C++March+2011

March 22, 2011 Checking in: How have Quaker values been evident in your unit/area in the past month? Barbara shares (via email) that CHES is"building the school with kindness." We have created the outline of the school (complete with school bell) on poster board so each time we notice a child doing an act of kindness, we write it on a red brick and the child glues it onto the school (thus they are building the school with bricks of kindness). Some examples of their acts of kindness include: helping a friend zip his jacket, pushing a younger friend on the swing, and offering a friend a doll to cheer her up when she was crying. This project is encouraging the children to be more mindful of being kind to one another. Charlie is helping to prepare for a gathering honoring staff who have been here 10-21 years. Folks have shared reflections that Charlie is collating for each person- acknowledging the beauty of what we see in each other and how we inspire each other to let our lights shine. Jamie share that US recently hosted a national conference – students as co-creators of schools. About 120 attended, Deborah Meier was the guest speaker. Our students made some great connections. Elise London spearheaded the event. Tomorrow is student-teach day. US staff will be meeting at Durham Meeting; the students are in charge for the day. Mary-Deborah adds that one of her former advisees stopped by to share that he was teaching math tomorrow – he’s become aware that being good at a subject and being able to teach it is very different. Mary-Deborah is part of a search committee for a learning specialist for MS. This is a totally new position. Making the schedule for candidates, time was factored in for students to interview the person. It was a bit of a struggle to decide how to include students, but absolutely no question that students would be there. PFF was here this past weekend- lots of great hospitality and many events going on at the same time. (They may ask to come back next year. If so, could we be involved in hosting?) LS parents honored teacher with a luncheon last Thursday, March 17. Marvelous food! ** __ Agenda Item 1: __ ** Feedback from Friday Meeting (Charlie), Board (Marsha) and other units (all) on future direction of this committee. Specifically, do we have any feedback on the 3 questions outlined in last month's minutes: Are their resources you wish you had? Are there resources within the Meetings? Are there unit events that we could be sharing/communicating better? Board said our decision to be a school committee made sense. Charlie has not heard anything specifically from Friday Meeting. One person asked to talk with Charlie about the decision. Mary-Deborah said MS would like time to discuss the sphere of this committee – it hasn’t been possible due to limited meeting time in the last month. Individuals said it might be difficult to talk with folks about what they need from this committee if they have no idea what the committee does/is. One person suggested that the meeting for teachers new to Quakerism should be for everyone, every year. Staff need on-going education. One person wanted more contact with other Quaker teachers. When parents ask, “What makes this a Quaker school?” what would you say? Maybe we could generate some question that staff might pursue. What methods of communication might work best for staff? Conversations rather than presentations probably would work best. We could share some of these questions in the Update, and perhaps have a follow-up for folks who want more. Perhaps there could be a Meeting for Worship with this question as a query – which would help students as well. What about a staff read? We have done articles and retreats focused on Quaker education. To have it ongoing, it needs to get into the mix of regular staff development days. What about an off-campus retreat for teachers – on a periodic basis – 2-5 years, 5-10 years. Could we do something with New Garden? We could perhaps do a shared retreat at the Toben’s Farm? We should provide release time and make it an enriching experience. We hosted a Friend’s School Day conference here years ago. Is it time to do it again? Could this committee lead it? ASSP wonders where they fit in the mix. Are they still under the care of this committee? Board enjoyed presentation, but does not feel that directing ASSP is in their purview. Probably yes –but we should discuss – what does that mean? 2012 is ASSP 10th anniversary. Will we still have a PSA rep? Yes. ** __ Agenda Item 2: __ ** Continuing discussion of Visiting Quaker/Quaker in Residence Reactions to AFSC website: AFSC is very bold and clear in their speaking of Quaker values. It seems that sometimes here we are a bit “delicate” in our speech – trying not to sound proselytizing. We spend a lot of time talking – some were struck by the action-oriented message. Wednesday, April 13, Peter Lems is coming to do a talk in Greensboro about what AFSC does. What is his schedule for his time here? Flying into RDU, then to US. Will be in CH Meeting on Sunday. Could there be a time for us to talk with him about what AFSC might offer to this possible project. Jamie will check on availability and communicate possibilities via email. (ASSP did its first work via AFSC.) ** __ Agenda Item 3: __ ** Are there other actions we should be taking between now and the end of the year to promote and/or nurture the Quaker character of the school? Idea – propose the query “What is it that makes us a Quaker School?”(as Aliza suggested) in each unit for at least one Meeting for Worship before the end of the year. Another version: “How do you explain what being a Quaker school is - to a visitor?” Marsha will ask HTs to consider these queries and ask them to facilitate discussion of these in their units in an age-appropriate manner. We would love for them to provide us some feedback, not only on these queries, but also on whether our suggesting queries like this is helpful. We could share some reflections in the next issue of Update. ** __ Agenda Item 4 __ ** Looking ahead to 2011/12. What communication should we plan on engaging in at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year to ensure that the committee's work is understood and visible to the various groups in our community. (I'd like to get this planned out and executed before the end of the school year so that we can get it incorporated into beginning-of-the-year communications): Related issue: can we "nominate" staff/student/parent members for the 2011/12 school year before we adjourn for the summer months? Can we try to narrow the list to perhaps 2 ideas on which we want to focus this committee’s work for next year? Head Teachers are now organizing the staff development time slots. We need to ask for time soon. If we have a proposal to HTs by April is that too late? Whatever we decide – we should consider the person-power necessary to do the project. How can we involve others, not burn out the faithful few, etc? Transition: how does it work? Board will appoint people to the committee, but not until after their first meeting. George and Aliza will be moving to US, both may be willing to stay on the committee. Staff choose committees during the retreat or first weeks of school. Jamie will continue from US. Need to publicize our meeting dates – 4th Tuesday, 7-8:30, 8 meetings, 2 with yummy food! Who will convene?