Welcome from the ECS Board of Trustees 2024
Stan O’Loughlin
President
Environmental Charter School Board of Trustees
Dear ECS Families, Staff, and Community,
On behalf of the ECS Board of Trustees, I am delighted to welcome you to the 24–25 school year. Thank you for choosing to be part of the ECS learning community, whether as a student, parent, educator or team member.
To provide some background on who we are, the ECS Board is made up of diverse individuals from our community who volunteer to serve and provide governance-level guidance and oversight to the administration to ensure ECS is always striving to meet its highest ideals and continues to grow and flourish in accordance with its mission.
We are committed to ensuring positive outcomes for our students, families, and staff. We are here because we believe in the ECS mission and want to contribute our time and experience to this very special community. We believe in ECS and want to see its continued success.
More than anything else, that success will depend on thoughtful and steadfast leadership. As you know, the ECS Board of Trustees recently selected Dr. Patrick Dowd to succeed our innovative founder, Jon McCann, as ECS’s new CEO. Since his arrival to the organization in July, the ECS Board has worked closely with Dr. Dowd to assist in his transition and will continue to do so over the next year to ensure his full immersion into the ECS community. I’m happy to report that Dr.Dowd has already shown himself a quick study and a relentless advocate for ECS, our values, and our vision, which is not surprising given his long-standing relationship with our school as a former ECS parent himself.
Building onto the work started last school year under the ECS Board’s previous president, Dr. Adam Tobias, the ECS Board will continue its efforts to reimagine the district’s ultimate vision – graduating thoughtful, engaged, empathetic citizens who are catalysts for change in sustainability and equity in the world around them. First and foremost, that means a special focus on the development and optimization of our campus and built environment to serve the ECS mission, especially our continued efforts related to the planning and construction of a new high school that keeps our values and students’ needs in mind. The ECS Board also intends to prioritize improving our internal and external communication, continuing our review of ECS’s policies and increasing collaboration with the ECS Foundation and like-minded community partners in ways that improve our ability to achieve our mission. We also hope to expand opportunities for athletics and physical education in a manner that supports empathetic team and culture building, eco-friendly practices, and sportsmanship.
The members of the ECS Board are looking forward to a spectacular year, and I encourage each of you to get involved. Your voices are pivotal, and this work is not completed without the feedback and thought partnership of the community we serve.
Attend an ECS Board of Trustees Meeting. The ECS Board meetings are public and on the third Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. at the Middle School. The ECS Board invites you to attend in person, watch the live stream, sign up for public comment, and/or subscribe to notifications to receive updates on ECS Board agendas on the ECS Board’s community website. You can also contact us at ecsboard@ecspgh.org
Thank you again for being a part of the ECS community. Go Hawks!
On behalf of the ECS Board,
Stan O’Loughlin
President
Environmental Charter School Board of Trustees