President Report - Year in Review 22/23

Dear OTA Community -

As we close out the 22/23 school year, I wanted to reach out before we leave for the summer and share some parting words, some thoughts about next year and to say thank you.

At OTA, our mission is to foster a healthy, sustainable, and supportive school foundation, and we appreciate the continued engagement and support of our community.

As an organization, we often hear big ideas, complaints and stressors and requests to do more. We witness well-intentioned proposals for all kinds of solutions—robotics improvements, STEM upgrades, academic expansions, increased community events, additional supplies, forms, building improvements, etc. The list is endless.

The pull of constantly improving can be irresistible. Our kids are our most important resource and the one thing I hear above all else is that we all want what’s best for them.

As we focus on cultivating a thriving community, we must also shift our attention to the future. This year, we dedicated ourselves to listening, trusting, resetting, showing up, and focusing on our future selves. We listened to our teacher community and staff and are moving into next year with renewed partnership with the teaching community. We received critical support through a variety of grants, which enabled us to make much-needed bathroom and building improvements, expand our band library, provide additional classroom and community event support, among other things. We increased our engagement with the Old Town community, partnering with them on community planning groups, local food drives, and future community events. Expect to see more in the coming year.

As we look towards the future, we believe the work done this year has created a solid foundation moving into next year. Our team's dedication to improvement is unwavering and our communication channels are up and running. Our calendar and budget are ready to start the year to help our families in planning. Our programs aren’t all neat and tidy, yet. But our team is strong, our dedication to improvement is central to our community and we are all here to help and support each other and the OTA Community.

As 2022/23 comes to an end, we’re not only proud of our growth this year, we’re humbled by the commitment we have seen from the OTA families, and we thank you for your continued support.

See you all next year!

Claire Taulbee

Old Town Academy Parent Foundation