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LETTER TO THE EXCEL INSTITUTE
FAMILY
April 30, 2008
Dear Friends:
We apologize for the informality of
this note, but the events of Tuesday demand that we communicate with
you with urgency and transparency.
We want to begin by thanking you for
your concern about these sad events as well as your support over the
past 10 years. As you might understand, Tuesday was one of the worst
days of the school’s history. Henry Schultz, our chief operating
officer, and a woman visiting the school were shot by one of our
students. We are happy to report that neither sustained
life-threatening injuries and the perpetrator was apprehended
without further serious injury.
Everyone associated with our school
is in a state of shock – we have never had any incident that could
rival such a tragedy. We welcome guests, former students and others
in our community, and at this point do not plan to change the
openness and environment that has served us well during the past 10
years. Nonetheless, we want to assure everyone in the Excel family
and residents of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area that we will
do everything in our power to find out why this happened and make
changes if necessary. Paramount is making sure this does not happen
again.
In the days ahead we will continue
to pray and come together as a community. Classes have been
cancelled for Wednesday, April 30, 2008, but students and staff will
return to Excel for regularly scheduled classes on Thursday and
Friday. Excel is in the process of coordinating counselors for
faculty, staff and students who will be available from 8 AM – 4 PM
on both Thursday and Friday.
In the past 10 years we have changed
hundreds of lives and in the future we are confident that over time
that number will move to thousands. We could not have done this
without your support. Please know that the staff and students have
truly rallied and come together as we work to overcome the shock of
this event and move back toward a “business as usual” mentality.
Sincerely,
Jack Lyon and George Starke
Co-Founders
The Excel Institute
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