I recently spent part of a morning touring Giddens School with Head of School Robert Kogane. Mr. Kogane and I first met last May at the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS) Heads' Conference. Giddens School is perhaps most well-known for being one of the most ethnically and economically diverse schools in the area. As Bright Water School sharpens its focus on creating a more diverse school community at the student, parent, faculty, and board level, our Social Inclusion Committee and I will be reaching out to other area independent schools to make connections and to learn about any diversity work they have or will engage in.
Mr. Kogane has an impressive work history in education in the Seattle area. He has set specific goals for students and faculty, and is emphatic about providing both teachers and students with the resources they need to succeed. While Giddens School's classrooms are quite different in a number of ways from Bright Water School's, both schools have students who are actively engaged with their teachers and the learning process.
During my time at Giddens, Mr. Kogane and I discussed academic goals and benchmarks, financial aid, and diversity. It was from this conversation with Mr. Kogane that I saw an opportunity to make improvements to our financial aid program in an attempt to support families entering the school at the preschool level. Up until last week, financial aid was only available to families in the kindergarten if the child would be of first grade age the following fall. There was no financial aid in the preschool. While this made sense for our school once, as we look at expanding our economic diversity, financial aid must be available at the preschool level. I'm excited about bringing financial aid to preschool families.
As we finished up our time together, Mr. Kogane extended an invitation to our faculty to visit Giddens anytime and see the classrooms in action. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Giddens School.
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