changed?
Also, this talk of significant endowment has gone on for years and WA has hired staff to pursue it. The results speak for themselves.
Institutions with a real endowment like to use 4-6% of it a year. Do the math. Where is WA going to get that kind of money from donations?
I have spoken to a couple of trustees and there seems to be a lack of communication between them and the administration. The trustees are letting the admin. run the show and don’t have a good form of communication since they claimed to know nothing about the issues we discussed. WA would be a great place with more local people running the show, better lines of communication, and maybe meetings between trustees, present employees and past also with no admin. present. The trustees appear to only know what the admin. wants them to know.