September 2nd, 2012 

Hello Everyone,

 

In my first formal Director’s Dispatch for the Jag Journal, I would like to welcome all of our new students and faculty members to what I hope will be a stellar year in the history of the International School of Dakar. This is our 29^th year of Operation and I am very pleased to be here.

 

This is a great year of change for everyone at the school except for the new people.  We newcomers actually have it easy, as we didn’t know ISD in any other way except for the way it is today. 

 

Today we have a brand new Upper School building complete with Science Labs, Music Rooms, a dance studio, Language and Literature classrooms, offices, a Boardroom and many other terrific learning spaces.  Outside we have a beautiful Amphitheatre that will be used for assemblies and still in progress there is a double court space just waiting for basketball and volleyball season!

 

Our teachers have been magnificent in adapting to the changes and our students have said they love the new building.  And this is good, as in early August things were looking pretty grim to get things completed on time for a successful opening. There was a lot of mud, items had not been delivered, some things did not fit and once something was working, they sometimes stopped working for no apparent reason.  Through it all, or Operations Manager Mr. Ian Hogg has been absolutely tremendous in managing the details and the major upheavals.  Ian and his assistant Aboubacar Ndoye and their crew of maintenance staff are to be commended for all of their hard work and efforts in getting us through this time.  And it goes without saying that the recent rains have made things much more difficult as a crew is ready to work and then we get a thunderstorm!

 

I also thank the parents for their patience-especially with the 3 day delay in our opening-it definitely gave us some breathing space as all the staff came in the weekend before classes started to assemble furniture and place it in rooms.  We are still working on some last minute efforts and curtains are coming soon!

Our formal opening ceremony for the new building will be in December and at that time we anticipate that everything will be complete including the landscaping!

 

Lots of things are starting to happen and I urge you to keep reading your emails and referring to the Jag Journal as we continue to move through this period of change.

 

All the best,

Barb Gage

Director