Réponse à la pétition visant au gel (ou à la diminution) des frais de ...

La Fondation du Lycée Français International de Washington
Lycée Rochambeau
Réponse à la pétition visant au gel (ou à la diminution) des frais de scolarité pour une durée de trois ans
Reply to the petition requesting a three year school tuition fees’ freeze (or decrease)
3
June 10, 2010
Dear parents,
You may be aware of a petition circulating within the Rochambeau community, and requiring a three
year school tuition fees’ freeze (or even a reduction).
Having had the opportunity to talk with the petition’s author, we explained to him that the Foundation
is not in a position of making such a commitment.
On one hand, several contractual obligations are currently binding the Lycee Rochambeau and
preventing us from contemplating such an option:
Lycee Rochambeau’s Conventionnement with the AEFE, as recently renewed, entails the payment
to the AEFE of an annual 6% contribution on the school’s tuition fees starting year 2011-2012;
the current collective agreements’ negotiations between the Foundation and the Lycee’s
administrative and faculty personnel does not take into consideration a wages’ freeze (even less a
reduction) and their result will have an impact on the next three years;
the Rollingwood campus’ lease agreement, due to expire, needs to be renewed, and a possible
rent increase cannot be excluded;
the mortgage/loan taken by the Lycee for its recent Forest Road campus’ renovation and
expansion shall be duly executed;
generally, the usual annual increase in operational costs (despite our policy to carefully manage
the school’s expenditures) shall be accommodated.
On the other hand, the determination of the level of the school’s tuition fees includes the following
factors:
maintaining an acceptable number of students per class;
maintaining a dynamic education of high quality, with a faculty staff of great standards (achieved
through continuous training) and adequate educational resources and tools;
maintaining and/or improving a pleasant and safe environment within all three campuses.
The above described constraints, together with our willingness to consolidate our three campuses into
two in a near future, do not allow the Foundation to realistically consider a tuition fees’ freeze (and
even less a reduction) for the next three years.
We can only reassure you that the tuition fees’ future increase will be strictly limited to its necessary
minimum, thanks to the Head of School’s constant support.
9600 Forest Road BETHESDA MD 20814 board@rochambeau.org