The Road Ahead: What German Schools Abroad Status Means for GISC (with FAQs)

11/15/2024

News from the Director
Friday, November 15, 2024
Guest Edition with GISC Board Chair Kurt Gamauf & Board Vice-Chair Julie Steffen

Dear GISC Families,

On October 1, 2024, our school community celebrated our official recognition and inclusion in the network of 135 Auslandsschulen or German Schools Abroad. All of the Auslandsschulen share a commitment to an education that fosters bilingualism and international mindedness/global citizenship.

Just as we need to meet certain criteria as a member school in the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) and the International Baccalaureate (IB), GISC is now working on fulfilling membership requirements associated with the German Schools Abroad network.

We are writing to you today to update you in the form of a number of Frequently Asked Questions that we have received from you:

Q: How is this affiliation with the German Schools Abroad network advantageous for GISC?

A: Please allow us to outline the following advantages:

Improved Teacher Recruitment: GISC will now have better options to recruit teachers from Germany with access to the official German Schools Abroad posting sites and recruitment fairs.
Expanded Networking/Professional Development: As a German School Abroad, we will now be included in network and exchange forums as well as targeted professional development for teachers. Throughout the year, there are several workshops specifically designed for academic and administrative staff on topics of importance to bilingual schools. Our Director recently joined a meeting with all Heads of North American schools; and our Marketing/Communications Director has already met with his counterparts at other schools.
Increased awareness: Already since our first month of membership, we have received multiple write-ups in Germany but also here in the U.S., and we also have garnered new followers on social media channels. This piece on the state of international pre-K through 12th grade international education in Chicago, published by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, is a prime example of great publicity right here in Chicago.

Q: How will GISC’s leadership and governance change?

A: These are the following changes:

Director/Head of School Position: Beginning in August 2025, GISC will have in place a new Head of School, selected by GISC from three candidates being recruited and vetted by the Central Agency for German Schools Abroad. The GISC Board of Trustees will make the final selection of these three candidates. The timeline is not yet defined, but we anticipate having a new Director under contract by March or April 2025. The Board and current Director Ben Hebebrand will define a role for Ben to help guide this transition. Since GISC has pursued this designation, Ben has been aware and has been supportive of this potential change, as he looks forward to GISC’s further growth and evolution as a German School Abroad.
Board of Trustees: The Board has adopted a new set of bylaws that will establish every family as a member of the School Community eligible to participate in membership meetings to cast a vote for the approval of new board members and the annual school budget. These moves are in the interest of “democratizing” the GISC community. GISC will hold its first full membership meeting on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Interested community members outside the parent community such as donors or representatives of corporate, cultural, and educational entities may also become members.
Faculty and Staff: GISC will continue its efforts to offer a low student-to-teacher ratio. On the administrative end, GISC is now looking at administrative models that feature a Chief Administrative Officer (Verwaltungsleiter), who along with the new Head of School and the Board of Trustees will be intricately involved in achieving GISC’s strategic goals.

Q: Will the German government help with funding for GISC?

A: For at least the next six years, GISC does not expect any significant funding from the Federal Republic of Germany other than paying the salary of the new Head of School. Once GISC consistently graduates students with high school diplomas recognized by German universities, will we receive financial support based on our student numbers. With funding by the German government still many years in the future, GISC will continue its efforts to seek private and corporate funding in the form of GISC Fund and Gala donations. In other words, future financial support by Germany depends on GISC’s success in building out a high school program. Additionally, Germany in its current economic condition has been cutting back on funding German Schools Abroad, but current laws guarantee funding for German Schools Abroad that graduate students with either the Abitur or the Mixed English-German IB Diploma.

Q: Will GISC establish a high school program?

A: Yes, GISC is currently exploring two high school options as early as the 2026/27 school year:

Expanded Lycee Francais de Chicago-GISC partnership: In this scenario, GISC and LFC will expand their partnership, whereby GISC will be responsible for the instruction of three subjects in German language and the LFC for the instruction of three subjects in the English language, culminating in students being able to earn a Mixed-Language IB Diploma (Gemischtsprachiges IB), a degree that would open doors at universities in Germany, Europe, and worldwide.

GISC High School: In this scenario, GISC begins establishing its own high school program, also implementing the Mixed Language IB. This model will offer students the opportunity to work closely with teachers and students in a small-school environment that allows for increased flexibility such as extended exchange programs and potential real-life internship/pre-professional training possibilities.

Q: When will GISC communicate additional information?

A: We anticipate sharing significant updates at the January 28, 2025 membership meeting with particular highlights on the pending selection of the new Head of School and establishment of the official GISC membership structure.

With high hopes for the future of GISC as an official Deutsche Auslandsschule,

Kurt Gamauf

Chair, Board of Trustees

Julie Steffen
Vice Chair, Board of Trustees

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