Dear Thinkery Community,
I’m writing to you with both humility and hope. The past few days have been deeply challenging for our entire team as we’ve received and processed critical feedback about our operations together. This has been difficult for everyone—our staff, leadership team, and entire community. As someone who cares deeply about our mission and our staff, I want to acknowledge these challenges openly while sharing how we’re working to move forward. I also want to emphasize that Thinkery remains an absolutely safe and joyful environment for play and learning.
Today, I invited the entire Thinkery team to learn about several recent operational enhancements as well as commitments we’ve made to further improvement. In the spirit of transparency, we wanted to share the same information with our community:
- We continue to pass all Texas Health and Human Services inspections and maintain full compliance with health and safety regulations. We have never had black mold in the museum and any signs of mildew from our indoor water feature are immediately treated.
- In December, we strengthened our daily cleaning protocols by increasing porter staffing during museum hours. We will also add additional dedicated cleaning hours to ensure our spaces remain clean for all visitors.
- Our security systems have been thoroughly reviewed, ensuring they continue providing comprehensive coverage throughout the museum.
- In addition to the safety and Code Adam training all staff receive during onboarding, we have recently completed additional safety training for all staff members—including another Code Adam training course earlier in February. We are also adding a designated safety lead to our organization.
- We provide both scheduled and on-demand pest treatment. We do not have a pest problem in the museum and any reported pests are immediately treated.
- We have and will continue to evaluate market data for similar employers in our community to ensure we remain competitive on wages and benefits as the cost of living rapidly increases in the greater Austin area.
- We will continue to offer leadership development and coaching to our management team while simultaneously adding additional professional development opportunities for all of our staff.
As an institution dedicated to learning, curiosity and discovery, we must apply these same principles to our own operational excellence. We welcome your feedback and suggestions as we work to make Thinkery an even better resource for our community. If you have additional feedback for us, please email us directly at info@thinkeryaustin.org.
Thank you for being part of our journey to bring joy to learning so all children thrive.
With gratitude,
Andy Bell
Thinkery | Chief Executive Officer