CHRONICLES OF
Quaker Education
FA L L 2 0 1 4
Composite im age of Friend s Seminary st udents in 1896 and 2011, crea ted to help cele brate the scho ol’s
325
225th annive rsary.
of Quaker education
Friends schools across the country celebrate In the summer of 1689, William Penn, the Pennsylvania provisional government, and the Philadelphia Friends Meeting appointed the first teacher and founded the Philadelphia Friends’ Public School. Fast-forward 325 years to 2014 and Quaker education in the U.S. and around the world is alive and thriving. As we continue to mark the 325th anniversary of Quaker education in America, Friends schools are celebrating that milestone as well as their own anniversaries and unique histories. This issue of Chronicles of Quaker Education features some of their stories. In honor of the 325th anniversary celebration of Quaker education in America, Friends Seminary (New York, NY) presented an exhibit in the school’s Rosenquist Art Gallery this past September. The exhibit featured historic images of Quaker educational institutions throughout the country. Contributing schools included Haverford College, George Fox University, Swarthmore College, and William Penn Charter School. The school also recently celebrated its 225th anniversary during the 2010 – 11 school year. The celebration culminated with a number of events on February 25, 2011, including a visit from then Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He delivered a speech in the historic 15th Street Meetinghouse, which celebrated its 150th anniversary that same school year. Mayor Bloomberg also read part of a proclamation declaring February 25 as “Friends Seminary Day” in New York City. Woolman Semester and John Woolman School alumni participate in a Global Issues class activity during their recent anniversary reunion.
In August 2014, more than 150 people gathered at Sierra Friends Center in Nevada City to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the John Woolman School and the 10th anniversary of The Woolman Semester School (Nevada City, CA). The Woolman Semester School is the only Quaker semester program and grew out of the John Woolman School, the first Quaker high school on the West Coast. Alumni of all ages reconnected with old friends and shared stories with each other of how the school changed their lives. The reunion was the beginning of a new era as alumni from both the John Woolman School and The Woolman Semester School shared their common bond: a lifelong commitment to the land, the school, and the community that is Woolman.
Mary McDowell Friends School (Brooklyn, NY) is celebrating its 30th anniversary during the 2014 – 15 school year. Opened in 1984 with five students, the school’s current enrollment stands at 354. June 2014 marked an historic milestone as the school’s first senior class of 25 students graduated. MMFS is the first K – 12 school in Brooklyn exclusively dedicated to educating students with learning disabilities and the only Quaker K – 12 school for students with learning disabilities in the United States. Each fall, the entire school participates in a study of a Quaker testimony. The focus this year is diversity. The fundamental Quaker belief in the light within every individual recognizes the importance of inclusion and equity as a testimony. Several events last year set the tone for this examination of diversity, including legendary civil rights activist Julian Bond addressing the school’s first graduating class.
Mary McDowell Friends School Chamber Chorus performing at the school’s benefit gala in May 2014.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Carolina Friends School (Durham, NC) has announced a yearlong “50 Years of Friends” celebration that includes special events, alumni gatherings, and historical highlights. The celebrations began on September 13 with a silent meeting for worship at the Durham Friends Meeting, marking the first day of the school’s first kindergarten class, held at the same location on September 13, 1964. The yearlong celebration will culminate in a weekend-long extravaganza in April that will include an afternoon of FriendsFest, a music festival highlighting alumni bands. The school also is developing its first archives collection, and plans to publish an anthology of essays, short stories, and poems entitled 27 Views of CFS. In addition, they are putting together a 50th Anniversary Celebration Community Quilt. CFS families also are participating in a community service project this fall. (continued on page 2)
A Publication of the
325
of Quaker education Friends schools across the country celebrate (continued from page 1)
This fall, Frankford Friends School (Philadelphia, PA) will celebrate the installation of a History Wall in the lobby of its new Margaret P. Trickey building. The wall will celebrate 325 years of Friends education in America and highlight the school’s own 181 year history. The History Wall will include a timeline with murals painted by middle school students, beginning with the establishment of the first Quaker school in America in 1689. It continues with the first Quaker school in Frankford in 1786, the establishment of Frankford Friends School on its current site in 1833, and the school’s history through the centuries to the opening of the Trickey Building in 2012. This fall, middle school students will connect events they are studying in history to the timeline and the history of the school and Frankford.
To celebrate its Quaker identity and document its focus on teaching about the Quaker testimonies to all lower school students, Wilmington Friends School (Wilmington, DE) took an ambitious step in the spring of the 2013 – 2014 year. The school’s Quaker Life committee chose eight bulletin boards in main hallways of the lower school and covered them with matching fabric. Each grade level then took responsibility for one of the bulletin boards and was assigned a Quaker testimony or topic that corresponded to the curriculum of that grade level. The results have been remarkable as they speak loudly to the school’s Quaker identity.
Detail from a bulletin board at Wilmington Friends School which helps celebrate the school’s Quaker identity.
On May 6, 1799, Westtown School (West Chester, PA) opened its doors to 20 boys and 20 girls. Today, the school is regarded as the oldest, continuously operating coeducational school in the country. This past May, the school celebrated its 215th anniversary with a social media campaign designed to engage students, faculty, parents, and alumni. Reference to the birthday celebration on the school’s website included a timeline of historical and fun facts about Westtown. On May 6, community members from around the world took “selfies” in school colors and posted them to the school’s Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram with the hashtag #westtown215 years. The school also posted photos from its own extensive archives throughout the day. Students in all divisions enjoyed birthday cupcakes, and the community was invited to sign a big birthday card to the school. The celebration carried over to Alumni Day on May 10. Teachers Elson and Cheryle Blunt, along with daughter Karah ’25, join in Westtown’s 215th birthday celebration with a “selfie” posted to social media.
In the spring of 2014, as Friends nationwide began celebrating the 325th anniversary of Quaker education in America, Moses Brown School (Providence, RI) was marking 230 years since its founding. As proof that the Spirit often moves in mysterious and unpredictable ways, an inspiring story about Quaker education — past, present, and future — emerged. Augustine Jones, Principal (Head) of Moses Brown from 1879 – 1904, played a defining role in the history of the school. With a profound reverence for progressive learning and a fascination for technology, he introduced industrial arts and a music program into the curriculum. Recently, Jones’ great-grandson, Dean Woodman ’46, donated $5 million to the school in support of the creation of a Community & Performance Center, thereby helping fulfill his great-grandfather’s dream of a curriculum infused with music and public celebration. Completely flexible in its seating/staging plan, the center will also accommodate Meeting for Worship for up to 500 people and provide one space for the entire Upper School to gather (previously they had to split into two groups). The multi-use facility will allow students of all ages to meet, mingle, perform, and discuss art and ideas in their ongoing search for Truth.
Friend William Penn shares the Mayoral Proclamation with Friends Select students in front of the school.
-
William “Billy” Penn opened the first day of the 2014 – 2015 school year at Friends Select School (Philadelphia, PA) on September 8. It was the 325th opening day for Friends Select which, along with William Penn Charter School, traces its roots to 1689. Penn read a Mayoral Proclamation marking this milestone to 600-plus students, faculty, and staff. The community viewed a 10-minute film that presented a 325-year timeline of major school and world events, celebrated with an anniversary birthday cake, and received copies of a specially commissioned 325th anniversary coloring and puzzle book, which the school will use for education, community building, and admission and marketing purposes throughout the year. The school also developed a 325th logo, and the winter issue of Select News, the school’s alumni/ae publication, will be devoted solely to the 325th. A gallery exhibit of artifacts and photos spanning the history of the school was on display in September.
With a history dating back to 1681, Rancocas Friends School (Rancocas, NJ) is one of a few small Friends nursery schools established by meetings and in Friends meetinghouses prior to 1689. It has operated as a school for most of the years since 1681. The school marks its history in different ways throughout the year. When school is not in session, the one-room schoolhouse is open for tours, and every two years during the Christmas holidays the school hosts talks about its history. “The school is important to Rancocas Friends Meeting and to the town,” says headmistress “Teacher Nora” Dunfee. “It’s right in the center of town, literally and figuratively.” A written history is available on their website at rancocasfriendschool.org.
When William Penn Charter School (Philadelphia, PA) community members returned for the 2014 – 2015 academic year, they were greeted by avenue banners celebrating the 325th anniversary of the school and the beginning of a yearlong observance of that milestone. The Penn Charter opening faculty meeting in August was the first major event: teachers and administrators spent a full day at Pennsbury Manor, the site of William Penn’s colonial home along the Delaware River. In October, Peggy McIntosh, a national leader on equity and diversity in education, will deliver the Hubben (Quaker) Lecture to faculty and speak to parents; John Hunter of the World Peace Games will spend the day with students; and the entire Penn Charter community will come together for a 325th gala. More details on other 325th anniversary activities at Penn Charter were included in the winter 2014 issue of Chronicles of Quaker Education.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
on Peace, Conflict, and Justice
2nd Annual Student Voices Project Share your voice! Calling all middle school and high school students to contribute to the Friends Journal community of readers. Written submissions and visual works both welcome.
Get published! Select pieces will be featured in the April 2015 issue. Go to Friendsjournal.org/studentvoices for more information and to submit to the project. Deadline is January 5, 2015. Our mission is to communicate Quaker experience in order to connect and deepen spiritual lives.
Leading in the Light
The Friends Council Leadership Award for Service to Society Friends Council celebrated the 325th anniversary of Quaker education in America with a Leading in the Light celebration on April 24, 2014 in the historic Arch Street Meetinghouse. More than 200 Friends school educators from around the world gathered to pay tribute to the long history of Quaker education and its vital presence in the world today. On hand for the occasion was Second Lady Jill Biden, who presented the first Friends Council on Education Leadership Award for Service to Society. The award went to two Friends school educators at Westtown School, Kwesi Koomson and Melissa Schoerke Koomson, for their work establishing Heritage Academy, a PK – 12 independent school in Ghana, and the Schoerke Foundation, which supports the school with scholarships. “. . . Kwesi and Melissa Koomson embody the very best in Quaker education, but also the very best in basic humanity,” said Dr. Biden. “Their work in Ghana speaks for itself: thousands of children given new hope and confidence, regardless of age, background, or disability.“
“ For 325 years, an education at a Friends school has been grounded in a very basic, core belief: ‘there’s that of God in every person’ . . . the teachers I knew at Friends school looked at every child and said, ‘There’s that of God in every child.’ The teachers at Friends school worked hard and consciously to make my sons, our sons, feel valued. They embraced them every moment.” Dr. Jill Biden
Kwesi and Melissa Koomson
Quaker Pilgrimage 2014
Connecting to our Quaker roots
Top row (left to right): Grace Sharples Cooke, Denise Coffin, Liz Hutson, Chris Kimberly; Middle row: Deborra Since Pancoe, Irene McHenry, Randy Granger, Nancy Wilson; Bottom row: Beth Schneider, Gray Goodman, Irene McHenry, Manjul David
In every even-numbered summer since the 1970s, Friends Council on Education and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting have sponsored a Quaker Pilgrimage to the birthplace of Quakerism in the magnificently beautiful Lake District of England. The July 2014 Pilgrimage group included teachers, administrators, and trustees from Abington Friends School (PA), Delaware Valley Friends School (PA), Friends School of Haverford (PA), Mary McDowell Friends School (NY), Moorestown Friends School (NJ), Princeton Friends School (NJ), Sidwell Friends School (DC), and William Penn Charter School (PA). Friends school educators were enthusiastic participants, learning more about the beginnings of Quaker worship and the energy, spirit, and vibrant commitment of early Quakers. One teacher remarked, “Visiting 17th century meetinghouses and talking with Quaker historians increases my ability as an educator to translate the vision and inspiration of early Quakers to others and to strengthen connections with the roots and traditions of Friends.” Our group experienced the places where early Friends lived, gathered, worshiped, traveled, preached, and suffered. We climbed Pendle Hill, toured Margaret Fell’s Swarthmoor Hall estate, worshiped with British Friends in meetinghouses from the late 1600s, enjoyed the windswept vista from Firbank Fell, learned even more Quaker history at the Quaker Tapestry in Kendal, and visited the prison in Lancaster where many early Friends were imprisoned. We found ourselves wondering if we would have the courage to stand up for our beliefs and values in the face of the kind of oppression and pressure experienced by Friends in the late 1600s. The next Quaker Pilgrimage, led by Friends Council, will take place July 11 – 17, 2016. Registration opens September 1, 2015; space is limited so plan ahead. For more information contact Deborra@friendscouncil.org.
NEWS OF GIVING AND SUPPORT Giving to a “unique and valuable resource”
Mark and Cynthia Kuhn
Mark and Cindy Kuhn have been connected to Friends education for thirty years. Their two children graduated from Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC, and Mark has served as a member of the Board there for more than twenty years. They credit Friends education with being formative in the development of the young adults their children have become. Mark and Cindy have been strong and steady donors to Friends Council on Education for more than ten years, supporting the Friends Council Annual Fund, the Leadership Institute, and the new National Endowment for Quaker Children. Mark serves on the Friends Council on Education Board and is Assistant Clerk of the Finance Committee.
“ We believe that education is essential for the future of society and feel that a Quaker education, in particular, equips young people to be responsible to and productive in a worldwide community. We are pleased to support Friends Council on Education, which provides a unique and valuable resource to support Friends schools and their educators nationally.“
Welcome New Heads Mara Y. Nicastro, Friends Meeting School, MD Melissa Zimmerman, George Fox Friends School, PA Michelle Blackwell, Goshen Friends School, PA Daena Berdougo, Gwynedd Friends Preschool & Kindergarten, PA Suzanne Fogarty, Lincoln School, RI Mary Gerofallo, Oak Lane Day Care, PA Bill O’Flanagan, Orchard Friends School, NJ Thomas Weber joins Christine Ashley, Scattergood Friends School, IA Ellis Turner, Sidwell Friends School, DC (interim) Bryan Garman, Sidwell Friends School, DC (effective Jan. 2015) Brian Fahey, West Chester Friends School, PA Barbara Hershman, Westbury Friends School, NY Appreciation and best wishes on new journeys to the following Heads: Pam Callantine, Jennifer Hoopes Eckert, Elizabeth Enloe, Tom Farquhar, Wilford Graham, John Keeley, Juliet Lane, Lynn Oberfield, Tom Richards, Ann Sullivan
Moses Brown’s MB 2030 strategic design process includes community, business, and education leaders from throughout Rhode Island to help the school respond to the educational needs of its current preschoolers so they can prepare to be future leaders and contributors to the success of their state. At New Garden Friends School, a new partnership with Guilford College will allow children of Guilford faculty to attend New Garden at reduced-rate tuition. And at Westtown, a new Science Institute invites not just Westtown students but students from throughout the Delaware Valley to become the innovation leaders of tomorrow. I am confident that these four initiatives are representative of efforts at most of our member schools to extend or change the boundaries of what we have historically considered within our stated missions. Although each individual initiative is not necessarily transformative by itself, these collective forays into the future could begin to create a path for all Friends schools to follow for the decades to come. It will be Friends Council’s job to ensure that all of our schools have access to these “ways forward,” to connect leaders and colleagues across Friends schools, and to continue to witness and note best practices for the Friends schools of the future. I am thrilled to begin my service at Friends Council. It is my sincere hope that our work here will honor 325 years of Friends education by ensuring that Quaker schools serve as role models for how to prepare children to lead our world in the spirit of integrity and peace.
Friends Council on Education
Drew Smith Executive Director
It is truly an honor to follow Irene McHenry as Executive Director of the Friends Council on Education (FCE). Under her leadership, the Council has inspired Friends school faculty, administrators, and trustees to become more mindful practitioners of Quaker testimonies in education, better stewards of our schools and their financial resources, and connected each school to the others, as true peers and collaborators. The Council is a thriving organization, and I intend to work with my colleagues to ensure that the camaraderie, scholarship, and programs established during Irene’s tenure continue to flourish well into the future. It will not be enough, however tempting, for Friends Council to rest on its impressive laurels. We should recognize the great gift of a firm foundation upon which to build our Quaker schools of the future. To me, it is not a question of whether or not the future holds a place for Friends schools, for I believe that it does; rather it is the form of the delivery of education, the composition of our student bodies, and the financial underpinnings of our schools that present us with a set of evolving queries, the answers to which will sustain us through the 425th anniversary of Quaker education. Many of our schools have initiated programs or procedures designed as potential answers to the challenges ahead. Penn Charter’s Center for Public Purpose seeks to extend the mission of the school to include Penn Charter as an important community resource for struggling neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
Power, Privilege and Leadership Symposium — a mini WPC October 24, 2014 (evening) – October 25, 2014 Friends Council is part of a collaborative team of regional organizations offering this White Privilege Conference symposium.
Head Gatherings
REGISTER NOW online at www.friendscouncil.org
Annual Fall Heads Gathering, October 16 – 17, 2014, Pendle Hill Heads New to Friends School Headship, October 16, 2014, Pendle Hill Elementary Heads Gathering, April 26 – 28, 2015, Chestnut Hill Friends Meetinghouse Secondary Heads Gathering, April 23 – 24, 2015, Friends Center and Moorestown Friends School Heads of Small Friends Schools (hosted by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Heads), December 5, 2014, at Greenwood Friends School, Millville, PA
Workshops
Peer Network Events and Head Gatherings
Educators New to Quakerism, Pendle Hill: November 10 – 11, 2014 March 2 – 3, 2015; April 9 – 10, 2015 Registration for 2014 – 2015 opens August 1, 2014 Facilitating Quaker-Based Decision Making in a Friends School October 27, 2014 with Arthur Larrabee at Friends Center, Philadelphia Guiding Students in Quaker-Based Decision Making October 20, 2014 facilitated by Kiri Harris and Deborra Sines Pancoe at Friends Center, Philadelphia
Creating a collaborative “way forward” for Friends education
Trustee U: Governance Programs for Trustees
Development, Admissions & Public Relations May 4, 2015, Friends Center Diversity, February 9, 2015, Friends Center Division Directors & Assistant Heads Conference, November 21, 2014, Friends Center Early Childhood Educators, April 16 – 17, 2015, Location TBA Friends Environmental Educators Network (FEEN), April 29 – May 1, 2015, Germantown Friends School Heads’ Assistants, November 6 – 7, 2014, Pendle Hill Librarians, February 6, 2015, William Penn Charter Quaker Life in Lower & Middle Schools, November 7, 2014, Friends Center Quaker Youth Leadership Conference, February 5 – 7, 2015, Tandem Friends School Service Learning with National Network of Schools in Partnership, November 17, 2014, Friends Center U.S. Religion Teachers, December 8, 2014, Friends Center Three online sessions in the fall: October 7, October 21, and November 4, 2014 “Productive Conversations: Best Practices in Board Decision-Making”
Friends schools across the country celebrate
of Quaker education
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Philadelphia, PA Permit No. 248
325
1507 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 215.241.7245 • info@friendscouncil.org • www.friendscouncil.org
Reflections
Experiential Professional Growth for Faculty, Staff, and Trustees in Friends School
Quaker Education CHRONICLES OF