Leadership and Honor Roll

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

December 2018

Dear ESD Family and Friends,

For the past several years, the Board of Directors and school leadership have focused on strategic planning and implementing a comprehensive campaign to address the School’s highest priorities and needs. We have one goal - to ensure ESD has the resources required to uniquely prepare our students by honoring our Founding Tenets and delivering on our Mission. 

In 2017-18, as a result of the incredible dedication and leadership of campaign co-chairs Nita Clark and Suzanne McGee and their team of volunteers and professionals, the generosity of the ESD community, and the innovative thinking of our teachers and design team, The Episcopal School of Dallas crossed a major milestone in its history. We broke ground on the new Lower School building nestled on the Merrell Road Campus – a space that will set the standard for early childhood and elementary education – and we leaped forward in fulfilling Father Swann’s vision to unite ESD as one campus, one community.

The momentous achievements of the last year are hardly limited to shovels in the ground. In truth, there are too many to list here. I offer these highlights, made possible by our extraordinary faculty, outstanding administrative leadership, and your gifts of time and treasure. At the heart of our work is an unwavering devotion to our Episcopal identity. Daily chapel, experiences in community, ethical decision making, and service to others imbue all aspects of school life.

  • ESD now leads Dallas-area schools in the number of demonstrative college-readiness courses (Advanced Placement and post-AP) offered onsite with 31 selections available. ESD requires students to complete the associated exams (more than 500 given at ESD in 2017-18); our pass rate remains significantly higher than the national average.
  • Lower and Middle School mean ERB test scores are trending upward, including substantial improvements in all Lower School categories: language arts, literacy, mathematics, science, and verbal and quantitative reasoning.
  • ESD supports its culture of lifelong learning by providing enviable levels of training and professional development for faculty and staff; our resource allocation is nearly $500,000 annually. More and more, ESD is called upon to present at local, regional, national, and international conferences and symposiums.
  • Our commitment to enrolling qualified and mission-appropriate students, regardless of family income, continues. We awarded over $3.6 million in tuition assistance grants to nearly 20 percent of our student body in 2017-18.
  • Alumni engagement is at an all-time high and growing at a rapid pace, as demonstrated by record-setting event attendance, increased volunteerism, multiplying networking opportunities, and philanthropic giving to the school totaling over $1 million in 2017-18.

This year, we also said thank you and farewell to our second head of school, Meredyth Cole, as she accepted the headship at the Lovett School in Atlanta. Thanks to the efforts of the head of school search team, with the support of your input and trusted advisory councils, we announced our third head of school, David L. Baad from the prestigious St. Albans School in Washington, DC, in February.   

Dave understands and values our mission of providing our children with a faith-based education that will prepare them for lives of intellectual discovery, integrity, and purpose. Already this year, he has established himself as an ethical and accessible leader. Students, faculty, and parents enjoy seeing him in classrooms, at student lunch tables, and in the audience. The Board and I are confident that Dave’s leadership will further elevate The Episcopal School of Dallas within the Dallas community and beyond.

The world needs leaders whose ideals and actions are grounded in intelligence, faith, and character. The world needs ESD graduates.  

Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for making this happen.


Donald J. Carty
Chair, ESD Board of Directors