Transition

50th Anniversary— the Quinquagenary!

The year 2012 saw the re-election of President Obama, the retirement of space shuttle Endeavor, and the deadly mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

In February 2012 French American + International unleashed a series of 50th Anniversary celebrations that culminated in a spectacular event, featuring celebrity cameos and not-a-dry-eye-inthe-house student musical performances at San Francisco's historic Castro Theatre.

98 Franklin purchase

Middle school student quality of life was about to be improved on the 4th floor. School architects had been busy throughout the summer. When the unsuspecting students returned in the fall they discovered a new lightfilled environment with multiple spaces for socializing and hanging out. There were “lots of ahhhs! and wows!”

Behind the scenes, the Board Finance Committee – led by Adam Cioth, CFO Aaron Levine, and Board Chair Tex Schenkkan–was making decisions that would further shore up the school’s fiscal sustainability. They had already built reserves, finally established a robust endowment, and refinanced bond debt. Single paragraph audit management letters were now a pleasurable, reassuring read.

During the post-2008 era the Board had prioritized buying selected properties in the immediate vicinity of the 150 Oak Street campus when they emerged on the marketplace. Although a fixed rather than a liquid asset, San Francisco real estate was the safest, high-yielding investment. Properties could be sold at a later date or re- tained to provide a blank canvas for future campus enhancements.

A key purchase for the school was 98 Franklin–the surface parking lot across the street from the main campus and directly opposite the new Conservatory of Music. The investment was astute at the time, but even the key decision makers could not have imagined what would serendipitously unfold. The 98 Franklin property was destined to become a gamechanger for the school.

Jane Camblin to UNIS

Leadership transitions were afoot. In 2012, long-serving Head of School Jane Camblin announced that she had accepted the position of Executive Director of the United Nations International School in New York City. Jane had been at French American + International for thirty years, first as a Principal and then for eighteen years as Head. Board chair Tex Schenkkan expressed his sadness for her departure and declared, “Personally, I will deeply miss her indefatigable energy and wry humor. But at the same time there is cause for celebration on her behalf as she moves on to a great new adventure and takes the Big Apple by storm.”

Interregnum

Ellen Deitsch Stern served as interim Head for one year. She guided the school through an extraordinary transi- tion. After 18 years, Jane Camblin had departed. There was no looking back, and more radical change was afoot. The search for a new Head of School was underway. An ambitious triple CIS/WASC/CAIS accreditation had been unleashed. STEAM and SEL innovations continued relentlessly. Under the Board’s auspices, the endgame for a charismatic new Early Learning Center was being managed.

New Head of School, Melinda Bihn

In July 2014, the school welcomed the new Head of School, Dr. Melinda Bihn. Melinda joined the school from Garrison Forest School in Baltimore, where she was Head of Upper School. She had a B.A. in English with a minor in French, a Master’s in Comparative Literature, a Master’s in the teaching and administration of English as a Second Language, and more recently had completed her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

Melinda described her appointment as coming home. She had been raised in California and had spent the first decade of her career in international schools (in Austria, Germany, and Portugal).

She had known about French American + International for years. Her new school was big and it was complicated. Melinda was an academic social anthropologist as well as a visionary school leader. She wanted to get to know the stakeholders personally and profoundly, and in so doing obtain a “kaleidoscopic” view of the school.

Melinda met with groups of students, their families, alums, trustees, and every faculty and staff member. In the end she participated in more than 250 open-ended conversations around “What makes us who we are?” and “What would make us better?” She later confessed, “it was a crazy goal–but one of the best things about being a new Head is that you don't know what you can't do.”

Melinda was increasingly visible on campus. Beyond her mandatory, high profile roles at advancement, admission, governance, and graduation events, she took time to greet students and colleagues as they entered the building in the morning. She attended plays, concerts, games, matches, and races. She attended assemblies and shadowed individual students from the various sections for entire days, and even opened car doors for very young students at the new Early Learning Center.

1155 Page Street

In 2011, the San Francisco Unified School District announced that it was considering leasing several surplus properties. Although SFUSD had intended only a shortterm lease on the property at 1155 Page Street, the school campaigned for, and by 2013 had won, a long-term ground lease. French American + International soon replaced the abandoned 1950’s building with a purpose-built Maternelle which opened in August 2014. It became home to

170 Pre-K and kindergarten students. Neighbors, organizations with lobbying influence like the San Francisco Bike Coalition, and the folks in charge of preschool licensing, were cultivated during the construction year.

Influenced by how children learn best, the building’s design enabled the school to deliver its French immersion program in a creative, age-appropriate, nurturing environment. The Maternelle featured nine child-centered classrooms bathed in natural light. Floor-to-ceiling, sliding glass doors provided direct access to the play yards. A central multi-purpose room served as a community space and a gym for the adventurous daily physical education that the French call parcours or psychomotricité. The architect had delivered on a calm, peaceful place for very young children to collaborate, explore and play. Autonomie was encouraged by having amenities built at a child’s level. The ultimate accolade was hearing the school’s own educators use the personification “third teacher" to describe the space during the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Children enjoying recess at the new Maternelle campus, September 2014