Wednesday, May 22, 2019

I am not meeting my recruitment targets

I find the whole accusation of recruitment weird. I don't think recruitment is in any way wrong, but I am also fairly certain I have never in my life approached anyone and suggested they go to IS 318.

Almost two years ago,, I received an email from Kele Perkins (who I know of but don't actually know) saying he was helping out two Chinese families who were thinking to move to NYC and wanted their children to go to a chess school. One kid was 2000, the other was ten and 2300. Both would be amazing, game-changing recruits for IS 318.
   
I told them they would be very welcome at IS 318, but that with that rating they could probably get a scholarship somewhere better. I personally approached David MacEnulty at Dalton, Marcus Mairena at Collegiate, and Matan Prilleltensky at Speyer to try to get this kid, who I don't know at all,  a scholarship to a better school. I copy an email I sent at the time below. I removed the family's names and emails,  but I'm sure Kele, David, Marcus and Matan will all verify my account.

Elizabeth Spiegel espiegel318@gmail.com

   Hi, 
 So I spoke with teachers at three elite private schools in NYC, Dalton, Collegiate, and Speyer Legacy. They all have strong chess programs and the coach at each believes the school would seriously consider giving **** a scholarship if he applied. They can't really know without knowing more about **** academically, but historically strong young players who move to NYC end up at some top school, so I would be optimistic. 
    If **** is moving soon, I can send you links to applications, which would be the next step. If it's not until next September or later, then it can wait. 
     Of course, we would again love to have him at IS 318. I only suggest these schools because it's what I would choose for my child and I suspect you could do it for free. 
   All the best
Elizabeth Spiegel

Sent from my iPhone



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