January 20, 2023
Dear CCS Family,
Our students in 5th-12th grades have enjoyed hearing from Chuck Hooten during Spiritual
Emphasis chapels this week. Chuck challenged the students to hear the calling, consider/count
the cost, and accept the commission. Students and faculty/staff responded to the challenges in
meaningful ways. Today during chapel, Jamie Dewald led students in a chapel dedicated to
prayer. Jamie reported to me that today’s chapel was powerful and the best day of the week.
Every year, we set aside times to focus on spiritual growth, and this year was certainly a powerful
week on our campus. I want to thank all the parents who joined together here on campus and in
small groups off campus to pray for this special week.
I have received several phone calls and emails regarding the tuition/fees video released on
Wednesday. Most of the questions center around the all-in lunch fee. I have worked the last two
days to answer your questions in a timely manner. However, I have had several families who
have requested to see the breakdown of tuition and fees for the next school year in paper form. Aly
Grimes, our Admissions Director, emailed all CCS families a chart with this information this
morning; however, for your convenience, I am attaching it to this letter as well. Please note, her
chart has the cost of the lunch program included in the total cost and my charts (below) have the
amounts broken down individually. Also, families have asked to see the information I provided in
the video in a written format. Please see this information at the bottom of the letter.
I would like to address several of the most commonly asked questions I have recently received.
1. Is the lunch program mandatory moving forward? The answer is yes unless your child
has a doctor diagnosed medical condition.
2. Why is the program mandatory? With rising food costs and upon reviewing the data, the
a la carte option was quickly becoming obsolete as a viable option.
3. Will the options and quality of options improve? Yes. With the expanded format both
kid friendly and healthier options will be available to students.
We will be releasing more details about the expansion of the lunch program next week. Please be
on the lookout for that information which will include a date when parents can drop by the school
to see a sample menu, taste various food items, and talk with personnel from Chef Advantage
who can answer the more specific questions you might have.
We are striving to be a school that provides a high value for the families we serve, and we will
continue to evaluate CCS tuition and fee structures to that end. In addition, we are extending the
deadline to withdraw until February 10th to give parents additional time to review this new
information. The wording from my video is listed below, and the fee handout is also attached.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions.
Pressing on Together,
Donald Snider
Head of School
Dear Concord Families,
Every fall, CCS leadership and School Board begin the process of budgeting for the
upcoming school year. This year, we worked extremely hard to keep rising costs controlled
and be able to offer you a tuition increase that is less than the inflation rate of the country.
This is a delicate balance as our costs have risen substantially from every supplier.
With that said, tuition will increase by 6.9% for the 2023-24 school year. Again, CCS
leadership and the Board worked diligently to keep the increase under the rate of inflation
and at the same time continue our path to improve faculty compensation, upgrade curriculum,
and fund other necessary budgetary expenses.
In addition, leadership also evaluated the fee structure in an effort to simplify the number of
fees, and reduce various added expenses that families experience throughout the year.
While it would be hard to encompass all fees due to the unique nature of the charges, we
were able to work in several of the ancillary charges our families experience throughout the
year to simplify your experience at CCS. I am pleased to report that we were able to
accomplish this goal and did so without adding any cost to the existing fee structure.
With this change, you will notice a simplified structure to fees on your monthly statement.
While the fees remain the same year after year, they will look different on your monthly
statement. They will be combined into a singular line item. I am pleased to announce an
expansion to what your fee structure now covers.
In addition to what the fees already covered, now your standard fee will also include:
1) a yearbook for every student
2) Personal Chromebooks for grades 6-12
3) Elementary school field trips (except Tremont), class t-shirts, music performance shirts
and official class parties.
We are excited to simplify life for our families and provide additional value for you in this
rising cost environment we are all navigating.
To help you better visualize the information I stated above, please see the charts below.
Lastly, I would like to provide you with an update regarding our school lunch program. Over
the past couple of years, leadership has monitored the rising food costs which have
escalated. We have been informed that the increase for school lunch is projected to be
significant for this coming school year. On top of the challenging pricing environment in food
service, we also know that in an a la’ carte' environment many of the “extras” the kids select
outside of the standard lunch can add up to lunches of $7-$9 per day and in several cases,
even higher. To try to ease the burden of this problem, we studied how our families utilize the
lunchroom and the results were that 98% of our students are lunch buyers. So, the lunch
service we offer is in high demand. Understanding the data and where we believe the cost of
an a la’ carte program is headed, the decision has been made to move to an all-inclusive
lunch program.
Many private schools in the area have already made the move to an “all-in” lunch program.
An “all-in” lunch program offers several fiscal efficiencies such as fewer employees needed,
volume purchasing discount, efficient planning as well as several factors that increase
student satisfaction including return trips allowed if a student is still hungry. There are several
hot bar items per day, a sandwich bar, a salad bar, a pizza bar, and other specialty food items,
along with certain beverages that are all included in one flat price for the year.
So what does this mean for your family? Many families who are purchasing lunch daily will
pay less monthly based on this new model. The break even between the projected costs for
“pay for lunch” and the “all in lunch” model would be somewhere between 3-4 days per week
based on the buying habits of your child. If you are currently buying lunch 3-4 days per
week, your costs will remain relatively level, but your child may eat lunch all 5 days. If you
are buying lunch every day, your costs will go down.
If you are buying lunch less than 3-4 days per week, you may experience a cost increase, but
your family now has the ability to offset your grocery costs weekly if you so choose. The
chart below lists the cost of the monthly lunch fee that will be applied to your account.
For most of you, this is a direct offset to costs you are already paying in our lunchroom. We
believe this will help us offer a more complete offering to your child(ren), and help us keep
the daily/monthly costs to our families as low as possible.
FBC and CCS leadership are very excited about next year as so many exciting things are
currently in the plans. As always, if I can ever assist your family, please reach out to me.
Pressing on Together,
Donald Snider
Head of School
