Letter from the Interim Head of School and Chair of the Board of Trustees

Dear ECFS community,

In the 2020–2021 academic year, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School community came together to reimagine the educational experience in a way that none of us could have ever envisioned.

Supporting our students, faculty, and staff throughout the past year during a pandemic was no easy feat. It was challenging, yet we persevered. The power of our community, the ability to face each new challenge head-on, and the dedication to our students enabled us to achieve our goal of operating ECFS as safely and effectively as possible.

Kyle Wilkie-Glass, Interim Head of School, and Kimberly Smith Spacek ’91, Chair of the Board of Trustees Health, education, and safety became part of our daily narrative. Almost every decision we made came with a new consideration: How do we educate our students while minimizing the risk to our community? It truly took a village to accomplish this feat. Internally, we assembled the COVID-19 Response Team to ensure that all rules and policies were implemented and that we communicated them clearly and transparently. Our Facilities Team worked around the clock to keep our buildings clean, our classrooms spaced accordingly, and our students supplied with masks and hand sanitizer. And, of course, our faculty worked tirelessly to adapt to a hyflex learning environment and to create a curriculum that kept our students engaged while leaning into our progressive pedagogy to teach our students in new and awe-inspiring ways.

We would not have had a successful year without our entire school community coming together. Thank you. Our community showed up as donors, volunteers, advocates, and partners. ECFS received $5,457,339 in donations this past year and broke previous records with the number of donors, gifts, and parent participation to the Orange Fund. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had a record number of people volunteering their time to support our students and the School. Every donation and volunteer commitment, regardless of size and time, made an impact on our community. Your dedication helped the School continue our long-standing mission: to empower lifelong learning so that our students can change our world for the better.

We are profoundly grateful for the trust that our community puts in our School and for the continued partnership as we thrive in a new academic year and plan for our exciting future.

With gratitude and deep appreciation,