Page 3 - Priorities #8 1997-98 Annual Report

Cause to Celebrate!
Woodside Priory School ended its first 40 years with a flourish! Gift support increased 30 per cent over the previous year, which had increased 90 per cent over the year before that. This year we are again fully enrolled with a diverse, energetic, highly capable and delightful student body. About 20 percent of our students receive some scholarship support. We begin our fifth decade with a momentum and vitality that bodes well for the school’s future. The hard work of volunteers and the generosity of donors have given us these promising results, and we are grateful to them, one and all. Thank you very much. I hope you
will enjoy reading about the successes highlighted in this report.
Robert Ward, President Board of Trustees
Facilities: Eight new Chapel pews were finished over the summer with Father Martin’s personal touch. Other facilities improvements include a cottage-like student store on Red Square, several upgrades to sports facilities (including acoustics, refinishing the gym floor and the outdoor basketball courts). Dormitories have new closets and mattresses. The Assembly Hall has fans. Church Square is newly re-paved with attractive masonry. Signs and banners, roofing and road repairs, locks and lockers, paint and carpets and two additional vans were also added or improved.
Academics: Woodside Priory is in the second year of an effort to lift faculty salaries, benefits and professional development opportunities. The goal is to ensure that Woodside Priory will attract and retain top teaching talent. Parent and gift support in 1997-98 made a critical difference in faculty recruiting last spring. The abilities and academic credentials of new faculty are possibly the best ever. Professional development is essential to retaining top faculty and we are doing well; see our report on the next page.
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