CEO's Message
July 26, 2024
Dear Bricolage Community:
This summer, I informed our Board of Directors of my decision to relinquish my position as CEO, effective at the conclusion of the 2024-2025 school year.
There are many things I'd like to share with you about this decision. Primary among them is that this choice was not made lightly - I made it with appreciation for the amazing people with whom I have worked, with pride in what we have accomplished together, and with tremendous confidence in the future of this special place. I am humbled by the opportunity I've had to serve our school community.
As many of you know, I joined our school community in 2017 and have held numerous, always rewarding, positions along the way - serving first as founding middle school principal, then as principal over the entire school, and now of course, as CEO. Together, our accomplishments have been many including:
- Opening and growing our middle school
- Expanding our Early Childhood Education program to offer 60 PreK-4 seats
- Expanding our arts, co-curricular and extra-curricular programs to include community, regional, and national performances, exhibitions, and competitions
- Adopting and implementing Tier 1 curriculum school-wide
- Adopting and implementing social-emotional learning curriculum school-wide
- Expanding our student supports, most notably our academic interventions and supports for English learners
- Hiring and onboarding our largest and most diverse staff ever
In the process Bricolage has consistently been one of the most in-demand, highest performing open enrollment public charter schools in the city and has some of the strongest teacher and student retention rates anywhere. I believe there is a direct correlation between these notable accomplishments.
While the “highs” have been many, it is also hard not to reflect a bit on the challenges we have faced and worked through together, including other leadership transitions, the long and difficult days of school closures due to Covid-19, and the disruption and uncertainty from Hurricane Ida. I hope you’ll agree that together, we came through these challenges all the better for having done so, and that in the process I provided the kind of familiar, consistent and reliable leadership our school community needed at those precarious points in time.
As I close this letter, I want to be sure not to simply focus on what’s past, but more importantly, what’s ahead for Bricolage. In this, my final school year, I will continue to be accessible to our community and coach and support our talented team. I will continue to lead the Bricolage community as though 24-25 is my first year on the job and not my last. Primary among the things I’ll work to accomplish are developing an all-important 3-5 year strategic plan for our school, and navigating the charter school renewal process.
Finding a strong CEO for the Bricolage community is top priority for our board as we begin to plan for my transition. Be on the lookout for regular communication from our board starting Monday.
Please know that I love OUR school and remain 100% committed to it. While I am not certain where my career path will take me I am certain there could be no higher honor than to have served you these past 7 years.
Thank you most humbly for the opportunity.
Antigua Joseph-Woods
CEO, Bricolage Academy