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Ms. Janet Heinze 2001 – 2013
Janet Heinze was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to Mexico in 1972. She joined ASFG in 1993 working initially in support services and then as a second grade teacher for five years. After a two-year return to the United States, she was invited back to ASFG as elementary principal. In 2001 she was chosen to succeed Robert Trent as Director General, the first woman to hold the position since Delia Walsh led the school 65 years earlier.
Ms Heinze’s tenure was faced with a tragic moment in history in the first month of the school year. September 11, 2001 is a date that has been forever imprinted on the world’s consciousness. As the hours passed word of the attacks in the US spread across campus. Ms Heinze called an all-school assembly on the soccer field to share with students and staff the news of this tragic event. Students and teachers who wanted to know more throughout the day went to Ms Heinze’s office, where a television had been set up and phones were made available for teachers to call their families. In 2001 her office was located on the corner of the main entrance hallway and had large windows on two sides, gaining itself the nickname of “the fishbowl”. On the morning of September 11th, the windows and doors to Ms Heinze’s office were all open welcoming in any student or staff member who felt the need for a safe haven, and there were many. This openness has been a hallmark of Ms Heinze’s leadership.
In recent years Mexico has experienced relative stability both politically and economically. However there were some accusations of electoral fraud in the elections of 2006, and a period of demonstrations in Mexico City in favor of Andrés Manuel López Obrador who narrowly lost the presidential election to Felipe Calderón. The world reeled from the devastation of the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in January 2005 and once again ASFG students met on the basketball courts to express their commitment to help. They raised more than $40,000 pesos for tsunami relief, an initiative spearheaded by the Model United Nations class.
Schoolwide gatherings were for happier reasons in 2007. The first was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school’s incorporation as a not-for-profit civil association and the move to its current location at Colomos 2300. The second was to celebrate Ms Heinze’s 60th birthday. On that occasion the school gathered in appreciation for the leadership, vision, and compassion that have characterized Ms Heinze’s tenure since becoming Director General.
One of the reasons for the success and stability of the school has been the close relationship between the School Board and the Director General. The history of the school has at times been marked by tension between the board and the administration but that is not the case with Ms Heinze’s term. Carlos Wolstein has served two terms as President of the School Board and, along with Vice-President Moises Hernandez (both alumni of ASFG), has created a supportive atmosphere that provides the school the stable foundation needed to create a vision for the future.
The first land purchased since 1958 was the present administration building popularly known as the Pink Palace. In 2001 the school had 20,300 square meters of land. Since that time ASFG has purchased more than 6,000 square meters of land adjacent to the campus, an increase of almost 30 percent in land holdings in just seven years. The newly acquired spaces have been immediately put to use.
Along with increases in land Ms Heinze worked to systematize school resources streamlining processes, operational procedures, maintenance, and purchasing. In terms of academic administration Ms Heinze established a philosophy of one school, not four separate schools, as had been the case in the past. This facilitated the implementation of a school improvement process that encouraged schoolwide academic initiatives.
One of the most significant new developments under Ms Heinze was the creation of the Educational Scholarship Foundation (ESF) to assist deserving students with financial need to attend or continue to study at ASFG. Parents of these children agree to provide their time and services to the school by volunteering for a variety of activities. ESF was begun in 2004 and raised $68,000 pesos that first year. Four years later, ESF had more than $1.5 million pesos raised through raffles, movie nights, and donations from ASFG community members, the Board of Directors, and the Alumni Association. During the 2006 -2007 school year eight partial scholarships were awarded to ASFG students for the first time. In 2008 the ESF was organized as its own civil association and Gabriel Vazquez Arroyo, parent and alumni of the school, was appointed President.
Another significant initiative was the admission of siblings of ASFG students with special needs to the school. The presence of these courageous students on campus significantly impacted the entire school community in a positive manner. Ms Heinze has always believed that the key to a school’s success is its teachers and indeed, over the entire one hundred year history of the school, dedicated, effective, and caring teachers have been the most significant factor in the school’s growth. Her team of exceptional administrators and teachers has provided the stability so important in maintaining a quality school. In early childhood the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy encourages young students to investigate and study about their interests. Elementary's Success for Every Child program provides individual academic and emotional support for all students. In middle school Student Led Portfolios provide students the opportunity to share with their parents how they are fulfilling the ASFG learning goals. The Week Without Walls program in high school offers students the opportunity to travel or study an interesting topic in depth.
It has been 100 years since Miss Delia Walsh began a small school for the education of children of US workers in Guadalajara. In that century there have been troubled times for both the country and the school, moments when the future of the American School was uncertain. Through all those years of growth, success, vision, and perseverance, through changing locations and missions and through wars, disasters, and rapid societal change ASFG has existed to serve the needs of the most important part of any school: its students. ASFG is now considered one of the best schools in Latin America, and while no one knows what the next one hundred years will bring, it seems certain that the American School Foundation of Guadalajara, A.C. will continue to be true to its mission of “educating students in a bilingual, bicultural and secular environment to be purposeful learners, critical and creative thinkers, effective communicators and community contributors, based on a foundation of honor, freedom and commitment.”
Life in Mexico at the Time
2002 Investigators rule the 1971 Tlaltelolco shooting of
student protesters to have been genocide
Jorge Vergara buys Chivas
2004 Mexican athletes win Olympic medals in the 400m, cycling and taekwondo
2007 Heavy rains flood most of Tabasco
2008 Drug-related killings soar as President Calderón declares war on drug cartels
Mexican population: 109 million
2007 Guadalajara covers 45,000 hectares
2011 Guadalajara hosts Pan American Games |
World Events of 2001-2012
2001 iPod invented
2002 Taliban overthrown in Afghanistan
The Euro becomes the official currency in 12 European countries
2003 US and coalition forces invade Iraq
2004 Madrid terrorist bombing
Tsunami in the Indian Ocean kills 310,000
2005 London terrorist bombing
YouTube invented
2006 Saddam Hussein executed in Baghdad
2007 Benazir Bhutto assassinated in Pakistan
2011 Bin Laden killed in Pakistan |
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