August 11, 2010
Dear Students, Parents, Crew, Staff, Alumni, and Friends of Class Afloat,
I would like to take this opportunity to announce some important changes that are scheduled to take place at Class Afloat in the coming months. As you are aware, the past six months have presented us a new set of circumstances and, with them, new opportunities that have generated new plans for the school. Perhaps the most significant of those is the charter of a new vessel and, in that context, planning for delivery of another exciting and, we anticipate, very rewarding year at Class Afloat. In that context, I welcome Jason McNaught to the role of Shipboard Director, our new and returning Floaties and, of course, the crew and faculty who will lead the coming odyssey. We are poised to have a great year!
The changes that we have managed this year include the closing of our boarding and instructional facilities in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. We hope that, some day, we will be able to return to this formula and this community. It has been and will always be remembered as an integral part of Class Afloat history. With this change there are inevitable changes in personnel; without an operating school in Lunenburg we find ourselves obliged to re-define the employee team. In moving away from Lunenburg, we are saying good bye, this month, to Stacey Lohnes and to Bruce Middleton. Stacey has been a remarkable anchor for the school in Nova Scotia. She has been the voice that has taken your calls and the helpful person who has probably spoken with you more than anyone else within the organization. Bruce, our Director of Operations, will end his duties on August 20th and this will mark the end of a beneficial relationship that has included, among other things, shipboard leadership. I will miss his attentive address of matters on the business side, his wonderful sense of humour and the strong personal relationships he has built with staff, students and suppliers. This year, long standing employees of Class Afloat, Ryan Cleland and Andrea Cleland, will step back from teaching duties and community service projects. Ryan will complete his Masters degree while he and Andrea await the arrival of their first child. Ryan and Andrea have been pillars of both our shipboard and Lunenburg communities where they have been valued academic leaders and teachers. They will be greatly missed but we are hopeful that a return to Class Afloat is somewhere down the road. The last and most important of changes will involve a dear friend and long-standing colleague, Kate Knight. Kate has served Class Afloat as a teacher, a Director of Development, as a Shipboard Director and as Head of School. Kate's caring, enlightened and even handed approach to management and her energy are nothing short of remarkable. So demanding is she of herself and so embracing of the Class Afloat culture and mission, so loyal to her staff and the higher principles of school leadership that, she is, in my view, without peer in our history. You may or may not have known, but Kate is also pursuing a Masters degree and, along with Ryan and Andrea, will devote her time, incrementally, to the completion of her degree in 2010-11. As this schedule counts down, Kate will continue actively with Class Afloat in the capacity of Head of School until September 15th and, subsequently, will assist Class Afloat with recruiting and marketing initiatives until January when she will be taking four full-time courses. Ouch!
As a consequence of the closures in Lunenburg, we have re-located our offices to the Montreal area. Our new coordinates are as follows:
For regular mail only; no courier deliveries please
West Island College International Class Afloat
159 25E Ave.
P.O. Box 37586
St. Eustache, Quebec, Canada
J7P 5N2
For telephone and fax (effective August 20th)
In Canada and the U.S: 1-800-301-SAIL (7245)
Local and long distance telephone service outside of Canada and the U.S: 1-450-598-6367
Fax: 1-450-598-6371
For Courier Deliveries Only:
Class Afloat - Attention: Laura Franks
30 Chemin des Iles Yale
St. Eustache, Quebec, Canada
J7P 5M6
Web and email addresses will remain unchanged. Added to the list is:
ldavies@classafloat.com
To accommodate the changes involved in the move to Montreal, Laura Franks (Davies) will assume a number of operational duties, accounting service and will be the voice at this end of the phone. Laura, you should know, sailed with the first Class Afloat programme in 1985 as a Science teacher and has tolerated me as her partner and father of our two children since 1992. Her relationship and familiarity with Class Afloat is profound and she brings experience as a Head of School, Director of Development and Director of Admissions (for other private schools) to the position. I am often told how lucky I am to have Laura as a partner and a business associate. I know that I'm bound to hear that again! © As mentioned above, Kate will continue to work closely with us through January recruiting students for the 2011-12 programme.
That leaves me to assume many of Kate's duties as your new/old Head of School. I am looking forward to the responsibilities involved and to working with each of you to ensure that this year and the years beyond are truly the best that they can be. In addition to my Head of School duties, I will work actively this fall to explore the expressed interest in furthering the development of a national foundation, one that will rally parents and alumni to consider and to support endowments for deserving Class Afloat candidates and perhaps even the building of a new ship. I will also work with a number of partners in the private education sector whose longer term interests may include adopting Class Afloat and giving it, once again, a permanent boarding school home. All of this is exploratory and, for now, the immediate focus is on the coming year. Kate and I will travel to Bremerhaven on August 23rd and prepare for the arrival of our faculty. Their training will unfold during our onward voyage to Kristiansand where we will welcome our 10-11 Floaties aboard and begin training that will end prior to departure on September 12th. I look forward to Kristiansand and expect to meet many of you there.
Warm regards and fair winds,
Terry Davies
Founder & CEO