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
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