It has been an important month for the HSS community.  We’ve strengthened the dialogue among school stakeholders, asked the hard questions, reflected on challenges, and identified our greatest needs moving forward.

Deanna Cherry, a non-profit consultant out of Los Angeles, CA, joined us in Tanzania for one month with her daughter, Haley, and facilitated strategic planning meetings with our students, our teachers, and HOCET’s Board of Directors (check out Haley’s photos from their trip).

We received such thoughtful and compelling feedback from our students and teachers.   What’s working?  What’s not working?  How can we improve our campus, our programs, our school culture?  How can we better meet student needs, and provide more support for our staff?

We’ve been extremely impressed by the dedication of our staff and the openness of our students, their eagerness to engage, to lead, to share and help us explore solutions together.  We’re excited about the upcoming school year, and the opportunity to spend the next few months reflecting on student and staff feedback, and planning for the new programs and policies we’ve prioritized for the 2011 school year.  We want to thank Deanna Cherry for her generosity, courage, and personal and professional commitment to our work.  Deanna, thank you for supporting as we open our eyes and ears to each other.  We’ve loved your approach– fun-loving, energetic, honest, collaborative — and in Hezekia’s own words, “you are a part of the HOCET & Kujali family now.”

See you back here next summer?