Stichting algemeen toegankelijk onderwijs

The Stichting Algemeen Toegankelijk Onderwijs (SALTO) is a foundation in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, which serves as the board of directors for several primary schools in the city .

History

The SALTO foundation was founded in 2001 for the purpose of furthering the combined interests of a number of the city's primary schools and bringing down the administrative overhead. It was the result of the merger of two educational bodies in Eindhoven, the Stichting voor Algemeen Toegankelijk Onderwijs Eindhoven (SATOE) and the Commissie voor Openbaar Basis- en Speciaal Onderwijs (COBSO). Originally named the Samenwerkingsverband voor Algemeen Toegankelijk Onderwijs (the Cooperative for GeneRally Accessible Education — generally accessible as opposed to denominational education), the cooperative was transformed into a foundation in 2005. It was then allowed to become the board of directors for all the schools involved.

SALTO currently manages 24 primary schools in Eindhoven, of which two are special needs schools.

Structure and philosophy

SALTO is an administrative organization that performs general, administrative services for all the schools connected to SALTO. Each school has its own staff and its own director. The directors of the individual schools report to the general director of SALTO, who is also the head of the staff bureau.

The general director is ultimately responsible for the entire organization and for preparing and executing administrative and strategic policy. He is assisted in this by the members of the staff bureau, in the four main policy areas:

• Education and Quality
• Personnel and Organization
• Housing and Marketing
• Operations and Finance

Being a cooperative of several, formerly unconnected schools, SALTO combines a number of different educational concepts. These include:

• Dalton
• Jenaplan
• E.G.O.
• Freinet
• Montessori

SALTO feels as a general principle that education is about stimulating children to achieve their full potential. As a symbol of this they have come up with an unofficial, second meaning to the SALTO acronym (which is also Dutch for somersault): Samen Actief Leren Talenten Ontwikkelen (or Actively learning to develop talents together).

Current board

the board of SALTO consists of:

• Ir. P.F.M. Hulshof, chairman
• R.A.M. van Arendonk, secretary
• J.G. Sander, treasurer
• S. IJntema, member
• Mw. J.P.A. Brent, member
• Drs. P.C.B. de Jager, member

The general director is E.J.M. van Baarschot MME.