The American School of Lyon

This speech, delivered by Francis Foucachon, explains the reasons behind the closing of The American School of Lyon.

TASOL Graduation
May 28th, 2004

The French man, Alexis De Tocqueville.( 1805-1859), was very impressed by America. Here is what he said:

" I sought for the greatness and genious of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers-- and it was not there...in her fertile fields and boundless forests--and it was not there...in her rich mines and her vast world commerce--and it was not there...in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution--and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genious and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

What Alexis De Tocqueville discovered about America is what The American School Of Lyon has been all about. We came to do good to the city of Lyon. As a Presbyterian minister, I came back to Lyon to serve my native city in Christ's name. We wanted to meet a need of the city. We discovered that there was indeed a great need for an American School. ADERLY told us that many businesses had turned down offers to come to the Lyon region because there was not an American School here to meet the needs of their children.

For our project of an American school to succeed, we needed three things:

1. A building: The Mayor of Lyon, Raymond Barre, and the COURLY gave us this beautiful facility free of charge for the first three years.
2. Support from ADERLY, and by extension, support from the major foreign corporations of Lyon. We had that for the first three years.
3. Financial support from outside France. The Presbyterian Church in America invested an average of 500,000 euros a year in The American School Of Lyon for you.
In return, we guaranteed a quality American education, with the understanding that it would be given from a historical Christian world-and-life view. We did exactly what we promised to do.

We took great risks and sacrificed much as an outpouring of Jesus-Christ's love for you and your children. There was no self-interest in this, but only a desire to do good to the city of Lyon in Christ's name.

Today, we want to celebrate the goodness of God through American Christians who brought good to the city of Lyon,
and by extension, brought good to you and your children.
As we did good to you, we were blessed in returned.
Just to name a few things:

• Over and over, parents have thanked us for what TASOL did for their children. Their letters and kind words blessed us.
• Many students came to TASOL not speaking any English at all, but they succeeded, catching up with their class and, sometimes, they passed the others. It blessed us.
• Others came with a terrible French school experience, and these kids blossomed in our school. This blessed us.
• I heard many teachers saying that their students were upset because vacation was coming; they preferred to be in school at TASOL. This blessed us.
• Some parents could not afford to pay the tuition, and we took them anyway, giving them scholarships. It blessed us.
• A few of our students had learning disabilities. We loved them, trained them, and patiently brought them to the point were they found hope again. This blessed us.
• Many students came as sceptics with a very pesimistic world- and-life view, and they found a new hope in life because of Christ. This blessed us.
  
  As we look back , we realize that our staff was also blessed in different ways.
  
• Ten out of the 65 people who came to serve in TASOL over the past five years found their life partner in the school.
• Our staff will never be the same, having grown from being with people from 22 different nations. What a learning experience !
  
  TASOL was doing very well.
  
• We were just about to receive full accreditation from ACSI, ECIS and ACCS.
• Student enrollment was going up.
• TASOL was about to start the process for the International Baccalaureat program .
• Our building needed repairs, and the COURLY was going to take care of those.
• We were just starting to have exchanges with the Sainte-Foy community, to build bridges between countries to foster better understanding and appreciation for each other.
• Because the Christian curriculum was an issue for a few parents, we even changed to a public school curriculum, although keeping our Christian standards. We were satisfying an increasing number of parents.
  
  So why is TASOL closing ?
  
  It boils down to one reason --
  The opening of the International School of Lyon, supported by Renault V.I. , Bridon/Bayer Cropscience and Monsanto, and the fact that the students from these companies represent about half of our student body. There is not room for two similar schools in Lyon.
  Why did these Companies, supported by our former partner ADERLY, want to start their own school ?
  
  For one reason: It's because we were a Christian school, though we carefully respected each person from other religions and beliefs. We changed our Christian curriculum to a public school curriculum, but this was not enough, and these companies decided to start their school, one that is without any religious connotation.
  I won't get into the recent debate about " La laicite " in France and how neutrality is a myth -- but I will say one thing: TASOL offered the best education you can get. Our aim was a complete education, training the mind, the body, and the soul. If you remove the spiritual dimension from education, you create narrow-minded thinking that can lead to all kinds of political, religious or ethnic fanaticism. The education that we gave at TASOL presented our Judeo-Christian heritage as the foundation of Western civilisation, but also taught other religious beliefs, thereby broadening the minds of our students,-- and giving them the possibility of a TRUE choice.
  
  
  I know most of you went to battle to stop the closing of our school, and I want to thank you for your support.
  Some of you reported that you heard lies about us, and I pray that you know in your heart that they were lies.
  Some of you are leaving Lyon because of the closing of TASOL, and I'm very sorry for that.
  
  We are sad that the school is closing. However, we are not depressed. We are grateful for what God has done -- for the good education that your children have received, and for how they have been loved as they probably will never be loved by teachers again. We are grateful for our teachers, our director, our principal and our administrators. We have all been blessed to serve you in Christ's name for five years, and I hope that you have been as blessed as we were.
  
  For those of you who studied Latin, remember these words:
  
  " SCRIBITUR AD NARRANDUM,
  NON AD PROBANDUM."
  
  " We write history to tell what happened, and not to prove anything"
  
  I hope that history will tell that TASOL did good to the city of Lyon in Christ's name. If the history books don't, our God will !
  
  In all the injust things that happened with the closing of the school, please know that we did not seek revenge, although it would have been easy to do so.
  
  We returned good for evil.
  
  

When we knew we had to close TASOL, we helped the process for the new school. A special thanks to Mark Guthrie for that.

Our lawyer is a specialist in " Le droit du travail." We could have used the law ( article L 122-12 alinea 2 du code du travail), to impose on the new school to hire our staff. We chose not to do this because the Bible says: " Do unto others what you would have them do to you." Therefore, we assumed the financial responsibility for our staff.

We will continue to help the best we can the new International School of Lyon as they take possession of our facilities July 1st.
We have already sent new student applications for TASOL to
them.


Alexis De Trocqueville discovered that America was great because it was good. And it was good because of what Christ can do in an individual life.

The good of TASOL is not in us.
It is in Christ, the only perfectly Good One.
As Man, He died for our sins.
As God, He rose from the dead to give us a new life,
the life that made TASOL a blessing to the city of Lyon,

May God bless TASOL's staff and teachers as they move on to continue to serve Christ in other parts of the World,
and may God bless you and your children.




Rev. Francis Foucachon
Founder and President of the
American School Of Lyon