Speaking to an audience of dozens of parents and faculty in Spieker Center on Thursday night, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Sameer Dholakia summed up his view of the state of Menlo School in two words: “enviably strong.”
Still, he and Head of School Than Healy, who spoke after Dholakia, identified several challenges facing the school. Among these challenges, they said, is the persistent use of bigoted language on campus. “It’s leading to more discipline cases than anyone would want,” Dholakia said.
Healy also previewed the results of the Authentic Connections belonging survey conducted among students earlier this year. Menlo scored 92 out of 100 on overall belonging, above the national average of 86 and the highest score the Authentic Connections organization has ever seen. However, he noted that there is still work to be done to support the 7.5% of students who say they feel “low belonging” on campus. “Perfection has to be our goal,” Healy said.
The two also trumpeted many successes the school has found this year. Speaking on National College Decision Day, Healy congratulated the class of 2025 on college acceptances. “I don’t think I’ve seen a more across-the-board successful year in college admissions at any school,” Healy said.
Additionally, Healy pointed to new school initiatives, like Green Ride Wednesdays, which saw success beyond his expectations of reducing Menlo’s midweek traffic numbers. “It reduced traffic on every other day of the week, as well,” he said.
Another program that exceeded enrollment expectations at its debut was the Catalyst Program, which next school year will take a group of juniors each semester to learn about climate issues in an experiential learning environment. “I can’t wait to see the impact of this program on these kids,” Dholakia said.
Looking to the future, Healy announced the hiring of a new Creative Arts Director, Katherine Palmer. Palmer formerly led the arts programs at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles and Francis Parker School in Chicago.
Upon ending his speech, Healy received a standing ovation from the audience, as well as words of approbation from parents and faculty during the Q&A session that followed.
