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Dear NMNS Board,

I hope all of you are well.
The start of a school year is always an opportunity to look ahead in hope and confidence. At the Network, we've had a good beginning and I thought I'd provide a few highlights as we look towards our first board meeting scheduled for October 19-20th in DC.

You might have noticed in our September e-News that we had our School Leaders meeting last week in Chicago. It was quite good.
The tone was set Thursday evening by a keynote given by Rob Birdsell, CEO of the Cristo Rey Network. Rob laid out just perfectly what it takes to develop and strengthen a Network and cited some hard lessons learned over the course of their Network's lifetime. This was all extremely relevant and provided a perfect context as we focus in on membership value and responsibility. Bill Whitaker closed out our opening session by launching us into this important next stage for the Network, with mention of our work with The Whelan Group and developing a strategic focus for our "customers."
Remember when we met in May that Bill highlighted how critical the next 24 months would be for determining the future of the Network. We are now at 20 months and counting, and I believe we have the majority of our school leaders on board with our strategic focus.

There is more work to be done in the weeks ahead by the staff and with and by The Whelan Group. Suffice to say, our October board meeting will be full, not to mention important. We will be meeting from noon on the 19th to noon on the 20th and as usual, you will be receiving pre-meeting materials in advance, so stay tuned.
For now, please let Maureen know if you will be needing a hotel room in DC.

I very much look forward to working with you at this critical time for the Network and thank you for your contribution to our good work.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Warmest regards to all,
Mary Claire


Mary Claire Ryan
Executive Director
NativityMiguel Network of Schools
900 Varnum Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
917-295-1212
www.nativitymiguelschools.org<http://www.nativitymiguelschools.org/>