Why Indian Hill

Superintendent Kirk Koennecke

It is with great excitement that we welcome you to the 2022-2023 school year!

This school year, as we continue to Build a Brave Future through our master construction project across all four of our buildings, and as we deliver on the first year of our five-year #IHPromise strategic plan, we are asking an important, collective question as an organization: Why Indian Hill?

From our unparalleled academics, arts, and athletics, to our world-class and award-winning faculty and staff, we know the educational experience we deliver is unique. This school year, we will examine with you the “why” and share that story through our website, our social media channels, our printed publications, and our videos. 

Our #IHPromise
From Leadership Excellence training, to developing a district-wide culture of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning, to a summer book study program nearly 100 staff members participated in, our team enjoyed a summer of professional learning. We are prepared to enter the first full school year with our new #IHPromise strategic plan in place, and we are building academic programs that focus on developing Learners as Doers, Learners as Individuals, and Learners as the Whole Child.
 
Additionally, we are excited to fully launch one of our 10 big initiatives for our #IHPromise strategic plan: Streamline Communications.

During the development of our plan, we collected feedback from more than 2,200 students, parents, alumni, staff, and community members, focused on how we can improve our services to you. As we roll out our Streamline Communications initiative, you will note some key updates:

beBRAVE
Our weekly, digital newsletter is getting a makeover! Each Friday you can expect a streamlined presentation of our District headlines with access to:

Weekly Building-Level Digital Newsletters
With the click of a button within our Friday beBRAVE digital newsletter, each building will share:
• Weekly Video Celebration
• Important Dates
• Bulletin Board of News
• Quick Links (Online Payments, Lunch Menus, etc.)

Please note: All Indian Hill School District parents and guardians are automatically signed up to receive this publication.

IH Sports Spotlight
Available as a separate digital newsletter you can sign up to receive, or as a link embedded in our weekly beBRAVE, we present IH Sports Spotlight! Under the direction of Athletic Director Brian Phelps, IH Sports Spotlight will provide Braves everything athletics they want and need to know. From student and staff accolades, to weekly game summaries, to upcoming schedules … and, of course, Brian’s 60-Second Brave Spotlight!

Access IH Arts
Available as a separate digital newsletter you can sign up to receive, or as a link embedded in our weekly beBRAVE, we present Access IH Arts! Arts and Activities Director Amy Clark is ready to take you behind-the-scenes of our classrooms, auditoriums, and art galleries in this new feature that showcases our unparalleled arts program. Join her each week as she celebrates our student-artists and staff, promotes upcoming shows, and provides visual recaps of our big performances … always with her exciting Access IH Arts video feature!

Click here to subscribe to these new incredible digital newsletters!

District Social Media
As always, you can see our #IHPromise in action as we use our social media channels to celebrate our students and our staff:
Twitter: @IHSchools
Facebook: @indianhillschools
Instagram: indianhillschools
YouTube: IHSD Communication

Communications Hub
If you need to access a digital archive of past communications, brand guidelines and logos, App information, or, if you simply know of some great Indian Hill School District news you want to see us feature – welcome to the Communications Hub! The Communications Hub can be accessed each week at the bottom of beBRAVE, or you can find it on our District website within the “About” section.  

Financial Communications
Finally, CFO/Treasurer Mick Davis will deliver multiple opportunities for you to learn about our District finances this school year through his five-year forecast in November and May, which will be shared with all stakeholders through a printed postcard. We will also continue sharing a comprehensive annual look at our finances through our Financial Prospectus report in January. 

We look back over the last school year with pride: Indian Hill is ranked No. 1 in the state according to Niche; ranked No. 7 in the state by U.S. News and World Report; is a “Best Communities for Music Education” and has been the past eight consecutive years; is a Project Lead The Way nationally recognized STEM program and has been three consecutive years; and we remain a Top Workplace eight years and counting! 

Why Indian Hill? We will spend this upcoming school year answering that question for you. Welcome back, Braves!

In service to our children,

Kirk Koennecke
CEO/Superintendent
Indian Hill School District