State of the School

Let’s talk a bit about the Board and school governance. 

Town’s Board is composed of 24 trustees, representing current parents, parents of graduates, Town alumni/ae, Town faculty, and other independent school educators. Let’s pause for a moment to thank those Board members in the room today.

The Board brings considerable combined expertise in law, non-profit leadership; strategic planning; communications; education; diversity, equity, and inclusion work; finance; real estate; and fundraising. The group is deeply invested in the important role of the Board. It is a highly engaged and well functioning Board. And it serves as a fierce advocate for Town.

Town’s exceptional educational experience—day in and day out—depends on the strong partnership of Doug, the school’s leadership team, each and every faculty member, each and every staff member, and all of you. And ensuring that the Town experience remains exceptional into the future requires strong Board governance, and thoughtful and strategic stewardship.

That stewardship of Town is a partnership between Doug and the Board. Doug’s role is one of leadership and management. The Board’s role is one of governance and oversight. As trustees, we consider and discuss the issues facing the school. We serve as thought partners in support of Doug.  We act as a “review and challenge” body for Doug. We set the budget and provide oversight on the school’s finances.  And we engage in long-term strategic and planning.

All of our work is grounded in a few key priorities:

• the fiscal health of the school—both short- and long-term;
• accountability to the school’s mission and making sure the school delivers on its strategic goals;
• the continued health and sustainability of the school into the future; and
• day-to-day support for Doug.

The Town School hit the jackpot when Doug joined us as Head of School in 2018. There’s truly nobody better for this role. Doug’s passion and dedication to this school are contagious. He has a crystal-clear vision for where Town is headed and works tirelessly to get us there. Everything he does is rooted in the school’s mission and strategic plan, always keeping our children front and center.

And I will now turn things over to Doug.

Thank you, Paula. Good morning, everyone. It remains such a privilege to be leading Town in my eighth year. As Paula said, I will discuss: the ways that Town is thriving and how we will continue to do so. I’ll also emphasize the ongoing importance of our parent partnership and note upcoming academic initiatives. And finally, we’ll celebrate the ultimate impact of it all: how Town graduates are excelling in high school and beyond. 

Let’s begin with our academic program. Across the years, I’ve shared with you our commitment to make our great school even better. And we continue to do so, in big ways:

For some context: Six years ago I previewed with you our 2020-2025 Long Range Strategic Plan, focused on Teaching and Learning Excellence; Community Connections, and Sustaining our School. And since then we have implemented the strategic framework. Here are  some examples:

We began designing new learning spaces: Think about the success of our Ecology Lab: hands-on Science content and skills, all grounded in our new, N-8 ecology curriculum.

For Academic Technology, we integrated coding and tech problem-solving across the program; designed a 3rd-8th grade Online Research Scope & Sequence; and launched an AI task force.

 This year, we conducted a diagnostic review of our N-8 writing curriculum.

We strengthened our Lower School Farm trips and Upper School Fall trips, with reimagined site visits and programming.

We created curriculum-based, city-wide partnerships: The New York Historical Society, Alvin Ailey, The Met.

We doubled our Postscript offerings, responding to your requests for specific classes.

We launched our award-winning Lego Robotics Teams, doubling the number of participants, competing and winning locally and nationally.

We regularly commit to our values of Self, Others & Surroundings, across the program. We expanded related Community Action initiatives.

And we regularly affirm what an inclusive school community should be, where all experience a place of belonging. We celebrate students’ identities and cultivate their empathy, creating cohesive communities—in classrooms, in divisions and school-wide.

Town’s values also drove the design of our 7th and 8th grade Civic Engagement Program, currently focused on food insecurity, and culminating in our 8th grade trip to Maine and Acadia National Park.

Knowing that Health & Wellness is central to students’ lives, two years ago we launched a partnership with the Institute for Social and Emotional Learning, creating new student-wellness curricula across the program. 

And alongside what I shared a minute ago—our increased emphasis on what is educationally excellent around technology—we are also responding to current research on tech’s health challenges for young people. 

With an eye on physical safety for all: We regularly strengthen school security with refined protocols, even better drills (record times in fire and lockdown drills), and improved crisis management planning. 

And as I’ll soon discuss in detail, beyond our long-range planning, we regularly refine all aspects of our program. So, the big message: we are always reinvesting in Town and your children.

Let me now pause to acknowledge something very important: These updates exemplify how Town continues to be the best Town, being true to our mission and values, committing to your children’s academic and socio-emotional success. And these exciting, programmatic initiatives exist alongside what is most essential: Continuing to ensure that we have superb teaching to deliver our program.

Each year, we enhance our hiring practices, striving to appoint the most qualified teachers. And so that Town faculty always remain at the top of their teaching game, we’ve strengthened our expectations around faculty support and accountability:

Hiring protocols; goal setting, evaluation and professional growth; and performance improvement plans when needed. We work as hard as you should expect for sustained teaching excellence; and we respond as you would hope in rare instances of teaching underperformance. 

And to affirm and support Town’s superb teaching, we remain committed to preserving competitive compensation: hiring, inspiring, and retaining the best. Let’s now acknowledge the significant impact of our sustained focus on academic excellence:

Our enrollment and applications remain strong, and our student retention is high, well above the rate for peer schools. 

At the other end, High School Placement remains superb. Our fundraising (annual giving and capital projects) remains very successful, demonstrating your gratitude, belief, and commitment to Town. Thank you. We know what Town means to you, as we educate and care for your children.  

So, we know that you have understandably looked to Town in other, important ways. Here are some of our responses: We have fundraised to increase financial aid, notably more than our peers. This effort is central to who we are.

We have looked to make Town more accessible to all families: We added complementary bus lines and breakfast; we no longer charge for Club House; and we added complementary lunches for Kindergarten and Nursery 4. We want Town to be a place for your children, 7:30 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.

Also with an eye on our parent partnership: We have increased our Curricular coffees, wanting Town to serve as a parent learning community.  

Let’s celebrate the smaller communities within our big school community: PA volunteer groups, grade-level parent outings, TownFest, talent shows and assemblies.

We have expanded and refined related communications: curricular updates, “ask me abouts” for our younger students, and student-led teacher conferences. Let me pause for a moment. This slide captures all that I’ve highlighted: How we are continuing to make our great school even better! We remain committed to such excellence, all while managing tuition increases.

One of Town’s hallmarks is our ongoing commitment to always being better. Town faculty are reflective practitioners and lifelong learners, modeling these habits for our students. We are moving forward collectively in important ways: 

In anticipation of our March 2027, ten-year accreditation, we are engaging in a school-wide Self-Study, reflecting on recommendations from our last accreditation, our own goals, and all of our accomplishments.  

Here’s an update on a new accountability initiative that I first discussed in the Fall: Curriculum Review. Curriculum Review at Town involves inviting outside educators to review our program, partnering with us on ways to make it even stronger. In October, we launched the process, with a focus on our Math program. We were visited by a team of four math educators from peer independent schools. The team was overseen by Trinity’s Math department chair and included math educators and leaders from Allen Stevenson, Chapin, and Riverdale. We compiled a series of questions for the team. The team then wrote a report, exploring curriculum, differentiation and enrichment; and we then designed a Math planning timeline, to build on the team’s recommendations. We will continue Curriculum Review over the next two years, focusing on our other core disciplines. And we will include highlights from the visiting math team’s report in the emailed summary of these remarks.

Another new initiative: I see here some Upper School parents who’ve been in the balcony during this season’s exciting basketball games. Such competition! What a fan base! Building on this success, we recently designed a Strategic Plan for Town’s Athletics program, focusing on everything from coaching excellence; school spirit; early student-athlete pipeline development, and more.

For our building spaces, we know that scholarship increasingly requires critical discernment among information sources: What is an excellent research source? What is not? How do we know? We will therefore enhance our beloved library and adjacent Tech Center, creating shared spaces in each, focused on media literacy and research, along with new spaces for video recording and podcast projects, greater space for our award-winning robotics teams, and more.  

We also look to redesign our 5th/6th grade wing, mirroring the excellent design of our 7th/8th grade wing.

And, after we review our 2027 ten-year accreditation report, we will begin our next cycle of five-year strategic, long range planning, always striving for our best. We remain so proud of what we are accomplishing and what’s to come—all for the benefit of Town students. And we remain so proud of the long-lasting impact: the ongoing success of Town alumni/ae. 

Town is where our students become who they subsequently are. And our alumni/ae’s accomplishments repeatedly show that they draw from their Town experiences as they continue to become their best selves, using their knowledge and skills for the greater good.  

Here’s where Town graduates are currently thriving in high school and college: 

Parents, let me share three observations on these lists: 

First, let’s acknowledge why they are so compelling: such highly competitive schools; strong, smaller liberal arts colleges; tech and art schools, all reflecting the superb scholarship and range of interests that define the Town student body. 

Second, let’s celebrate how such results continue to reflect so well on Town’s superb program and deepen our excellent reputation. 

And third, let’s note how our excellent high-school placement connects to our strong placement process, including the Decisions class for 8th graders and our successful test-prep course—all culminating in an increased number of school choices, and Town graduates thriving at these great schools. 

Now, all that I am sharing with you results from the wisdom, steadiness and efforts of Town’s leadership and staff, providing the foundation for what’s most important: Town teachers doing their great work, with as much dedication, care and accomplishment as ever.

And parents, thank you for your partnership in your children’s education and for your commitment to Town more broadly. Your partnership and our community are central to our success and to that of Town students, as they continue to become wise, curious, confident and ethical young people. Thank you.

Central to Town’s sustained success is our school’s fiscal stewardship. For a discussion on Town’s finances, I’ll now turn things over to our Board co-Chair, Jamie Odell.

Thank you, Doug. 

Good morning, everyone. My name is Jamie Odell, and I am honored to serve alongside Paula as Co-Chair of Town’s Board of Trustees. My wife, Lauren and I have been part of this community for ten years now. Our daughter Harper is in seventh grade, and our son Brooks is in fifth. Like so many of you, we’ve experienced firsthand how Town shapes not only our children—but our family’s daily life, our sense of community, and our confidence that our kids are in a place that knows them, cares for them, and challenges them.

I want to speak for a few minutes this morning about tuition, the value of a Town education, and the financial health of the school—topics that matter deeply to every parent in this room. So let me begin with the headline. Later today, you’ll receive enrollment contracts for the upcoming school year. These will reflect a three percent increase in tuition. We know that number matters. We know it represents sacrifice, prioritization, and investment. And because of that, we take tuition decisions extremely seriously. So I want to walk you through—clearly and transparently—how tuition is set.

At a very basic level, Town’s finances are actually very simple: Most of our revenue comes from tuition and most of our expenses go to teachers and staff. That is by design. The core of a Town education is people—the adults who show up for your children every day with energy, expertise, compassion, and professionalism. So when we build the budget, we start with a simple question: “What do our children need to thrive?”—not “What did we spend last year?”

The Board’s Finance Committee, in collaboration with Doug, our Director of Finance and the administrative team, go through every line with intention. Only once we understand what is required to deliver on Town’s mission do we set tuition.

One of Town’s greatest advantages is its financial strength. We have no debt. We fully own our building. And we have a $65 million endowment, carefully stewarded over many decades. This matters. It allows us to make decisions from a place of strength rather than pressure.

Let’s talk about costs. This slide summarizes Town’s operating expenses. As you can see, the majority of Town’s budget is allocated to salaries and benefits for faculty and staff. That is intentional. The quality of the professionals in this building shapes the quality of your child’s experience—academically, socially, and emotionally.

The remaining expenses support:

• Programmatic needs and professional development
• Technology and facilities
• Food service
• And Town’s security and safety infrastructure

These are not extras—they are the scaffolding that allows great teaching to happen.

Now let’s talk about revenue. The strength of Town’s enrollment and the consistent efforts to control costs has allowed us to:

• Maintain a balanced budget
• Fund innovative programmatic initiatives
• Modernize Town’s facilities
• And expand financial aid

All this while keeping tuition growth modest relative to peers. 

Indeed, here’s how Town’s tuition compares to other schools in the current year. As you can see, we are considerably less expensive than most of our peers, and in a landscape where many independent schools are struggling or closing, Town is strong. That is not accidental. It is the result of disciplined management, strategic investment, and a community that shows up.

Let me take a moment to talk about Town’s endowment—because it has a very real impact on your family’s experience here. Think of the endowment as the school’s long-term safety net. It provides stability—not just in good years, but especially in uncertain ones. Town’s reserves exceed recommended standards for independent schools, which call for maintaining capital at roughly twice the size of the annual operating budget. That puts Town on very solid footing.

Each year, we draw about 4.75% from the endowment to support the operating budget—a level that aligns with nonprofit best practices and balances present needs with future sustainability. As importantly, the endowment allows Town to offer a financial aid budget that is roughly $3,000 higher per student than our peer schools. We are able to strengthen our community without pushing tuition even higher.

In short, the endowment helps keep Town both excellent and accessible, enabling long-term planning, thoughtful investment, and resilience in a changing educational landscape.

I often think about tuition through a simple lens: You’re not just paying for an education—you’re investing in a childhood. A childhood shaped by teachers who know your child deeply. A community that feels like an extension of family. And a culture that prioritizes care, character, and curiosity.

Lauren and I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of this community and I am continually reminded of just how much Town shapes our children. One of the things that surprises me most as a parent is how often Town shows up in our house—at the dinner table, in the car, and in casual conversations. Whether it’s a question about fairness, a debate about a book, or a reflection on something that didn’t go quite right that day, I hear the language of Town coming through. That’s when I’m reminded that we’re not just choosing a school—we’re choosing an environment that shapes how our children think about the world and their place in it.

Thank you again for your trust, partnership, and support. And now, I’ll turn it back over to Doug.

Thank you, Jamie. And thank you, Jamie and Paula, for all of your leadership. And parents, thank you. Thank you for your belief in us, for being our supporters, our champions.  We will always hold those commitments dear.

We typically invite Q&A at parent gatherings. But this morning many of your children are waiting for you in the classrooms! So, reach out with any questions, and I also look forward to engaging your questions at our February 3rd in-person PA meeting and at my early-March roundtable on zoom. 

Thank you and have a good morning!