This has been a very positive year for AASSA. For the sake of brevity, I will briefly highlight a few key accomplishments in our ongoing development:
School Membership increased by 10 schools this year for a total of 82 member schools, the largest number of member schools to date
Associate Membership increased to 73 organizations with 13 new members joining this year—an all-time high
We held successful and well-attended professional development conferences and institutes: Business Managers’ Institute, Governance Conference (the largest to date!), and the annual Educators’ Conference hosted by EARJ in Rio.
Fifteen institutes were financially sponsored by AASSA and the Office of Overseas Schools involving over 1,200 participants. Another 5 institutes were promoted by AASSA but not financially supported.
The Board’s investment policy has resulted in our exceeding our target reserve allocation
AASSA’s Purchasing Service worked with 22 schools and we have negotiated published discounts with a record 93 vendors (http://www.aassa.com/page.cfm?p=445)
We processed payroll for 12 schools this year, the largest number of schools to date
We partnered with ISS for Recruiting Fairs held in Atlanta and San Francisco which benefitted AASSA by increasing the number of candidates at our fair in addition to 7 ISS candidates being hired by AASSA schools
Offered pre-conference sessions and institutes for aspiring leaders and instructional coaches
Klingbrief has been distributed monthly to heads and principals so as to promote the latest educational research
AASSA’s Google groups were expanded by adding ELL Coordinators and Instructional Coaches
Child Protection efforts continued with the distribution of Task Force materials on the ICMEC Education Portal.
Upgraded all IT services and software programs in the AASSA office
The AASSA blog and social media sites logged continually increasing traffic as follows
4,047 tweets, 2089 twitter followers, AASSA is following 1,626
423 blog posts, 256 blog subscriptions
685 Facebook likes
I would like to thank and recognize the AASSA Board for their commitment to the organization and their unwavering support. I also want to thank Christy Brown and the Office of Overseas Schools. Without their assistance, we would not be able to accomplish all that we have.
Finally, I would like to thank the AASSA Staff for another great year: Arianna, Esther, Marie, Miriam, Paul, and Terri.
The following heads of school are leaving their positions this year, either for retirement or new challenges. We have a great group of school heads in AASSA, and on behalf of the region I wish you all the very best and thank you for your contributions.
Departing Heads Andrew Roberts, La Sierra International School, Colombia April Yetsko, International School of Monagas, Venezuela Barry Dequanne, American School of Brasilia Craig Selig, American Cooperative School, La Paz, Bolivia David Wells, Alliance Academy, Quito, Ecuador Debra Giles, American School of Asuncion, Paraguay Douglas Atkins, American School of Guatemala Eric Hamilton, Knightsbridge Schools International Bogota Jaime Urazan, GI School, Colombia Mary Ostrowski, Magen David Academy, Panama
New Heads, 2017-2018 Allan Bredy, American School of Brasilia Andrew Roberts, GI School, Colombia April Yetsko, Magen David Academy, Panama Carola Stead, La Sierra International School, Colombia Chris Russo, American School of Asuncion, Paraguay Hamilton Clark, Avenues, Sao Paulo, Brazil James Otis, American Cooperative School, La Paz, Bolivia Jim Cianca, Alliance Academy, Quito, Ecuador Marcelo Fernandes, International School of Monagas, Venezuela Nigel Winnard, American School of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Patricia Marshall, American School of Guatemala Robert Jones, Colegio Menor (Samborondon Campus), Guayaquil, Ecuador Wallace Ting, Knightsbridge Schools International Bogota