Quaker Education
CHRONICLES OF
WINTER 2012
Friends Council on Education
Celebrating 80 Years of Sustaining the Spirit More than ever before, today’s world needs the values embedded in Friends education: peace, social justice, community building, integrity, and respect for others. Our schools create deliberate moral communities that value the process of reflection and inquiry, and are rooted in the fundamental Quaker belief in truth as a process of continuing revelation. Nurturing the vigor and growth of Friends education for 80 years, Friends Council on Education supports the development of teachers and leaders who, in turn, shape the development of persons to become creative thinkers, peacemakers, and confident humanitarians, contributing to responsive and responsible public leadership in the world. Through the years we’ve had the good fortune to work with tens of thousands of educators and trustees in Quaker schools. In this special 80th anniversary issue, we share highlights and reflections on the Friends Council’s impact on and support for Quaker education and Friends schools. The Friends Council on Education has created a community of leadership. It has been a vehicle for sharing best practices and insights among all Friends schools, from the smallest to the largest. It’s the single most useful institution for those in leadership positions at Friends schools. Another key piece of work is how the Council is preserving the vision and mission and vitality of what it means to be a Quaker institution. How does our Quaker heritage set us apart from every other school? Meeting for worship is central. Diversity is valued, as is open discourse. Those are some of the things that set Friends education apart. The Council has helped preserve these qualities, and Irene McHenry’s leadership and vision have been key to that effort. Bruce Stewart Head, Abington Friends School (Abington, PA) 1984 – 1998 Head, Sidwell Friends School (Washington, D.C.), 1998 – 2009 Board of Directors, Friends Council on Education, 2001 – 2009
The Council’s SPARC [Spirited Practice and Renewed Courage] program helped me see my own role as a Quaker educator in my school. It helped me model for my students that this academic process is also religious and spiritual and deeply personal. I remember that they gave us the book Teaching with Fire. I still use that in my class in different ways. I never used poetry in my classes before. I’m a history teacher! I don’t do poetry. But that book has been invaluable for centering students and providing space and time for reflection. Lee Payton William Penn Charter School (Philadelphia, PA) Board of Directors, Friends Council on Education, 2011 – present The Council’s Leadership Institute is such a rich experience that I find it hard to put into words. You get to reflect on your path and yourself, and do research. In my action research, I focused on professional development. Out of that my school now has a useful tool for teacher professional development that is also benefitting administrators and support staff. The Institute was a bonding experience and provided a process for thinking like a leader. I highly, highly recommend it. Michelle Holland Lower School Principal, Friends School of Baltimore (Baltimore, MD) Board of Directors, Friends Council on Education, 2008 – present The nine Quaker schools in the UK look towards the Friends Council on Education as a gangly adolescent looks up to a super hero: if only we could be like that! What we have admired from a distance is the FCE website and published resources, many of which have a resonance and direct relevance for the UK schools. The training courses are perhaps a little distant for us to attend, but there have been some visits across the Atlantic in both directions for Heads Conferences. Most recently, four UK Heads were delighted to visit Philadelphia and share in the Fall Conference for Heads of School, taking in some school and college visits along the way, and seeing FCE headquarters as well. The work of the FCE is an inspiration, and we look forward to developing ways — perhaps virtually as well as actually — to make better use of our trans-Atlantic, shared Quaker heritage and practice. Happy 80th Anniversary! Jonathan Taylor Head of School, Bootham School (York, UK) I found out about the Friends Council when I was a young head of school. Those overnight meetings for all heads of Friends schools influenced me and helped me more than anything. I came with hundreds of questions. The support I got from other heads carried me from one year to another and offered me a group of mentors who were always willing to take my calls and answer my questions. This is my 19th year and I still go every year to that conference. I feel good that now I can give back by giving support to today’s new heads of schools. Debbie Zlotowitz Head of School, Mary McDowell Friends School (Brooklyn, NY) I first learned of the Council as a new teacher in 1966, and have been associated with it ever since. I have watched FCE become increasingly aware that it must be the flagship organization to find and foster leadership and governance in Friends schools. Irene McHenry has developed that concern to a significant and professional level, focusing on what makes a Friends school a Friends school and how the Council can support that. As a result, the programs are very rich. . . . The Council does a tremendous amount with a tiny staff. It’s regarded as an important institution — and a leader — in Quaker education, particularly in this country but internationally as well. That’s fantastic. Eleanor Elkinton Germantown Friends School, 1966 – 1974; 1980 – 2006 Friends Council Board, 1987 – 2004; Clerk-1997 – 2003
A Publication of the
Evolving Witness: 1931 Hadassah and Morris Leeds, along with representatives from three yearly meetings, Friends General Conference, 12 secondary schools, 13 elementary schools, and three Quaker colleges found “a national consultative organization for all Quaker schools.”
1967 Support from Susannah Vanderpoel Clark’s will provides resources for the Council’s Board to hire its first executive director, Thomas S. Brown.
1996 The Council’s Technology Committee launches E-Quakes to facilitate dialogue among Quaker school educators (forerunner of www.friendscouncil.net).
1968 Annual Grants Program is launched to benefit schools. During this 80th anniversary year, FCE is providing $188,300 in grants to schools including tuition aid for students, financial aid for attending FCE programs, Ravdin Fund aid for financial sustainability consultants, Leadership Institute scholarships, and Quaker testimony projects in schools.
1934 The first meeting of a “peer network” for Upper School religion teachers.
2003 SPARC, Spirited Practice and Renewed Courage, a two-year experiential, contemplative program, lights up and lifts up teachers in Friends schools, and continues to do so today.
1970s Friends Council supports Carolina Friends
1940s In response to World War II, Friends Council helps schools take children from overseas in cooperation with American Friends Service Committee.
1949 Teachers gather at Pendle Hill for the first residential conference for educators new to Quakerism and Friends Education (now known as ENTQ).
1963 David
David Mallery (left) and Paul Lacey
Through its programs and services, the Council constantly strives to meet the changing Below are highlights of the Council’s work over 80 years to sustain the essential Quaker
Mallery joins the Council staff, offering enrichment programs for teachers, providing inspiration, renewal, and “inordinate doses of encouragement.”
School in its struggle to prevent the state of North Carolina from taking control of nonpublic education.
1978 Holly Locke begins providing programs and consultations on curriculum, teaching, and learning for Friends schools. 1981 Adelbert Mason, Executive Director, leads the Council’s first fundraising campaign for the Council’s 50th anniversary. 1984 Supported by the Edward E. Ford Foundation and Tyson Family Fund, FCE begins a study of how Friends schools contribute to the moral/ethical development of high school students. Study results are published in 1988 in Embracing the Tension.
Reflections on Friends Council’s 80th Anniversary More than 40 years ago, Byron ForbushÊLi}> Êà >À }Ê ÃÊÌ> i ÌÃÊ> `ÊÜ Ã` ÊÜ Ì Ê À i `ÃÊ Õ V Ê Ê `ÕV>Ì ]Ê to the benefit of Quaker educators everywhere. Byron was the head of Friends Academy (Locust Valley, NY) and Friends School of Baltimore, from1960 to 1998. Byron also served two terms in two different decades as clerk of the Ê >À`Ê vÊ ÀiVÌ ÀÃÊ£ ÈnÊqÊÇ£ÆÊ£ ÎÊqÊ Ç®°Ê ÃÊÀiyiVÌ ÃÊ ÊÌ iÊ Õ V ½ÃÊnäÌ Ê> ÛiÀÃ>ÀÞÊ Õ >ÌiÊÌ iÊ}À ÜÌ Ê and maturation of both the Council and, more generally, Quaker education in the U.S. and internationally. I was fortunate to be clerk of the FCE Board of Directors in 1967 when the Clark Foundation made its first grant to the Council. The possibility of hiring an Executive Director was the result and Tom Brown, former head of Olney Friends and Westtown School, took the leadership role. In my three years as clerk, Tom led us to discover how the Council might reach out. He was especially keen on developing Meeting for Worship in our schools, and the need to highlight the appropriate role of trustees. Twenty-five years later, Kay Edstene called me to Philadelphia to consider becoming clerk of the board once again. I accepted and I recall the painful decisions we made to right the budget. Under Kay the Council continued to thrive — taking on new projects, establishing new workshops, and working with clusters and schools in various areas. Kay continued the practice of her predecessors by visiting schools in difficulty, meeting new challenges and consolidating the efforts of many, always seeking to find better ways to serve all of Quaker education. I recall with special fondness the biannual meetings of Quaker heads. These were unequivocally the most important professional meetings of all those I attended. In the beginning we met near Moorestown Friends School in a “cabin” at Camp Dark Waters near the cranberry bogs. From New Jersey, we then gathered at Fellowship Farm near Pottstown, PA, for years and then at Pendle Hill. This is where I first met Jack Gummere (Penn Charter), Dick McFeeley (George School), Larry Blauvelt (Friends Select), Dan Test (Westtown) — and in later years Charles Hutton (Wilmington),
Ted Withington (Friends Academy), Bob Smith (Sidwell), Fred Calder (Germantown), Earl Harrison (Sidwell), Earl Ball (Penn Charter) and Joyce McCray (Friends Seminary) — the list could go on and on. These were the men and women I admired and from whom I learned. The ideas, the inspiration, and the practical application one could find in no other place. It would be impossible to assess the value of the Friends Council on Education. In some form or fashion it has touched the lives of tens of thousands in Quaker education and has been of assistance to every Quaker secondary and elementary school in the United States. Friends Council is the only coordinating body of Quaker elementary and secondary education. It fosters ways to improve our schools. It is involved in training our teachers, providing service to our trustees and administrators, providing workshops in many areas, and encouraging networking among schools. The Council offers a Leadership Institute and it assists in the establishment of new schools and helps fledgling institutions. It creates publications of use to schools, provides small grants to schools, and can direct our schools to appropriate individuals and resources for assistance. At its heart is the constancy of seeking ways to maintain the Quaker center of our institutions. From its founding in 1931 the Council has grown, changed, and adapted to meet the unique needs and interests of Quaker education throughout the United States.
2003 The Institute for Engaging Leadership Ê À i `ÃÊ-V Ã is launched, and today is successfully endowed for the future with 59 graduates to date.
2005 The William and Mary Ravdin Fund is established in honor of Bill’s dedicated service in consulting for advancement and sustainability for small Friends schools.
News of Giving and Support -ÕÃÌ> }ÊÌ iÊ-« À Ì Susan Hopkins is a member of Pacific Yearly Meeting, a loyal Friends Council donor and inspirational Friend. Susan is a member of our Evergreen Circle of Friends and long-time supporter of Council programs — the first Early Childhood Educators’ conference and the Ravdin Fund, which provides consulting to small schools. Susan is the author of numerous publications including Thinking Together with Young Children: Weaving a Tapestry of Community. We celebrate Susan’s wisdom on philanthropy: “It is my perspective that seeking ways to help promote a less violent world through assisting like-minded organizations with their financial commitments is a gift I can offer. The work of peace-making costs money. Education costs money. Money is the gift which makes it possible to create a more just and safe world.”
`Ê iÜÃÊ Last fall we announced our 80th anniversary challenge match for all new and increased gifts up to $8,000 — and we made it! Thank you to the generous donors who s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to give to the 2011 – 12 Annual Fund.
iÊ" iÊ vÊÌ iʺ À i `ÃÊ Õ V Ênä»ÊÊ Now that we made the match, we’re focused on our goal of raising $80,000. To do that, we’re aiming for 80 new gifts this year. If you’ve never donated to the Annual Fund before, you could become one of the 80! Or encourage someone you know to become a donor, and help us “create a more just and safe world,” through educating for peace, as Susan Hopkins says.
näÌ Ê ÛiÀÃ>ÀÞÊ,i} > Ê,iVi«Ì à These intimate gatherings scheduled around the country provide a chance for supporters and their guests to meet with Executive Director Irene McHenry, hear about our rich history, learn about current services, and participate in a discussion of future initiatives. For more information, contact Amy Ward Brimmer, Director of Outreach and Development, 215-241-7533, amy@friendscouncil.org.
needs of Friends schools and amplify the voice of Quaker education. identity of Friends education and strengthen the network of Friends schools and educators.
2007 Foundation support launches Governance
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and 30 Friends schools sponsor and host more than 300 educators for a screening of a documentary film on the life of Bayard Rustin at the NAIS People of Color Conference.
Matters!, a major initiative for trustee training providing regional workshops, web-based tools and resources.
2009 Council Executive Director Irene McHenry is named board president for CAPE, Council for American Private Education. In 1971, Friends Council joined seven other associations of religious schools to found CAPE. Joyce McCray, former head of Friends Seminary, and Bob Smith, former head of Sidwell, have served as CAPE executive directors, and Kay Edstene served as president concurrent with serving as executive director of Friends Council.
O Funding
from Thomas Scattergood Foundation, which must be matched, will support three years of training and research in mindfulness-based stress reduction in Friends schools.
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Council is serving on the planning team for the NAIS annual conference to be held in Philadelphia in 2013.
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Council is working with schools to plan the 325th anniversary of Quaker education in 2014.
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2011 O Friends
Council takes up responsibility for administering and raising funds for Friends Education Fund, www.friendseducationfund.org. from Edward E. Ford and a family foundation will provide three years of Governance Matters innovative web-based programming to launch in 2012.
Friends Council’s strategic initiatives focus on sustaining the Quaker identity of Friends schools, strengthening Friends school governance, lifting up diversity work in Friends schools, amplifying the national voice of Quaker education, and increasing financial stability and resources for the work of Friends Council and for Friends schools.
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THANK YOU v ÀÊÞ ÕÀÊÃÕ«« ÀÌÊ vÊÌ ÃÊÜ À °
À i `ÃÊ Õ V Ê*ÕL V>Ì Ã Since its founding in 1931, Friends Council has published books, pamphlets, and web materials on topics ranging from governance and diversity to mindfulness and Quaker renewal, which are available from the Bookstore, www.friendscouncil.org.
1931 The Place of the Quaker School in Contemporary Education by John Lester.
1950 First edition of The Courier, forerunner of Chronicles of Quaker Education.
1970 First edition of Quaker Educational Graffiti, a newsletter for Friends schools.
1988 Embracing the Tension, a study of moral growth in Quaker secondary schools.
2001 Chronicles of Quaker Education, first edition of today’s classic newsletter highlighting the Quaker philosophy and practice of education. Growing into Goodness, Paul Lacey’s comprehensive essays on Quaker education over the past 300 years (Pendle Hill publications in cooperation with Friends Council on Education). The Quaker Decision-Making Process: What is it? How can we use it in a Friends school? — a key resource for schools.
2002 New Friends School Kit, designed to respond to the many requests from inspired individuals and groups who feel led to start a Friends school. Coping Strategies and Positive Actions, a sharing of Friends schools’ initial responses to the crisis of September 11, 2001.
Friends Council Leaders
2002 Governance Handbook for Friends Schools.
The Council has been blessed with thoughtful, forward-thinking leaders, board members, committee members, program consultants, and peer network facilitators. We thank everyone who has helped make Friends Council on Education a vital, thriving network. Special thanks to these leaders:
2003 www.friendscouncil.org launches a new website
ÝiVÕÌ ÛiÊ ÀiVÌ ÀÃ Thomas Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1967 – 77 Adelbert Mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1977 – 88 Kay Edstene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1988 – 00 Earl Harrison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2000 – 01 Irene McHenry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2001 – present
iÀ ÃÊ vÊÌ iÊ >À`Ê vÊ ÀiVÌ ÀÃ J. Henry Bartlett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931 – 33 Stanley R. Yarnall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1933 – 36 Harold E. B. Speight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1936 – 40 Wilmot R. Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1940 Anna Cox Brinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1940 – 44 Frances B. Blanshard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1944 – 46 William Eves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1946 – 50 E. Newbold Cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1950 – 57 Rachel Letchworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1957 – 60 Oscar E. Jansson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1960 – 68 Byron Forbush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1968 – 71 Rachel Letchworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1971 – 75 Clayton Farraday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1975 – 90 Dulany Bennett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1990 – 93 Byron Forbush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1993 – 97 Eleanor M. Elkinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1997 – 03 Lisa A. H. Darling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2003 – 05 Darryl J. Ford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2005 – 06 Martha Brown Bryans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2006 – 10 David Tomlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2010 – present Pictured from top to bottom: Adelbert Mason & Clayton Farraday, Darryl Ford, Irene McHenry, Kay Edstene & Earl Harrison, Lisa Darling & Ellie Elkinton, Martha B. Bryans.
(Revised second edition is published in 2009.) filled with rich resources on Quaker education for Friends schools and the general public.
2004 Readings on Quaker Pedagogy, reflections on what makes a Friends education distinctive in philosophy and practice.
2005 Principles of Good Practice for Friends School Boards and for Every Trustee, a valuable companion piece to the Governance Handbook. Schooled in Diversity Action Research: Student and African-American Alumni Collaboration for School Change (includes course guide).
2006 The Care Relationship: Friends Schools and the Religious Society of Friends, lifting up best practices for meeting-school relationships.
2008 Advices & Queries for Friends School Community Life, developed from Faith and Practice documents of 26 yearly meetings. www.friendscouncil.net, online forum for faculty, staff, trustees in Friends schools, colleges, and affiliates.
2009 Tuning In: Mindfulness in Teaching and Learning, a collection of essays by teachers creatively integrating mindfulness practice in their daily endeavors. Philadelphia Friends Schools, published by Arcadia, tells the story of Quaker education through images from 10 schools founded before the 20th century.
2011 What Does a Friends School Have to Offer? the quintessential pamphlet redesigned with photos from Friends schools.
2012 The Praeger Handbook of Faith-Based Schools in the United States, K–12, to be published in August by ABC-CLIO, a historical overview of faith-based schooling in the United States, includes Quaker education and Friends Council on Education.
1. The objective of education is to make desirable changes in the way of living;
We may define education as continuous reconstruction of individual and group living to ever higher and richer levels. . . . That the coming years will be critical in the history of private schools is certain. Their right to survive will be exercised only when they become (first) pathfinders in education, and (second) pioneers in producing efficient, rich, and beneficent living in the boys and girls they nourish. . . . It is not by chance that the doctrines of modern education have found so warm a welcome in Quaker schools. . . . Notice three striking fundamental agreements:
Words from an initial address to the Friends Council in 1931 can serve us as inspiration today. Dr. John A. Lester, founding volunteer executive secretary, urged Friends schools to lead in preparing children to address contemporary problems in “The Place of the Quaker School in Contemporary Education.”
Irene McHenry, Executive Director
Happy 80th anniversary, and keep sustaining the spirit!
The persons to influence are our youth: the place for emphasis is the school. The program is definite and inspiring; it awaits the men and women to execute it.
UÊÊÊ/ À`]ÊÌ iÊ«À L i Ê vÊà V > Ê ÌiÀ >Ì > Ê and interracial understanding.
UÊÊ-iV `]ÊÌ iÊ«À L i Ê vÊà V > Ê ÕÃÌ Vi°ÊÊ
UÊÊ ÀÃÌ]ÊÌ iÊ>L Ì Ê vÊÜ>À°Ê
Standing out clearly for solution in the lifetime of our boys and girls now in school are three problems:
Hence the present offers peculiar opportunities for Quaker leadership in education. How urgently the modern scene invites the emphasis, which Quakers have always laid, not only on individual, but also on social reconstruction of living.
Join us to celebrate the Admissions Peer Network, May 21, 2012, Friends Center
näÌ Ê ÛiÀÃ>ÀÞÊ vÊ À i `ÃÊ Õ V Ê Ê `ÕV>Ì Assistant Heads & Division Directors, April 30 – May 1, 2012, Chestnut Hill Meetinghouse
and the
Development & Public Relations Joint Peer Network, March 12, 2012, Friends Center
Since its founding in 1931, Friends Council has been a dynamic, integrating force in Quaker education, promoting resources for peace, social justice, service learning, diversity, mindfulness, stewardship and Quaker renewal, furthering the goals of Quaker education, and voicing Friends school philosophy and practice in the national dialogue on education.
Diversity Peer Network, March 5, 2012, Friends Center
3. The insistence of the modern educator on daily periods of quiet . . . how closely this is related to midweek meeting that our schools attend.
Early Childhood Educators, April 16 – 17, 2012, Pendle Hill
2. The child’s creative urge is the precious stuff to release and to rely on: The best schoolmasters seem to be saying, as clearly as Quakers when they invoke the inner light, “The kingdom of God is within you.”
ÓääÌ Ê ÛiÀÃ>ÀÞÊ vÊÌ iÊ £ÓÌ Ê-ÌÀiiÌ Ê iiÌ } ÕÃi, Educators New to Quakerism, May 3 – 4, 2012, Pendle Hill
the Quaker objective is a new way of life arrived at through spiritual experiences.
Friends Council office. which housed the first
Friends Environmental Educators Network, May 3 – 4, 2012, William Penn Charter School
As the only national organization of Friends schools, and with international affiliates, Friends Council on Education uniquely supports the schools, their teachers, students, and families through programs, publications, networks, and consultations that nurture the schools’ Quaker identity and strengthen connections across schools with mutual understanding and support.
/ÕiÃ`>Þ]Ê «À ÊÓ{]ÊÓä£ÓÊÊUÊʣʫ° ° i À}iÊ-V ÊV> «ÕÃ]Ê iÜÌ Ü ]Ê* Heads of Schools with Secondary Divisions, April 12 – 13, 2012, Friends School of Baltimore
“The Place of the Quaker School in Contemporary Education”
Meeting for Worship and Friends Council Annual Meeting followed by The Bridge Film Festival Awards from 2 – 3 p.m. Heads of Friends Elementary, Nursery, & K-8 Schools, April 29 – May 1, 2012, Chestnut Hill Meetinghouse
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Reflections Photo: 12th Street Meetinghouse (relocated to George School)
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ÊÊ*À }À> Ê > i `>ÀÊq Spring 2012
Quaker Education CHRONICLES OF
Winter 2012