October 27, 2021
Dear Vacaville Christian Community –
Thank you to all who joined our Board of Directors and I for last night’s on-campus event, Christian – Faith, Family, Foundations (State of the School). In case you missed it, you can listen to the entire event in podcast form (with helpful chapter/table of content breaks). You can also view my entire slide presentation.
During the event, we shared many important updates and future plans for VCS. Below are some examples of items we shared:
- All parents should care deeply about two questions: 1) What outcomes are we seeking to form for our VCS students, and how are we going to do it?
- Christian – Faith, Family, Foundations – there are very important ends our school is striving toward regarding spiritual development (faith), relationships (family), and academics/fine arts/athletics (foundations). You can find those inspiring ends in my slide presentation.
- We will be taking active steps to grow and improve in each of those key areas:
- Spiritual Development – 1) Bible academic scope and sequence, 2) faith related service requirements (to include missions), 3) connecting families /partnership with local churches, 4) a deliberate focus on chapel/retreat, 5) gospel exposure as well as meaningful discipleship opportunities.
- Athletics – 1) maintain positive momentum, 2) improve retention of coaches, 3) develop/improve pipeline to college athletics.
- Fine Arts – 1) beautiful, yet challenging, integrated performances, 2) tiered curriculum, including hymns and sacred music, 3) consistent and fundamental music instruction, K-12.
- Academics – 1) cohesive faculty mentorship/professional development around purposefully selected instructional practices, 2) development, training, and empowerment of VCS Distributed Instructional Leadership Team (DILT), 3) curriculum review and revision.
- Staffing – 1) compensation (we’ve implemented the 3rd straight year of compensation increases, including bringing back a retirement match for staff), 2) meaningful professional development, 3) high levels of support from both school administrators and parents, and 4) creating opportunities for missionally aligned collaboration and connectedness with colleagues.
- We provided updates in enrollment (which has grown 25% to 909 students) and finances (which are healthy for our school, with more than 2 months of cash reserves). With regard to safety/vaccines, our VCS Board of Directors has shared the following statement, “VCS continues to support parent choice, will monitor the regulations as they develop, and is considering every alternative.”
- Book Study –
- Do you wonder how to best manage technology with your children? Do you worry about how too much screen time and tech access might be affecting your child(ren)?
- I am personally leading a school-wide book study on “The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place.”
- Pick up the book and look for more information in our newsletters!
Thank you for your commitment to VCS! I pray you are inspired with our direction, and I look forward to all that God has in store for your child(ren).
Ben Davis
Head of Schools
Ben Davis, MAEd
Head of School
Vacaville Christian Schools
