Dear Families:

It has been a while since the end of last year when we set a goal of 100% participation in the vision to build a new high school building on the property in the coming years.  The Board and I are very grateful to those of you who filled out a pledge card to see this vision become a reality for our school.  If you recall, we needed a high degree of parent participation because it was a clear indication of support for the project.  Without that indication of support, it would be difficult to secure other large donors without the confidence of our parent and faculty community. We didn't, however, reach our goal but came in around 60%.

Since that time, the Board has continued to move forward.  Parent, student, and faculty meetings were held with the Architect, and we now have a set of drawings that incorporates our needs, wants, and dreams.  Recently, the Board has engaged Waller & Associates from Vancouver to undertake a Feasibility Study to ascertain factual information regarding the strengths and weaknesses, and a case for support of the vision of building a high school building on the property.  The study will take approximately three months to complete before the report is sent to the Board.  The Board will use this study to determine whether there is enough support to proceed with a capital campaign to secure the finances needed to complete the project. The Feasibility Study will be managed by a Study Task Group involving parents, faculty, and Board members.  The Study Task Group is underway and working hard to ensure the success of the study.

Foundational to the process of the study, Waller & Associates will conduct confidential interviews from a sample of parents, faculty, Board members, church leaders and Christian stakeholders from our community.  These interviews will be held in two major sessions; February 25-26, and March 4-5.  The first round of mailouts was sent on Friday, February 14th and those first-round participants will receive a follow-up phone call from the school to book appointments with Rob Waller and his team later this week. The second round of mailouts will be sent before the end of this week.  These confidential interviews will occur off-site between the hours of 7:30 am to 8:30 pm at the Westerly Hotel.  Waller & Associates will NOT ask you to donate money for the Capital project but understand your views on the vision of the school and the possibility of the school undertaking a capital campaign.  Your input is essential to completing a successful study.  Each interview should last no more than 35-40 minutes.

The mail-out includes a letter of invitation and a Project Overview booklet.  I believe that everyone in our school community should have an opportunity to see the Project Overview booklet, regardless of whether you are in the interview sample.  I have attached the booklet for you to read at your convenience.

Psalm 90:17 has been a prayer on my lips for over a year now.  "May the favour of the Lord our God rest upon us- establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands".  The idea of building a Christian high-school in the Comox Valley is not new, but I am confident that the time is NOW.  Let's enlarge the possibilities for our leaders of tomorrow, together; all for the glory of God.

Faithfully yours, Bernadette Pitcher