August 5, 2010

Dear TCS Community,

Last year, when I joined other Touchstone community members at our first table at the Grafton Farmers’ Market, we didn’t see a lot of people.  But when I attended the market a few weeks ago, our area was teeming with parents.  What made the difference?  A tarp covered with large building blocks drew children to the space right next to the Touchstone table—and where the children led, the parents followed.  As we move into the final month of summer, we still need to recruit several more families for this fall.  With the support of the marketing task force, the board, and Jennifer Weeden—and with your help--we will carry out a series of key marketing-enrollment initiatives to attract and retain the students we have this year.  

 
Here are several of those initiatives:

• TCS volunteers are repainting the common room and related spaces over the next three weeks.  Contact Beckley Gaudette at beckley3@verizon.net to help.
• More volunteers are needed for playground repairs before our September 8 opening day.  Contact Lynn or Ron Lancaster at lancaster98@comcast.net to help.
• Glynis Bylin, our new director of auxiliary programs, is revamping our Extended Day Program, which will start up again on Tuesday, September 7.  See the related News Notes piece below and look for our EDP mailing.
• Mary Brochu, our new director of learning technologies, is spearheading a significant website renovation.  More news to follow in the fall.  
• We are expanding our contact with area nursery and daycare programs that might be feeder programs for us.  Please contact me if you know of a location we should visit.
• We are planning a series of curriculum presentations on a regularly scheduled basis throughout the year, for current as well as prospective parents; details will be announced shortly. 
• Glynis is planning our TCS summer program  for 2010-2011.  More news to follow in the fall and winter.

Prospective parents continue to tell us that the single most important factor in their pursuing and completing enrollment at Touchstone is positive word of month.  On Thursday, August 12, we will once again have a table (and blocks, of course) at the Grafton Farmers Market.  Contact Kibbe Brown (at 508-887-5944) if you can attend for an hour or more, to let other parents know about a school that provides children with building blocks for life--and helps them figure out their own assembly instructions.

Warmly,

Don Grace, Head of School