Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/246730
Background: Students celebrate at the middle school's grand opening. "We were learning at the tail end of the economic recession that some Latin parents had lost their jobs or found themselves, for other reasons, in financial difficulty," Charlie Gofen '83, former chairman of the board of trustees, said recently. "Latin has a large, $3 million financial aid budget, but we didn't easily have a way to handle 20 to 30 additional families who had previously been paying full tuition and now no longer had the ability to do so. So a set of parents responded by designing a plan to help these families stay at the school – a plan that included contributing a large sum to the school and also spearheading a quick, targeted campaign to raise additional money from fellow parents who had the capacity to help out. This was the Latin community at its best, compassionate and generous, and the story captures the essence of our school, because acts of kindness happen here all the time." Financial challenges also did not get in the way of Latin's commitment to moving forward. Under the leadership of board member Mark Hoplamazian, Latin had once again gone through a major community-wide strategic planning process. The resulting 2007 Long Range Plan provided a detailed blueprint for enhancing the school's program and ensuring continued excellence and relevance in the world of the 21st century. With this plan, Latin streamlined and updated its 1994 mission statement, adding the goal of being innovative as a school. Over the next five years, Latin overhauled its language program and faculty evaluation process, rewrote the upper school science curriculum to establish a 'physics first' program, created a fifth grade middle school program and embarked on curriculum mapping. Latin also took steps to improve the student experience through more student-centered initiatives, enhancing counseling, learning resources and character and leadership development initiatives at all levels. Simultaneously, faculty participated in professional development focused on 21st century teaching and embraced educational approaches like project-based learning in all three divisions. In January 2010, Firke announced his plans to resign as head of school. At the time, the nation was still recovering from the economic downturn, Latin however, was looking toward the future from a position of strength. Shelley Greenwood, who agreed to serve as interim head for a second time, helped to lay the groundwork as the school was embarking on a new and exciting chapter in its history. Middle School Director Deb Sampey welcomes students into the new middle school at its grand opening. Faculty and staff pose in front of the new middle school. LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 119