Campus Voices
All School
What a delight it was to see so many in our community at our recent event to celebrate the tradition of teaching excellence at BB&N. When we gather at such events, there is a genuine level of excitement at the opportunity to visit with friends across our three campuses and to appreciate what a special school community we have here. The mere fact that so many parents, former parents, and alumni/ae gathered to honor both current and past faculty is an indication of the admiration these constituents share for the BB&N faculty. For those who were not able to attend, you might want to CLICK HERE to view the short video showing highlights from the celebration. What an extraordinary night it was for BB&N!
As John Simon ’80, one of our Rhodes Scholar speakers stated, “Great teachers at BB&N provide much more than instruction or lesson plans or curricula…they offer students much more. They create and provide our children with ‘worlds of difference.’” Indeed, they do. For generations of alumni/ae and parents, the BB&N experience has been about the life-changing connections with superbly talented teachers.
As we look to the future, attracting and retaining the quality of faculty who have earned the school its reputation for academic excellence will require sustained, systematic efforts as well as a significant commitment of financial resources. We have spent the better part of this school year communicating with all our constituents about the effects of the looming national teacher shortage across the country. BB&N will see the same sobering statistics and will face the pressure to identify and hire new faculty who are superbly trained, endlessly curious, in love with their subject, and devoted to the age group they teach. Accordingly, we are focusing on a program that will enable us to be financially competitive with other area schools, public and private, in the recruitment process.
We have made steady progress in recent years thanks to the generosity of those in the BB&N family through the Annual Fund and the Opening Minds Campaign. However, our modest endowment and dependence on tuition have prevented us from approaching the levels of compensation we would like to offer. The astronomical cost of housing in and around Cambridge only exacerbates the challenge. Our current Faculty Challenge Initiative seeks to raise $12 million in endowed funds to provide more competitive compensation levels, to increase the budget and opportunities for faculty professional development, and to provide a flexible range of benefits to improve the quality of life for faculty members at various stages of life. Our faculty deserves these enhancements in their overall compensation program. A successful Challenge Initiative will greatly assist us achieving these goals.
Thanks to all who have already made a generous commitment to this important endeavor (there is need for more) and for your willingness to help sustain the reputation for academic excellence for which BB&N is known.
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