Town Hall Meeting: September 13, 2017

List of 14 frequently asked questions.

• How many of your staff have turned over? What percent of the total staff is that? Was it part of the plan? What can we expect over the next 2.5 years?

  Over the past few years, we have experienced multiple retirements of long-standing staff who spent their careers at the school. Another area of change has been faculty who left for new opportunities (something to be expected during a leadership change, but of particular note is the number of current CIS heads of schools who are former Crescent faculty) and those who made the decision to move to the 905 area for family/financial reasons. The third area of change has been with people with whom we've made the very difficult decision to part ways after commiting time to their growth and improvement and ultimately determining that their careers are better spent elsewhere. Entering the 2017/2018 school year, we've had a very stable staffing situation and fully anticipate this to be the new normal.

• Last spring, it was acknowledged that there were morale issues among Upper School faculty. How are these issues being dealt with, and what progress has been made to re-engage the Upper School teachers and permit a culture of high performance?

  Any time there is change, people worry that change will continue and this was particularly acute among our Upper School teachers. We have worked hard to provide our faculty with the confidence and assuredness that we are entering a period of stability. We feel very confident that the morale of our faculty is very high and that the year has gotten off to an excellent start. We encourage our parents to have these conversations with their sons' teachers to affirm this sentiment.

• What is being done to better engage Upper School boys, and address last year's sentiment that Crescent "no longer felt like their school"? How are you planning to reconnect with students?

  We've actively engaged with the boys in groups, and with the outgoing/incoming prefect teams to understand what was on their minds, to address concerns they had and implement actionable practices and strategies to demonstrate that we're listening. The student voice is important and the way the boys experience the school matters. The following are a number of tactics that have been implemented this years: 1) to improve communication and two-way feedback, the US boys will be copied on all informational emails sent to parents; we have also created student forums where boys can provide feedback to the Upper School administration and where the administration can share news with the boys; 2) more opportunities for fun, e.g. a well-planned and executed Spirit Week, more enjoyable assembly time; 3) more social places for boys to kick back, e.g. new Grad Lounge in former classroom, opening the dining hall for Upper School students from 7:30 am through Period 1 and from Period 4 through end of day (special bonus - serving a healthy breakfast to the boys every Friday morning); 4) priority lunch program to reduce lunchtime lines; and many others.

• Please explain the difference between "skills based" vs "knowledge based" learning.

  Knowledge continues to grow at an exponential rate. Our boys will need to operate in a fast changing workplace where information is immediately available, continuously changing, and traditional divisions of knowledge are blurred or inextricably connected. They also need to deal with new and emerging moral and ethical issues within a complex, connected global community. Therefore Crescent needs to do much more than just impart increasing amounts of information (knowledge). Above and beyond the core knowledge requirements for our graduates and their success at university. The community has clearly identified that this school needs to embed skills into our academic program that enable them to apply this knowledge in order to develop into young men who are moral, self-aware, positive leaders, critical thinkers, adaptable and engaged citizens. These "Essential Qualities" of a Crescent Graduate are achieved through a curriculum that is engaging, relevant and interdisciplinary. A curriculum that goes beyond memorization of knowledge to one that enables them to develop the skills to apply knowledge in a wide variety of situations.
  Coincidentally, the Ontario Ministry of Education’s recent announcements on skills shows some alignment with our PoG “...improving student achievement in core skills such as math and increasing emphasis on transferable life skills that can help students of all ages meet the changing demands of today and tomorrow. Communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity and global citizenship are skills that will help Ontario students thrive as they grow up in a changing, interconnected world.”

• Is there a curriculum for Advisory to follow that supports Crescent's motto of "Men of Character from Boys of Promise"?

  We assume that by 'Advisory', you are referring to our Mentor program, and Yes, there is. Both the Middle School and the Upper School have a thematic calendar focusing on topics that align with our efforts to support the healthy development and character formation of our boys. Specific resources, discussion prompts, and activities are shared with the mentors and disseminated in group settings and during 1-on-1 meetings.

• How is the School prepping the Grade 9 boys for university? How do you encourage boys to aim/prep for academic excellence?

  Our boys begin working with a Guidance and University Counsellor in Grade 9 and part of the reason we hired a third Counsellor this year is to intentionally devote more time to our Grade 9 boys. The university conversations must begin in Grade 9 and this includes a conversation about academic effort, extra-curricular activities and community service. An important part of the Grade 9 counselling process is course selection. The role of the counsellor is to ensure that boys choose pathways that appeal to their interests and ambitions and do not close doors to university admissions down the road.

• Please outline the strategy that the school is implementing to develop relationships with universities to put our kids in a competitive advantage and create awareness for Crescent's program/students?

  To be effective, university counsellors must stay current with the trends and information from a vast array of universities. Crescent School has visits from over 120 universites each year. While we bring these schools in for student meetings, a side benefit is that our counsellors have the opportunity to meet privately and network with these admissions officers while finding out about changes to their program offerings and requirements. In addition, our counsellors tour universities in the province, throughout Canada and internationally in the US and the UK. They regularly participate in meetings with Ontario Universities and in national and international university conferences. This professional development ensures that our counsellors stay current on a number of topics including new programs, program changes, the type of students who excel in various programs, university applications, personal statements and essays.

• I do not think the school feeds my university ambition (mostly just Western and Queens) or counsel well. My experience from last year has been not as you described. How will this change?

  Opportunities for parents to meet with their son's Guidance and University Counsellor for individual course selection and university counselling sessions will begin in the spring of Grade 10 and occur again in the winter of Grade 11. Parent input helps to inform the guidance a boy receives from the school. In partnership with the parents and the student, counsellors support each boy to explore programs that match his strengths, interests and aspirations. Our focus is not on schools, but on finding a good program match.

• We hear rumours that the school is considering purchasing the Bob Rumball property. Is this true?

  As part of our strategic plan we are moving forward to complete a Master Facilities Plan which will provide us with a long term vision for the School. Land acquisition will be included as part of the discussions to develop this plan. The Bob Rumball property is currently not for sale, however, if this property becomes available it is anticipated that the Facilities Committee of the Board with management would investigate to determine alignment with the Master Facilities Plan as well as affordability.

• Is there a plan to engage at a more regular basis specialists such as Dr. Greg Wells?

  Last year, Dr. Wells provided our boys with education about their personal wellbeing. This year, the boys will plan and implement wellbeing initiatives that are important to them. Dr. Wells will still be available for consultation. In addition, the school is working with a team from Stanford University to identify systemic issues that need to be addressed to support the wellbeing of our boys.

• Can you discuss the School's marketing strategy to attract talented students and be perceived as the top independent boys' school and not the default for UCC or others?

  We employ several strategies to attract the absolute best boys to Crescent. Our greatest strength is our community and the power of word of mouth from current parents and students. In addition, we engage in a marketing campaign to reach out to families in the GTA who are seeking the best educational institutions for their children. We also have an active outreach program, where we partner with a number of organizations who have access to exceptional boys from across Toronto and all walks of life.
  Our enrolment process is exhaustive. We personally interview every prospective student and his family to find boys of promise and gauge the fit of the student's family within our community. This is in addition to reviewing student transcripts, SSAT results and a new online assessment tool called the Character Skills Snapshot, which measures a child’s character skill development and is meant to complement more traditional cognitive assessments.
  Last year we received over 500 applicants for 120 spots, a ratio that we believe is unmet among our peer schools and ensures that we are selecting from amongst the most talented boys in the city.

• Is Crescent inclusive? How do you know and how do you measure/validate?

  I'd like to think our boys are very inclusive. I hear this anecdotedly from the Heads of our peer schools (particularly the all-girls schools) and from visitors who come to our school -- our boys are the types of boys people want to be around. Do they struggle with accepting people who are different? Sure, they're kids and teenagers -- this is why schools exist. We are working with our boys to be fully accepting of others, whoever the 'other' is.
  Our world is becoming increasingly complex and diverse. What does it mean to build an inclusive school? There are many new legal responsibilities and Canada is thought of internationally as a fully accepting and embracing country and we have every reason to foster that acceptance here. There are bumps along the way but I'd like to think that our boys are very accepting.
  We know that the distribution of wealth across the city is changing rapidly and the school will become more diverse ethnically. We would like to also see more diversity from a socio-economic standpoint as well. How is this measured? We'll need to do more work on that. One of the things we do qualitatively is to get to know every one of our 120 new boys to see how they're fitting in to their new school. We also track attrition rates (the number of boys who leave the school), a measure which we rank extremely well against our peer schools.

• What is the School's strategy regarding athletics teams? Why not invest in good, professional coaches?

  Crescent Athletics commits to providing a broad range of opportunities for boys to explore character through action in a competitive environment and to develop a life-long passion for an active, healthy lifestyle as a man of character, demonstrated through respect, responsibility, honesty and compassion. All our teams are supported with excellence in coaching, resources and academic support to ensure all student athletes meet Crescent’s high academic standards.
  The core of school-based athletics at Crescent are the teacher-coaches and the relational learning that they bring to their players. School sport is not club sport and the teacher-coaches are able to continue their teaching and relational learning that is done in the classroom and in the halls every day. We look to hire teachers who bring coaching credentials in needed areas, and offer professional development to further train coaches. In many sports we provide support to our coaches each season with professional coaches who help at some practices throughout the season.

• Presently there are three different warm weather golf shirts and two cold weather wear. One of the golf shirts has an Under Armour logo. Why is the School advertising a company that features more prominently than the Crescent logo? And why so many options?

  You are correct, there is variety in what our Upper School boys are wearing right now. Uniform changes are currently proposed to Leadership by a student-led, teacher-oversighted Uniform Committee. Changes usually occur as a result of hearing the student voice. Overlap in pieces often occurs as we 'grandfather' older peices so families can get the best value from their uniform piece. This is the case right now with the introduction of the 1/4 zip into the Upper School, which can be worn over both the golf shirt or the white oxford on non-first dress days. The 1/4 zip was highly desired by the Upper School boys for both comfort and versatility. Being mindful of families that prefer or have purchased the cardigan in the last 2 years, we plan to 'grandfather' that piece until our current Upper School boys graduate. Next, we have heard varied feedback from parents on co-branded uniform pieces, as well as the green vs white polo. In response to that feedback, we will be working with the Uniform Committee, Den Manager and CPA Den Convener to review the Upper School polo piece.