Greetings from the Head of School

Dear Families and Friends of St. James Episcopal School,

The last year has been a busy one at St. James School! As many of you know, we are an accredited school through the Southwestern Association of Independent Schools (aka SAES). The 2010-2011 school year was our turn to have our ten year re-accreditation visit by a team representing SAES. Needless to say, this was a HUGE deal for the school and we spent a great deal of the year preparing for the visit in November. We had four wonderful school  professionals from Dallas, Houston, Baton Rouge, and Brownsville (including the SAES Director of School Improvement and Accreditation) as our team for our visit. They were given the task  of looking at all the major areas that SAES deems the most important parts of a quality Episcopal School: Episcopal Identity, Mission, Parents and Students, Professional Staff, Administration, Program, Culture and      Climate, Governance, Facilities and Safety, and Finance. As a member of the SAES Board of Directors and a member of the SAES Standards  Committee, the pressure was on for me to show our school as a shining star in south Texas!

Our visit went very smoothly thanks to the help of many people from the school, Vestry, and parish! We received quite a few commendations,   especially in the areas of our curriculum and Episcopal Identity. We also received suggestions for improving our school to help make it the best it can be for our students. The Standards Committee will meet in March and the SAES Board will meet in April. At that time, we will learn the length of our accreditation status (one, three, or five years).

This process was a difficult and very time consuming process, but it has given us the opportunity to get to know our school in depth, and give us guidance for strategic planning for our future. Our school is a fantastic place to grow and learn, not only for the students, but for the adults     involved in the school as well! Come and see what we do at St. James School!

God Bless,

Sarah Maxwell, Head of School