TPS Magazine: Spring 2023, 50th Anniversary Special

Class of 1980

THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL’S FIRST CLASS

Our Roots

In the beginning, there were several instrumental individuals who helped to shape the school. These founders are our ‘roots’ and have been celebrated throughout our school theme this year: From Roots to Branches. Our founders include: Cal Simon and Richard Laden, Lynne and Peter Berman, T. Carter Fussell, Maggie Greif, Christopher and Madge Donner.

“Lynne and Cal dreamed of a school where children would develop their abilities to learn independently, develop their learning skills individually, and be sensitized to the needs and social goals of other human beings.”

FRITZI FRANKS, THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL: THE FIRST TEN YEARS, P.8

“We Believe and We Know–That a school of modest size, with a learning atmosphere of intimacy, openness, and rich variety, can bring education of the highest quality to a mixed group of urban children. Above all, the school will strive to give children a zest for learning; to give them a chance to stretch their minds, to discover their own gifts, and to grow in their individual powers and qualities.”

THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL PROSPECTUS, MARCH 1, 1971

“When I taught at TPS, the school was located in a rented space in a synagogue, Rodeph Shalom Congregation. I worked with kindergarten and first grade when the school started. Those were the grades of the first children who attended TPS. Each year that followed, while I was a teacher at the school, there was a new grade added as those children got older and new children came to the school. By the time I left TPS in 1975, the oldest children were about 8, third grade age.The subjects that were taught were reading, math, science, social studies, music, art and many others. I, particularly, enjoyed teaching French to our students, as well as doing some cooking and craft projects with them.”

“Because there was no physical school for prospective parents to visit, Carter became known as the ‘salesman.’ He traveled to the parents’ homes with cuisenaire rods and Effie and Me books in his efforts to ‘sell’ the teaching philosophy of TPS.”

“In my long experience as a teacher, the world of nature seemed to be forgotten too often by people–both students and teachers–who were cooped up in classrooms for ten months of the year. When I heard that several young parents wished to start a school which would bring their children into a farming community at least a day each week, I was very much in favor of it. In a very short time I arranged to place Sycamore Farm at the use of the school.

I lived over 35 years on Sycamore Farm. I knew every path, tree, and stream. My activity with the students was to walk with them and help them find those things which interested them.

We kept the animals as part of the life we enjoy. Some students make friends with them. Animals, birds, and fish need people as friends and vice versa.”

CHRISTOPHER DONNER, LETTER TO STUDENT IVANA MILIC, DECEMBER 3, 1997

CARTER FUSSELL, INTERVIEW WITH STUDENT EMMA POWERS, APRIL 1997

MAGGIE GREIF, INTERVIEW WITH TPS STUDENTS, JANUARY 27, 2023

Leading TPS

WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL?

“While teaching at Germantown Friends School, close friends of mine, George and Rose Fieo, who were also friends of the newly appointed Head of TPS, Martin Brown, told me that Martin was looking for a Curriculum Director. This would be a dream job–I loved creating, searching for, and implementing effective programs. Short story: I applied and was hired. That led, of course, to becoming Head of School in 1983 when Martin resigned and that became my absolute dream job. What a wonderful journey that was from 1982 to 2006!”

SANDRA DEAN

“I was eager to become a Head of School and had been interviewing at a number of different schools on the east coast. No school felt quite right — and then I interviewed at TPS. TPS was special from the start. I appreciated how the school described itself: its mission, philosophy, and City Country Classroom were intriguing to me. I loved that TPS was a unique progressive school, crafting curriculum, building on themes, working with children and families in meaningful ways.”

AMY VORENBERG

The Philadelphia School has been fortunate to have leaders who envisioned a learning and teaching environment that holds students at the center. From Edward Resovsky, the first Director, to Lisa Sun, our current Head of School, each leader has brought insight, energy, and a much needed sense of humor to the business of running a school. We asked five former heads [Ellen Eisenberg (1975-1982) and Martin Brown (1982-1983) have passed away] and current Head of School, Lisa Sun, to reflect on their tenure.

“I was immediately drawn to the philosophy of progressive education: deep thinking, innovation, and agency at The Philadelphia School. On my first visit, I fell in love with the confident, curious and compassionate students. TPS was and is what I believe every school should be!”

JUSTINE HOFFMAN

“TPS’s progressive philosophy and its commitment to children building their identities as change makers drew me to the school. It’s rare to find a school that sees young children as people whose voices matter, whose ideas are worthy of consideration, and whose relationships are foundational to their growth. TPS builds agency better than any school I know.”

CARLYE NELSON-MAJOR

“From the minute I arrived, it was clear that TPS was a place of joyful learning, warm community, and a school that truly loved and respected children and childhood. That, coupled with an emphasis on deep learning and a commitment to the work of equity, brought me to Philadelphia and to TPS.”

LISA SUN

Ellen Eisenberg (1975-1982)

Martin Brown (1982-1983)

WHAT DID YOU (DO YOU) LOVE DOING DURING YOUR TIME AT TPS?

“When you are as old and curmudgeonly as I am and you are asked to dredge up people, events, etc., from more than 45 years ago, you know memory will fail. The very early-days success of TPS had nothing to do with me. It worked because the Trustees at the time were able to lure Carter Fussell, first head teacher, to work his magic at TPS. He was brilliant with students, and I understand he stayed with the school for a number of years. (Fritzi Franks, in her history of this period The First Ten Years, wrote about the breadth of Ed’s work: “Ed Resovsky, the entire administrative staff, typed his own letters, the tuition bills, and the student reports.”)”

EDWARD RESOVSKY

“What did I love doing at TPS? EVERYTHING, from sitting with preschool during story time, to reading with Primary Unit students, to watching Junior Unit work with Lego Technic and Lego Logo, to listening to Middle School discussing the differences between Athenian and American Democracy, to participating in Spanish games, to walking through the halls on my way to visit classrooms each day while appreciating children’s art on the walls, to listening to chorus and the string ensembles, to working with the incredibly gifted faculty and staff. I especially loved watching a play, musical, or opera written by students that reflected their having benefited from our thematic, interdisciplinary curricula. I loved meeting new families and students, working with the Board and parents and, most of all, receiving hugs from students. To tell you everything would require a book–so I have written one! If you want to know more about what I loved about TPS, you can read Beyond Civics: The Education Democracy Needs.”

SANDRA DEAN

“I loved so many things at TPS! Most of all, the people — the students were engaging and funny; the faculty was a group of smart, dynamic teachers; the administrators were thoughtful; and the Board was supportive and dedicated. I also fell in love with Philadelphia. EATS was a favorite TPS event for me!”

AMY VORENBERG

“My passion was to nurture, support, and honor teachers in their work as professional educators. I loved coaching teachers to reflect and ask questions, to trust their instincts, to embrace new research, to develop innovative curricula, to develop their teaching stances, to ask important questions, and to commit to being responsive to the wonder of evolving childhoods. I also enjoyed helping TPS think more strategically about its vision, mission, and systems. Asking important questions, challenging assumptions, and daring to push boundaries are the heartbeat of a healthy and evolving school. It was gratifying to journey with so many brave leaders, in and outside of the classroom, to lean into the work of encouraging TPS to become a stronger, more cohesive version of itself.”

CARLYE NELSON-MAJOR

“I love seeing evidence of the TPS special sauce-- simple moments of kindness shown by one student to another, learning celebrations, the talent show where everyone cheers for one another, recitals and plays, the 8th grade gift giving ceremony, and, of course, the special relationships that students, parents, and our faculty/staff have with one another over the years.”

LISA SUN

Sandra Dean (1983-2006)

Amy Vorenberg (2006-2013)

Justine Hoffman (2013-2017)

WHAT HOPES DO YOU HAVE FOR THE FUTURE OF TPS?

“Best wishes for your anniversary celebrations.”

EDWARD RESOVSKY

“I hope TPS continues on its journey as a school that celebrates and honors children, leads with both sacred ideals and innovation, and establishes itself as a center for professional development and progressive pedagogy. TPS has all the core ingredients to flourish across these domains; it just needs to lean into being bold. I wish TPS’s leadership bravery and focus as it charts its future as a place where children are seen as agents of impact in and outside the classrooms. The world needs TPS kids to help lead the way to a brighter, more peaceful future.”

CARLYE NELSON-MAJOR

“Under the leadership of Lisa Sun, I know that TPS will continue to evolve. In the process I am confident that TPS will remain committed to its core principles: belief in the strength of community and connections to each other and to the city and the natural world and its mission of fostering empathic, critical thinkers.”

SANDRA DEAN

“I hope TPS continues to be a leader in progressive education, gaining more national recognition for the wonderful work that’s done there with students, families, and educators.”

AMY VORENBERG

“As TPS celebrates 50 years of life long learning, we must all treasure the many traditions, both inside and outside of the classroom, as well as continue to dream big for a prosperous future. TPS is a gem!”

JUSTINE HOFFMAN

“I hope TPS will always be a city school that stays true to our history and values while changing to meet the needs of students. I want TPS to be a school that is accessible to many families in Philadelphia. I want TPS to make an impact on our beloved city. It’s a city that needs change makers and people who care. I want our students to build relationships with organizations that will help others-- I want our students to do good work that will directly improve the lives of the citizens of Philadelphia.”

LISA SUN (2018-PRESENT)

Carlye Nelson-Major (2017-2018)

Lisa Sun (2018-present)

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The Philadelphia School 50th Anniversary

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50 years of Teaching

ROSSCOLBY

• ARIANA COLE • JORDAN

TOSSI AARON • MIRIAM

ABRAMSKY HARLAN

TIZIANA ACERBO • DEVIN

ADAMS • RACHEL ADAMSKAPLAN • LAUREN AEBISCHER

• NOOHA AHMED-LEE • HANK

ALBERT • TIM ALLISON-HATCH

TRICIA AMES BEAUDOIN • JO ANNA

FECKER

ASHCOM

•

• GEORGE ARMSTRONG • BENJAMIN

• EMILY ATTERBURY • BECCA

AURITT • ANNE BAILEY WATTERS • JB BAKER-

MCALLISTER • LISA BALADAD • DEBBIE

BANKS • CARA BANTA • CHANTAL BARR

• KARLOTTA BARTHOLOMEW • STEPHEN

BARTHOLOMEW • DJ BAUCOM • PATTI

BAXTER • ELIJAH BEALE • KATHY BECKER

• NEESA BECKER-PROCACCINO • MATT

BEIERSCHMITT • BETSY BERGER • BECCA

BERTRAND ROBINSON • KATE

BESCHEN • BRENDA BIRDSALL

• MARISA BLOCK

• MAIA

•

COLE • PATRICIA CONQUEST • KATHERINE

COOPER • GRACE CORNACCHIA • BÁRBARA

CORTÍNEZ-MAURER • SHANNON COULTER • CLAUDETTE

COVERDALE • MEGHAN COVINGTON • AMANDA COX • CHITARRA CRAIG • JESSE CRONIN-CONNOLLY •JENA CROXFORD

• DAVID D’ALTORIO • PAUL D’ANGELO • BETTY DARBY • MELANIE

DASH • RACHEL DAULERIO • LESLIE DAY MEEDER • SANDRA DEAN • PAUL DEANGELIS • NICK DEKKER • DONALD DENTON • MARIA DEORTA

• GERALD DESSUS • SYLVIA DEVIETTI •BETSY DEVLIN • ANN DIMEZZA

• CARLA DIORIO • ABE DOAR

• ANNA DONNELLY • CHRIS DONNER • MADGE DONNER • CLAIRE DORPH • MARGARET

DOUGHERTY • CHRIS DOWALO • CHRIS DUNCAN • SHAWN

DYCHES • REBECCA EARLE • CINDA EDGERTON • GEORGE

EDMONDS • OLUTOSIN

EFUNNUGA • HOLLY EIN • ELLEN

EISENBERG • SUSAN ELLMAN • MELISSA EMMERSON • CARMEN

EPSTEIN • MATT ESKIN • CARRIE FAFARMAN • JILL FEIGHAN • BEN FELKER-QUINN • CRYSTAL FERSNER • ELIZABETH FEURY

• RAE FISHMAN • THOMAS FLANAGAN • TRICIA FLEMING • BRITTANY FLIPPEN • KRISTEN FOCA • JESS FORD • KARLY FORD •

SARA FORGIONE • JENNA

BLOOMFIELD CUCCHIARA

• HINDA BLUM • JENNIFER BLYTH

• ANNA BOCKRATH • SUSAN

BODLEY • CATHERINE BOGART-

ROME • JAMIE BOGERT • LACEY

BOLAND • MIKE BONATATIBUS

• KATHY BOOTH

• DONNA

BOSTOCK • LOUIS BRADFORD

• SHEVAUN BRANNIGAN

• BRITTANY BRAZILL • GAYLE

BRECHER MAUSOLF • MYRNA

BRIND • HOPE BRINN • SOPHIE

BRONSTEIN • MARTIN BROWN

• JIM BUMBULSKY • DIANE

BUTLER • RACHEL BUTLER •

GABRIEL BUYSKE-FRIEDBERG

• SKIP CAPUTO • MARYANNE

CARDIA • JULIA CARLETON • KIM

CARTER • JEANNE CASCIOLA

• JOAN GIANNOBILE • JEAN GIZZI • MAUREEN GLACCUM • PENNY GLACKMAN • LISA GLAZER • HEATHER GOLD • ANNELISE GOLDSTEIN • KATHARINE GOODMAN • KIMBERLY GOODMAN • ABBY GORDON • ERIN GORDON • LINDA GOSS • DEBBIE GREEN • LILLIAN GREEN • ELISE GREENBERG •ANNE GREENWALD • KIM GRENTZ • MAGGIE GREIF • JACOB GROSS

• JENNIFER GROVE • JACLYN GRZYMINSKI

• GNANAL GULENDRAN • JOHN GURNEY • DONNA GUTHRIE • ALICE GUTTENTAG KENDALL • ELIZABETH HACKNEY • TRACY

HAGEDORN • RUTH HAINES • KRISTIN HALL • HILARY HAMILTON • OLIVIA HAMMOND • JOSH HANRAHAN • KIMBERLY HAPPOLD • JEFFREY HARLAN • BRIAN HARRITY • SAM HARTMAN • TOM HASTY • MORLEY HAWK MARKS •

• DANIELLA CELLUCHI • PAUL CHAMPION

CHAN

• MAISIE

• KATHLEEN CHAVIS

• JENSEN CHENG • JAMIE

CHOI • KATE CHRISTIANSEN

ANNA CHRISTNER • SHANIKA

CHURCHVILLE • KAITLIN

CINO • LEISH CLANCY • ANNE

•

MONEIRA HAWKINS • KITTY HEILMAN • DAVID HEITLERKLEVANS • JOSH HERREN

• LYDIA HILL • JANE HINKLE

• VALERIE HISCOCK •JUSTINE HOFFMAN • PAM

HOLLAND • NIALL HOOD • FRANCES HOOVER • LIZ

HORVATH • DAVID HUDSON • JANE HULTING

• DANIELLE HUMMEL • JAKE HUNTER

• ALLISON INGERSOLL-COPE • RICK

JACOBSEN

• LAUREN JAMES

•

• CHRIS COFIELD GIGNAC

CLARK • DELAINE COBBS

NIC JAMES

• MARY JANE

•

•

STON-BUSH

Teaching Excellence

//CARLYE//

BARTLEY JEANNOUTE • LAURA JIANG • CINDA JOHNSON •

BRIAN JOHNSON • KATRINA JONES • TIM JONES • HEATHER

JONES • BRIAN JORDAN • YVES KABORE • HANNAH

KALKSTEIN • JANET KALKSTEIN • MOLLY KANE • MARJIE

KATZ • JONATHAN KATZENBACH • ELENE KAVITSKY • SARAH

KEITH • NOELLE KELLICH • MILDRED KELLY • CATHERINE

KELLY MULGREW • LISA KETCHAM • LAUREN KIBBE •

JOAN KIMBALL • ALLISON KIRSHNER OZ • LISA KLEIN

DODI KLIMOFF • RYAN KOLLER • MARCIA KRAVIS • MARYANN

KRAYGER • MIKE KULBIEDA • STEPHANIE KULP • EMMA

LACOUR • DAN LAI • MARLENE LALLY • RASHIDA LANG •

NANCY LANGSFORD CRANE • JANE LATIES • COLEEN

LAW • CRYSTAL LAWS MOORE

• TERESA LAWSON • RUDOLPH

LEA • JORDAN LEE • SUZANNE

LEE • CAROL LERNER • PAM

LETHBRIDGE • ABBY LEVNER

• LAURA LEWIS • JANICE

LIEBERMAN • EMILY LIGHT •

LESLIE LIN • MISSY LINCOLN TAL

• JOY LINDY • REBEKAH LOPATA •

ANNE LOUISE BATZELL • ILENE

LOVITZ • EMMA LUCKMAN • RICK LUND • PAULA LUTERAN • DAN LUTES • TERRY MAGUIRE •

RAJI MALIK • DANA MARCUS • BETH MARGOLIS • ANA MARIE

KEENE • JEFFREY MARLAT

• EMILY MARSTON • BRIGIT

MARTIN • SARAH MARVIN •

LAURA MATHENY • ELIZABETH

MCCANNELL • BERNADETTE

MCCLEARY • KEVIN MCCLELLAN

JR. • TERRY MCCONNELL • DEBRA

MCCRAY • MARGIE MCFALL •

CELESTE MCGHEE • JOE MCGUIRE

MOLLY MCLAUGHLIN • MARY

BETH MCNEISH FEDIRKO •

HORACE MEANS • ROCHELLE

MELANIE DUNCAN • LISA MILES

HOKE • MARIJANE MILLER •

KATIE MILLER • LISA MILLER • PAT

MILLS • NATASHA MITCHELL •

KITT MITCHELL • KAREN MOORE •

LISA MORALES • JEFFREY

MORDAN • AKEMI MORIUCHI

• LINDA MULLEN • REBECCA

MUNTEAN • ANN MURPHY • MATT

MURRAY • JENNIFER NATES

• KATIE NEFF • BETSY NEIVA

NELSON-MAJOR • MADELYNN

NIEVES-RENZ • TERRI O’CONNOR • MADDY

OFRICHTER • SUSAN OLSEN • ASHLEY OPALKA

HALPERN • MADELINE ORTIZ LEONARD • SANDRA

OSTRANDER • MEREDITH PACE • SHEILA PAI • LYNN PAIGE • ERNEST PAINTER • JEEYEON (ANNA) PARK • RACHEL PARKER • ROXANNE PARKER • JUDITH PARKER • JONAH PATTEN • DIANE

PEPE • KENT PETERSON • MARTY PHELAN • SUSAN PHILLIPS • AARON PICHT • MATTHEW PLASTINO • ANATOLE POHORILENKO • DINA

POMERANZ • CORINNA PRINGLE • STEVEN RAMIREZ • YMARI RAMOS •

MISSY RANDOLPH • CONNIE REA • CHRISTY REARDON • ROB

REDEI • ELIZABETH REID SIMMONS • BARBARA REIN

• KAIT RENNA • RAMSEY REYES • SIMON RICHARDSON • ALYSSA RICKELS • CATALINA RIOS • JOHN ROBINSON •

GIOVANNA ROBINSON • JESUS RODRIGUEZ • STEVEN

RODRIGUEZ • JANICE ROFFMAN • MELISSA ROLDANSTILLS • LAURA ROSENGARD

• REEM ROSENHAJ • CARRIE RUCKER • KATHY RUSSELL • ASIMA SAAD-MAURA •TANYA

SALEWSKI • ADELE SALVUCCI

• RUTH SANDY • JACQUELINE

SCHAEFER • NICOLE SCHALLER

• ROSE SCHMIDT • CHRIS

SCHUCK

• KAREN SCHWAID • DEIRDRE SCHWARTZ • ABBIE

SEGAL-ANDREWS • AMY SEGEL

• MITZI SEGEN • DENNIS SEIDEL •

RHONWYN SEIDEL • RACHEL SEIDEL

• NICKI SELTZER • KELLEY SERVALLI • GENVIEVE SHIELDS • KRISTEN SIANI • MARY BETH SIGADO • JOHN SILBAUGH

• EMILY SILBERSTEIN • MARGIE SINGER

• ALISON SINKLER • CLAIRE SMALL •

TORI SMALLS

• JILL SMILEY • KEISHA

SMITH • YASMIN SMITH • EMILY SOFFA

• MEGAN SOFFIN • EMILY SPARKS

• CARRIE SPAULDING • BARBARA STANLEY • LYNNE STEIN • AMPARO STETINA • CAITLIN STEWART • DAVID STILLS • AMINAH SUMNER

FINNEY •ANASTASIA SUMPAOPOL

• LISA SUN • ETHAN TANNEN • CHRIS TARANTA • NORMAN TAYLOR • AMY TEDDER • KATHY TENCH • ROBIN

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OR MORE OF SERVICE

There are many TPS faculty and staff members that have been integral to the development of the school over our 50 years, helping to expand our program, build a renowned curriculum and shape hundreds of students’ learning journeys.

25+ Years

JEFFERY MORDAN Held over 20 roles during his tenure, currently the Director of Systems and Spaces.

LOIS TRAUB WEST Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Communications Director

ELIZABETH ZACK Kindergarten and Primary Teacher

NEESA BECKERPROCACCINO Art Teacher

SHANNON COULTER Music Teacher, Choral Director

MAUREEN GLACCUM Primary and Preschool Teacher, Preschool Director

SUSAN BODLEY Primary Unit Teacher

Fourteen of those faculty and staff members have served over 25 years and are featured here. We thank them for their service and dedication to the school and all their years of commitment to progressive education and The Philadelphia School.

JUDITH PARKER Middle School Teacher

JANET WEINSTEIN Kindergarten and Primary Unit Teacher

DIANE PEPE After School Programming

EMILY MARSTON Middle School Teacher, Associate Head of School

MARCO VELIS Spanish Teacher and Middle School Teacher

STEVE BARTHOLOMEW Middle School Teacher

MIRIAM HARLAN Primary and Third Grade Teacher

Transforming Our Space

From modest classrooms on the third and fourth floors of Rodeph Shalom to the expanded campus that now includes both a Lombard Street and South Street property, The Philadelphia School has always been a “work-in-progress.” Each year, according to architect and former TPS Board member Philip Franks, brought “problems that needed to be solved, ideas that needed to be explored, and experiments that needed to be conducted, using what we had to get as close as possible to what we wanted.”

We asked members of the TPS community who have been involved in the design and, indeed, the redesign of the school environment to reflect on memorable projects, the challenge of translating the school’s integrateddisciplines approach to learning into a coherent design and structure, and what they would like to see in the future.

MEMORABLE PROJECTS

It was difficult for Phil Franks to settle on one or two projects “as all projects were memorable to me.” From building the first cubbies in the 1970s to designing the original preschool on the third floor of the Lombard building in the late 1990s, Phil has always been a champion of flexible spaces and capturing natural light. He remembers an early Lombard Street challenge: “The project was to take an interior room that had no windows but was bordered by hallways on two sides that did have large windows. The staff and students disliked this interior room. It was an unpleasant space. I designed high windows located above eye level on the two sides of the room that faced the hallways that had the large windows: instant transformation! The power of natural light to change the character of the space was amazing, and the staff and the students loved the space.”

Another project brought an unexpected solution to a nagging problem, namely how to transform what had been interior offices for Globe Security into Primary Unit classrooms. Phil remembers: “This space was dark and dismal, lacking any windows. I knew natural light was vital and went looking for ways to get access to it and make it available to each classroom. To my surprise I found that old skylights in the ceiling had been covered and roofed over for many years. The old ceilings and roofing were removed and new large skylights were installed, putting a great deal of natural light into the middle of each classroom. Then large openings were cut into the exterior masonry walls and clear glass blocks installed in these new openings. This glass block section of wall now glowed with natural sunlight and was visible directly across the classroom from the entry doors to the classrooms. The transformation created by the skylights and the glass blocks was wonderful and a stunning surprise to everyone.”

Charles Loomis and Chariss McAfee, architects and former TPS parents, have also been important partners in the design and redesign of the school environment. Charles remembers: “I was involved in many of the almost yearly reconfigurations of the Lombard Street building required by the need to accommodate growth not only in student population but also program. While most of this work was quiet, the challenge of creating flexible

yet intimate spaces that supported multiple modalities of teaching and learning, often with minimum budgetary support, was rewarding. Much of this work was experimental – such as the use of cubbies to define space -and consequently not precious. If some of the deployed devices were deficient, modifications could be quickly implemented. However, decisions about infrastructure were carefully considered in order to allow for future build out and/or reconfiguration, and this interaction of flexibility and fixedness was engaging and reflective, perhaps, of the goals of progressive education.”

Jane Ahn and Jane Lawson-Bell were chairs of the Building Committee in the early 2000s and remark that their time in that role was a relatively “quiet time” in the history of construction projects at TPS. “The most notable part of our work focused on envisioning a more creative and cohesive use of the Lombard side of the campus.” Most memorable for these two architects was the Vision Plan developed for the renovation of the Lombard Building (2016). “This conceptual plan outlined clear circulation paths through the building and a flexible classroom design which could accommodate different class sizes. It also allowed for a more efficient use of the existing three buildings which had been joined together over time.”

Jeffrey Mordan, Director of Spaces and Systems at The Philadelphia School, has been intimately involved with more recent transformations within the Lombard building. A memorable project was the renovation of the second floor which houses the third grade, Junior Unit, several offices, the gymnasium, art studio, and bathrooms. Jeffrey remembers, “The redesign of the second floor space was shocking and immersive. I remember seeing the students’ eyes as they walked up the main stairs into the new hallway, amazed by the bright colors and beautiful built-in cubbies. This was the biggest remodeling of Lombard that I’ve seen recently. The summer renovation of the third floor space for sixth grade, then later the Middle School spaces, were fairly small by comparison - though the opening of the gym in 2000 was certainly eye popping!”

Many of the renovations to the Lombard Street building involved creating spaces more conducive to project work. Phil Franks remembers working with faculty and staff to better organize space. He remembers, “ There were more wall removal projects, continuing the effort to create larger open classrooms as the staff continued to experiment with what did and what did not work for the staff and children. Then came the relocation of the administrative offices from the second floor to the first floor and the desire to create a new main entrance facing Lombard Street. Listening to the administrative staff describe what was needed in their space and how it should function as the front door to the school was a wonderful challenge, and I was able to produce a well-organized and attractive solution that lasted for decades.”

Sometimes our designers were able to work on something entirely new! Charles Loomis and Chariss McAfee were instrumental in creating the Garage theater space. “I believe that the experience of working on the Lombard Street building prepared Chariss and me well for the renovation of the Garage on the South Street property. What in reality was a complex program of developing a theater/gym/meeting space while also simultaneously accommodating additional teaching, break room, and restroom was realized with simple gestures that created a space of great capacity – a theater capable of supporting full theatrical productions – and flexibility for future unanticipated needs. (It is my understanding that the space was very helpful in allowing the school to pivot in the pandemic). Additionally, this

renovation supported and completed the development of the South Street property as a cohesive and integrated indoor and outdoor educational space.”

Key to the success of these kinds of building projects is teamwork. Charles notes, “The development of teams and Integrated disciplines is an essential part of design and construction delivery, and our focus on process not product made working with the school at times seamless.”

Jane Ahn and Jane Lawson-Bell stress the importance of student and staff input in the design process of the 2016 Vision Plan. The key components of the design included flexible classrooms; common spaces for group meetings, space where an entire class can assemble; and natural light in all primary classrooms which provides better learning environment.

Jeffrey Mordan sees progressive pedagogy as key to the success of the garden and play area at the Early Childhood Education Center on South Street. “Every time I walk into the Garden, I’m proud of how it exemplifies our progressive approach to learning. The constantly-changing, student-centered nooks and crannies are inspiring to see in action. Instead of having to go into the woods or our outdoor learning environment, this was the first time we were able to bring nature to us. Planting, playing, building, climbing, hiding, running…it’s all there!”

COHERENT STRUCTURE THAT SUPPORTED AN INTEGRATED CURRICULUM

HOPES FOR THE FUTURE

Phil Franks is most clear about what is important in keeping TPS a vibrant educational environment “First, continue to experiment throughout the journey. Be prepared and capable of change. Second, I’m not convinced that ‘bigger is better’ or that one size fits all, and I would like to see small, scattered satellite facilities, using The Philadelphia School as the model, that continue to search for what works and what doesn’t work as educational environments. I believe the ideal elementary school environment is one where the school is small, located close to where the children live, within walking distance would be ideal, and where the teachers and staff can really get to know each of the students and their families well.”

Charles Loomis echoes the need for experimentation and flexibility. “I would believe that continuing to focus on process, flexibility, and experimentation are essential to an institution committed to progressive education. Winston Churchill’s observation that “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us” is most applicable to TPS. It should be bold enough to change what it was built!”

Jane Ahn and Jane Lawson-Bell look forward to seeing the completed upgrade and renovation of the Lombard Building, including new outdoor play space, an improved multi-purpose room, renovated first floor classrooms, and Lower Level music and STEAM classrooms.

Jeffrey Mordan is excited to be part of the continuing redesign and repurposing of spaces throughout our campus. “I’m so excited to see the same approach we used to animate the second floor spaces (centering the hallway, creating a new, light, and open feel to the classrooms with a flexibility of creating smaller spaces) brought into the Lower Level and first floor spaces. It’s going to be amazingly transformative not only for the building, but for our approach to teaching and learning.”

In addition he looks to the plans for the Lombard yard to create a more inviting play space for older students. “I’m so excited to see the student-centered play space extend to the Lombard yard in a way that is engaging and fun for all learners.”

Phil Franks has this final reflection: “Over my career, I have watched schools grow in the size of their student population and the range of facility standards for space and property. These elementary schools have become insulated and isolated institutions, difficult to change, to adapt, or experiment. They are too often out of touch with the families and children they are supposed to serve. They have become unable to change in response to the needs of the families and children they are supposed to serve. We need to get back to searching and experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.”

Our first students

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT BEING PIONEERS AT THE NEW SCHOOL?

“It felt exciting to be part of a school that picked up and began a new life across town. In the spirit of community and trust, a hallmark of the school’s approach to education, then and still today, students were included in many of the preparations for the big transition. We were shown architectural models, helped to pack everything up, and then invited to make the new space our own.”

To get a sense of what it was like to attend The Philadelphia School in the early years, we asked former students who were among the first to attend TPS to reflect on a number of questions. With the help of former teachers Maggie Greif, Christopher Duncan, and Kent Peterman, we were able to contact a number of these folks and collect these wonderful reflections.

“TPS in the 1970s was a work in progress that I think doesn’t much resemble the current school. I didn’t quite fit in, in part because I was the oldest student with only one agemate. But I can say that I had fun, especially at Sycamore Farm, and learned a lot.”

JONATHAN

DUSHOFF ‘78

“For me, TPS was an extension of home rather than what I imagine school feels like to others. It gave me a very keen sense that the world around us is something summoned up and created by people, as opposed to a foregone conclusion established by long-ago strangers. I came to see the world not as an established fixed set of institutions that exist outside of the humanity they structure. This enabled me to both question the status quo and see myself as a co-creator of the world I stepped into later in my life.”

JENNY LADEN ‘84

“Being a pioneer meant being unencumbered by traditions or expectations or even many rules. It meant feeling as if we were all (kids, teachers, parents) making it up as we went along, and that that was fine. Those of us who stuck around until middle school had, by that time, a longer history with the school than our teachers did. That probably made us (well, me, anyway) a bit too cocky and arrogant. But all of this gave me an early sense that I could speak my mind and my voice would matter and that if something wasn’t working, it could probably be changed; that life was about figuring stuff out together, not following directions and the paths trodden down by others.”

TONY LADEN ‘81

“I’m not sure I thought of myself as a pioneer, but I always had the sense that the school was growing with us. We headed up to the 4th floor when the school outgrew just the 3rd floor, then moved to the new building when two floors were not enough and which gave us some outdoor space in the school yard and nearby Markward Playground. Being at a school where there was no homework worked out well for me, to the point that I was dismayed when my children were assigned homework all throughout their elementary school careers.”

SUSIE BULOVA O’DONNELL ‘80

STEVEN MILLER ‘81

ARE THERE MEMORABLE PEOPLE AND EVENTS THAT MARK YOUR TPS EXPERIENCE?

“My memories from TPS are too numerous to count! Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, building fires, ice skating and tending the garden at Sycamore Farm, studying Mesopotamia, 1976 mock presidential election, movement with Carter Fussell, friends, teachers, so many wonderful experiences that are so vivid in my mind like it was only yesterday.”

JENNIFER CLARK SIMONS ‘76-‘79

“By Middle School, we were running small businesses, dabbling in the stock market (complete with visits to Wall Street), and comparing mythologies from multiple parts of the world (and then writing our own myths). The commonality was to present a balance between how the ancients (in different cultures) explained the world, and how things really happened (maybe) in our day, presenting the world as a complex and ever-changing place – but which could also have room for creativity and fun. Thanks, Chris!”

CHARLES EHRICH ‘74-‘80

“I remember creative writing (aka write down your fantasies) with Carter Fussel. Being able to tap into the creative process has served me well. I remember...trips to the farm with Janet and sometimes her husband Ben. Connecting with animals and nature has also always been a big part of my life. I remember learning music and rhythms and movement with the music teacher Betty. Again, music and movement (aka moving meditation) have played a huge part in my life.”

ROBBIE WILLIAMSON ‘72-’80

“I remember the farm, playing Pharaoh in Joseph, the Taneys, my friends on Waverly St. Hope you are well!”

MICHAEL BRENNER ‘76-’79

“I remember going to Hebrew School as well as TPS in the same building. I remember not knowing what grade I was in, as TPS did not have grade levels per se. I remember getting fries at the Burger King across the street and using the hallway radiators as soccer goals with a chalkboard eraser as the ball.”

WILL BRAVEMAN ‘72-‘79

“The teachers Betty Darby, Christoper Duncan, and even Carter Fussell were always there to listen and explore with me. Whether it was academic, artistic, or musical, they listened to what I had to say. This attitude towards the kids exploring their own ideas has lasted with me to this day. As an artist, the hardest hurdle is usually the confidence to put your idea out there and hope it works. Being accepted, understood, naked in a crowd. I’ve also had lasting friendships with Jason Lerner, Ian Lamont, Jacob Tapper, and Michael Darby, who is no longer with us. I don’t talk to them often, but if I sent them an email, they would reply.”

FABRICE TROMBERT ‘74-’79

“I’m on a Facebook instant message chain right now as I write this for the TPS anniversary. On the chain are many of my closest friends from TPS: Jason and Jason and Jennifer and Jennifer and Liz and Peter. (Joey and Aly, where are you?) They were wonderful friends then, and it’s a joy to still be in touch with them today. Once when Liz (Spikol) and I were talking about our childhoods, I quoted Steven King’s novella The Body, used at the end of the film on which it was based, Stand By Me: “I never had any friends like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?” Indeed. And TPS’s caring and special teachers — Chris Duncan and Janet Kalkstein and John Robinson and so many others — and the school’s innovative ways of letting us learn, Sycamore Farm primary among them, allowed us all to grow together. I was very lucky to have had the experience.”

JAKE TAPPER ‘74-’80

“School plays and musicals were so much fun–especially the production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! I loved the weekly trips to Sycamore Farm. Growing vegetables, feeding animals, playing kickball, etc. was such an amazing experience for a city kid who grew up at 21st and Spruce St. We were fortunate that TPS offered camping trips, trips to Hawk Mountain, and other incredible expeditions that allowed the city kids to explore other parts of the area.”

LIZ BERMAN ‘81

“Yes, I can be too chatty, but those verbal skills served me well in learning different languages, eventually becoming a Spanish teacher and translator in my early career. My messy handwriting wasn’t punished — rather, the TPS teachers noticed what I was writing, not how, encouraging my love of words and fostering the foundation that would lead to 25+ years in journalism and communications. TPS was all love, and I cherish every moment there. Well, except for gym class. I still can’t do a pull-up.”

LIZ SPIKOL ‘76-’80

“TPS is where I learned how to learn. That skill, that ability to understand the learning process that works for me, was the foundation for everything that followed. It allowed me to excel in public school, in college, and in my career. Every new language I learn, every time I take a test for a certification, every time I do a coding interview, I use what I learned at TPS.”

AARON COOLEY ‘81

“I am living in Texas and teaching Freshman English at a fairly rural school in Granbury, Texas called Granbury High School. I have been in education for over 23 years and have done everything from teaching and coaching multiple sports to being an Athletic Director and an Assistant Principal. I got into education partly because of my time at TPS. In high school I did not have teachers who inspired me, so I wanted to become a teacher that kids wanted to have.”

IAN LAMONT ‘72-’79

“I feel extremely fortunate to have attended The Philadelphia School in the 1970s and early 80s. This school instilled curiosity, a love of reading and learning, and taught me to think for myself. What a gift! I consider all of these foundational to the person I am today.”

JENNIFER SEY ‘83

TELL US ABOUT YOUR SUBSEQUENT EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY, YOUR LIFE’S WORK, AND PERHAPS WHAT YOU CAN TIE BACK TO YOUR TIME AT TPS!

by Leonard and Zachary Klehr

Board Memories

Our family entered TPS forty years ago. Zach started Kindergarten in 1983. Three years later in 1986, Lenny joined the TPS Board of Trustees, where he served for 19 consecutive years, his last two years as Board Chair, and then transitioned off the Board in 2005. Lenny remains the longest serving TPS board member of all time. In 2005, Bob Adelson, the incoming Board Chair, asked Zach to join the Board. Eighteen years later, Zach has two sons at TPS, served as Board Treasurer for seven years, and is in his second year as Board Chair.

When we compare notes about our board service (which, candidly, we don’t do often), Zach is often struck by how many of the opportunities and challenges facing the school have remained the same. Lenny is often struck by how much has changed. Both of us hold in deep appreciation the work and commitment of Lynne and Peter Berman and Cal Simon and Richard Laden, who founded the school. Michael Berman, Lynne and Peter’s youngest son, a TPS graduate, current parent, and a long-time trustee in his own right, often quips that early board meetings were simply called “dinner” in his home while growing up.

The Board in the early years faced existential threats to the school: could we meet payroll for our teachers, would our lease be renewed at terms we could afford, would parents take the “risk” of keeping their families in Center City and sending them to an unaccredited, start-up, progressive school that

spent one day a week at a farm, called teachers by their first name, and didn’t have grades? AND…at the same time the Board had to do the mundane, everyday tasks of running a school that didn’t have the means to support an adequate administrative team.

Through the work of the Board, in partnership with the Head of School, all of those existential issues have been addressed and answered. During Jack Adler’s leadership as Board Chair, TPS expanded to include Middle School and completed our independent school accreditation. The Board, under the leadership of Jean Mason and Robert Altman, was able to move the school from a short-term lease at Rodeph Shalom to a longer-term lease at 2503 Lombard. Then under the leadership of Paul Dry, the school acquired 2503 and 2503 Lombard and the nearby parking lots. During Phil Korb and Marianne Emmett’s tenures as Board Chair there was a renewed focus

Leonard Klehr, P’92, P’97, P’04, GP’24, GP’26 Trustee, 1983-2005 | Board Chair, 2003-2005

Zachary Klehr, ’92, P’24, P’26 Trustee, 2005-2014, 2017-Present | Board Chair, 2021-Present

on financial sustainability, the importance of the annual fund, and the long-term resilience of the school.

With our permanent home secured and the recognition of the differentiated education that TPS provided its students, the Board was able to focus on growth and expansion. We leaned on many superb board members, who brought their professional talents to bear, including Phil Franks, Gene LeFevre, and Frank Gould. Frank Gould, who it seemed held every volunteer position, including both TPSA President and Board Chair, oversaw the construction of the Gym.

In 2002, under Hope Comisky’s leadership, the Board undertook a Strategic Planning Retreat focusing on five issues: technology, facilities, school constitutency, finance, and high school. In 2006, the opportunity to purchase a nearby City of Philadelphia Licenses & Inspections “clean and seal” lot and garage presented itself. Bob Adelson, seeing a one-time, irreplaceable opportunity for the school, led the Board as we acquired 2501 South Street, creating a campus for TPS, and an opportunity for future development. Under Dan Diadul’s leadership the school completed a successful endowment campaign, and the Board helped the transition to a new Head of School, Amy Vorenberg. Under Harry Roth’s leadership, we completed the Schwartz-Siegel Early Childhood Education Center, a state of the art, indoor/outdoor space tailor-made for our youngest learners and the Garage Theater, made possible through an extraordinary gift from the Forman/Rice Family, a multi-use facility that in any given day provides space for movement classes, music recitals, Shakespeare performances, all-school assemblies, TPSA dance parties, and so much more.

Despite this recent focus on growth, there have been significant challenges and crises the Board has had to address to protect and sustain the school. Again, the Board rose to the occasion. In 2008, led by our Board Treasurer and a future Board Chair, Gina Moore, with legal advice and assistance from former Board Chair Phil Korb, the Board moved quickly to protect access to our cash reserves, renegotiate our debt, and survive what could have been a calamitous situation. In 2020, COVID hit TPS particularly hard, both as an urban school with limited outdoor space and as one of the first schools to suffer an outbreak in our area. Derek Jokelson, an alumni parent serving as Board Chair, provided calm and steady leadership, and marshalled the talent and resources of our community.

Now, as we emerge from the disruption of the last few years, we are able to refocus our attention on our strategic priorities. In the years just prior to COVID, Jennifer Rice as Board Chair led the school and our broader community through a comprehensive strategic visioning process. Under Jen’s leadership, we refreshed our mission and vision statement, “The Philadelphia School educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. Learn here. Go anywhere.” The process established three core tenets to ground our school going forward: a doubling down on progressive education, a commitment to remain centered on recruiting, supporting, and mentoring outstanding teachers and enhancing our connection to the city through service opportunities, community and cultural partnerships, and place-based learning.

While we highlight many of the strategic initiatives the Board has overseen, it is important to both of us to note that the day-to-day leadership of the school is not done by the Board.

Its primary role is to hire, support, and evaluate the Head of School in executing the strategic plan and upholding the mission and values set by the Board (we use ‘she’ as over our 40 years at the school, the Head of School has always identified as a ‘she’). We have both been fortunate to serve with outstanding Heads of School, each of whom has made TPS what it is today.

Lenny’s entire 19 years on the board was during Sandy Dean’s extraordinary 23-year tenure as our Head. Her commitment to progressive education, the development of our program, and her exceptional ability to hire, train and retain remarkable teachers was foundational to the school we have today. Amy Vorenberg, who succeeded her, refreshed our curriculum, built out our administrative team, and oversaw the development and completion of the Schwartz-Siegel Early Childhood Education Center. Justine Hoffman’s tenure was marked by her skill in communicating the value and differentiated nature of a TPS education, her ability to bring families more deeply into the TPS experience and build our broader community outside of the teacher-student experience in the classroom. Carlyle Nelson-Major was uniquely positioned to serve as our Interim Head of School given her prior experience as a head of school and her depth of knowledge of TPS, progressive education and our community. Lisa Sun, in her fifth year as our Head of School, has navigated our community through the challenges of COVID and is now leading the implementation of Ours to Shape, our strategic vision, which has an ambitious and

exciting plan for broadening our place-based learning, starting on our own campus and expanding beyond, increasing our commitment to experiential learning and leading the way in progressive education. The Board fully supports this plan and has partnered with Lisa, our faculty, and staff in working towards bringing this vision to life.

We have shared the names of some individuals in recounting the role of the Board at TPS. To be clear, the Board is more than the Board Chair or any individual trustee. In fact, the authority of the Board is only vested in the Board as a whole. Over the school’s 50 years, we have had over 200 individuals serve as trustees, led by 19 board chairs, who have hired and supported eight different heads of school. However, we have always had One Board. The Board has provided continuity and served as a stabilizing ballast throughout the school’s five decades of evolution, driving for change when needed and staying the course when appropriate. Having collectively served as trustees for over 34 years (and counting…), we are both amazed and deeply gratified by the dedication and commitment our fellow board members bring to their work and their responsibilities as trustees. It has been an honor to serve as trustees and Board Chairs, we are grateful for those who built and guided the school before us, we are thankful we have been able to contribute to the legacy of TPS, and we are confident in those who will come after us to continue the excellent stewardship of this special and precious school.

Townsend (parent of Grady '28 Rudy '32)

50 years of Progressive Education

by Emily Marston

This radical philosophy (at least for the United States public school system) promoted classrooms carefully arranged to provide a variety of wide-ranging activities designed to motivate and promote learning in a variety of ways. This dynamic view of how a child learns best sought to avoid relying too heavily on activities which require every child to learn the same thing at the same time. Meeting children where they are and supporting their growth are key to this approach.

Another major emphasis, according to the Prospectus published in December of 1970, was providing continuing opportunities for each child to become “ecology-trained.” The founders’ plans for The Philadelphia School included a building in the city and a farm in the country to facilitate learning about urban issues, as well as the fundamentals of environmental literacy and sustainability.

In addition to serving the needs of its students and their parents, TPS would serve the needs of the Philadelphia community as a model for all schools, both public and private, in promoting experiential learning. Learning by doing, tackling real world problems, understanding the interconnectedness of disciplines, and embracing learning as a community became hallmarks of the educational experience at TPS that the founders sought to share with the city.

Over the span of fifty years, this vision of integrated learning, entwining urban and environmental literacy, has developed and matured to include flexible grade groupings, thematic learning and project work, robust outdoor experiences, and an emphasis on social justice. In the following pages, we will look at how the educational model at TPS is articulated at each stage in a child’s journey and what has changed over the years and what remains the same.

The founders of The Philadelphia School envisioned a learning environment closely modeled on the British Infant School concept of the “integrated day” or “open classroom.”

Preschool

At the request of Principal Sandra Dean, Maureen Glaccum, a teacher in the Primary Unit who had come to TPS from a lengthy preschool experience at Beginnings, was asked to create a preschool program for The Philadelphia School. Mary Beth McNeish Fedirko collaborated with the preschool team to reflect on what makes the preschool program special.

In 2000 the TPS Preschool opened on the third floor of the Lombard Building. What once served as storage space was transformed into preschool classrooms for three, four, and five-year-olds.

Back then, we took our time in the stairwell while little legs learned how to climb and descend all thirty-six steps. We even set out for the gym, music, or Spanish rooms long before our specialist classes began to ensure a timely arrival!

Eleven years ago, we packed up our preschool program and traveled one block south to our new home, the TPS Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC). With a single ground floor that transitions into a garden, our classrooms are a far cry from the top floor space with its three flights of stairs. While we miss seeing “the big kids” (many of whom are siblings to our preschoolers), there is great joy in the seamless transition from indoor classrooms to the classroom outdoors. Beloved garden beds and boxes are the platforms for our seed-to-table program where gardening, harvesting, and cooking are cornerstone activities. We used to venture out to Shelley Ridge (and in later years to the Schuylkill Center) bi-annually with

our families in tow. Now once a week during the fall and spring months we take our preschoolers to explore Smith Memorial Playground & Playhouse. Our preschoolers board a yellow bus, and we travel to enjoy playground equipment that encourages children to take risks. We also practice hiking and revel in uninterrupted time outdoors in nature with birds and the occasional squirrel that sneaks into teacher lunches—all with the hum of the city as a backdrop.

Though so much has changed since the preschool’s inception twenty three years ago, one thread remains a mainstay; our unwavering commitment to TPS preschoolers is the gift of PLAY. Learning is joyful when play is central to both environment and experience. A robust classroom community is built when our youngest learners are afforded the depth of time to create rich play scenarios. Our thematic studies and project work either extend the all-school theme or involve a deep dive into an area of interest that has sparked enthusiasm among children and their teachers. Our classrooms hum with the melodic sounds of four and five-year-olds living their lives out loud.

Kindergarten

In its 50 years Kindergarten at TPS has changed names and spaces, has shrunk and then grown, but the values haven’t changed.

Kindergarten has always been a place where children are encouraged to be curious, to explore, to discover, and to learn, where they are taught academics and social skills that will help them throughout their lives. The teachers have changed over the years, and some specifics of the program have changed, but the big picture remains the same.

Kindergarten teachers have always based parts of the curriculum on children’s interests. “Theme changed every year in the Primary Unit; there was not a set rotation. Teachers developed questions, projects, and reading material which were all posted on a big bulletin board. Children would choose activities each day, “ said Janet Weinstein, TPS Primary Unit Teacher (1981-2012). Kindergarten’s themes continue to be project-based and are often chosen by the students. At the beginning of the year, students vote on a creature they believe lives in our outdoor classroom to study. Kindergarten’s winter theme project is “friendship,” as children are developmentally ready to consider the feelings of others. Our next project’s goal is to teach the importance of perseverance and learning from mistakes, and again, the children vote on what to study. Past projects have included: gymnastics, bicycles, karate, electricity, and the human body. Our spring study is a project focused on collaboration. We study how to put on a play that culminates in the performance of plays that the children write.

Connie Rea, Kindergarten teacher and art specialist (19922000), recollected, “Art was always inspired by an all-school or classroom theme. In the art room, across the hall, the children were introduced to materials and skills they would be using throughout their time at TPS. Often using more unconventional materials, the children applied these skills to imagine and then create magical environments that transformed their classroom and enhanced their understanding of a particular theme.”

Kindergarten students always visited an outdoor classroom. The goal of each of these outdoor classrooms is the same: for the children to feel comfortable in nature, to understand they are part of nature, and that it’s our responsibility to take care

of nature. Janet recalled, “ We went to Sycamore Farm all year round in rain, snow, cold. There was a wood stove in the barn and the teachers’ first task upon arrival was to get that fire going! Then we made hot chocolate for everyone on that stove. There were horses to tend, and there was a rope swing across the creek that the kids loved.”

Our hope for Kindergartners is that they love school, love learning, and feel known and cared for. It is important that they be challenged in positive ways, learn what they are good at and what they need to work on, and to work on those things. Making mistakes helps us learn to be kind, to communicate thoughtfully and directly, and to learn to stand up for what is right.

Elizabeth Zack, together with former colleagues Janet Weinstein and Connie Rea, writes about the magic that is the Kindergarten experience.

Primary Unit

Vertical grouping is a truly inspiring part of teaching first and second graders. One of the greatest joys of teaching in Primary is observing children’s trajectories of growth during our two years with them.

TPS is preschool through eighth grade by design. We believe that the responsive, caring, and loving environment that we aspire to can best be achieved in this intimate setting. Just as intentional is our vertical grouping of Primary classes. Primary classes (grades 1 and 2) have been combined from the start of TPS. Until 1984, Kindergarten, first, and second grades were combined. Kindergarten then separated to its own classroom but still participated in Primary Unit thematic studies.

Our Primary classrooms are vertically grouped to support the broad developmental range that characterizes this stage of learning. Grouping children of varying ages and abilities enhances the opportunity for each child to work, learn, play, and explore at their individual level, regardless of age. Vertical groups also intentionally build our children’s capacity to both lead and follow. A child in a vertically grouped classroom, for example, has an opportunity to be among the youngest in a group and to experience the uniqueness of that role.

Later the same child will be among the oldest in the group and will learn the expectations and responsibilities associated with that position. Vertical grouping provides many occasions for leadership skills to be developed. As children grow, they also become more cooperative among themselves, seeking out less teacher time. Students rely on one another as helpers and guides, knowing who can tie shoes, zip coats, moderate a problem, or help them read a word. Vertical grouping is especially helpful for this growth.

Teachers work with the same children during the two years, allowing strong personal and working relationships between students and teachers to be forged. This approach permits maximum attention to each student, educationally and emotionally. Close-knit bonds develop among students, teachers, and parents. This year, 102 first- and second-graders are divided among four classrooms (Primary A, B, C, and D), each taught by a team of two full-time teachers.

Jane White, with us since 2010, teaching in both third grade and Primary Unit, captures what makes the Primary experience so effective here at TPS.

Third Grade

Miriam Harlan was instrumental in crafting the third grade curriculum when the decision was made to have third grade a separate entity from the Junior Unit. Here are Miriam’s reflections on what has changed and remained the same during her tenure at TPS.

In the early years at TPS, third grade was part of the Junior Unit. In 1992, third grade became a separate class. The teachers felt that the needs of third graders could be better met that way since third grade was when students started getting written homework, transitioned from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” learned cursive handwriting, and generally spent more of their day on academics.

Despite that change, when it came to theme, third grade remained part of the Junior Unit and continued to participate in the three year rotation of American History topics which included Native Americans and Colonial Times, Enslavement and the Civil War, and Immigration, Industrialization, and the Westward Movement. Sometimes we were able to connect our history theme to the all-school theme as when we did a deep dive into coal mining during the year of The Underground Visiting an actual coal mine and then creating our own mine in a lower level space with no windows was a highlight of that year.

When the school decided that the Junior Unit would change their theme studies to Ancient Greece and China, third grade had to revise the way we approached American history. Former TPS teacher Carrie Spaulding and I were talking on the bus from Shelly Ridge and came up with the idea of Building a More Fair USA. We would examine various people and movements in US history through a social justice lens.

That approach has worked well over the years. Teachers and students have been able to dig into topics that especially interest them. We have also been able to connect to current issues and events, such as when the 2018 Starbucks racial profiling incident and Colin Kaepernick’s stand against racism appeared in two of the third grade plays. In the last couple of years, an important addition to this theme has been the study of The 1619 Project: Born on the Water , which has enriched and improved our study of the foundational issue of enslavement. It is our hope that through studying how people have made the United States more fair, students leave with the tools and vision to put their values into action.

Junior Unit

Thematic studies in Junior Unit are geared towards the developmental needs of 4th and 5th graders. At this age, students are increasingly able to think abstractly and tackle multi-step problems. They are craving connection to and independence from adults while deepening connections through social relationships. They are developing complex organizational skills while still adept at imaginative play. JU teachers know just how to draw students in with projects that engage students in a mission. The following projects, one from the 90’s and one from this year, demonstrate how project work animates learning.

MISSION TO MARS

“So, do you want to go to Mars? What do you have to figure out?”

These words launched the Junior Unit Mission to Mars, a project envisioned and brought to life by Michael Zimmerman who taught in the unit from 1988 to 2004. The Mission to Mars was a multi-layered project designed to “access the human desire to play and to imagine oneself in situations that are exciting.” In this mission, like all of the best multidisciplinary project work, the students are working together to solve problems–social and intellectual. As Michael pointed out in a recent reflection about the project, “The goal of what we do in school is on constantly shifting ground.” Technology changes dramatically. The intellectual problems we put before students are evolving rapidly. And yet, the interpersonal challenges of navigating teamwork and collaborative problem-solving remain the same.

IMAGINATIVE INQUIRY

This year, during a study of China, students engaged in a process of imaginative inquiry, where they were tasked with designing a Chinese restaurant. This project, like the Mission to Mars, preserves a sense of play and imagination through a simulated sense of purpose. Working in mission-specific teams, 4th and 5th graders in JUB researched geography and culinary traditions of regions across China, planned menus that reflected authentic regional cuisine, created budgets, designed interiors, and wrote a sustainable business model while taking care to avoid cultural appropriation. And like their space-exploring predecessors, they grappled with the interpersonal challenges of collaboration. Students are building skills that are transferable to their relationships beyond the project. As JU teacher Forte described, this model allows students to work and talk through social issues in a playful, motivating, and safe environment. They are learning how to do the work of appreciating and sharing their skill set and owning their mistakes.

Jill Garland, who came to TPS in 2004 to be part of the Junior Unit and currently is a part of the Learning Resources team, shares why thematic studies are particularly important for Junior Unit students.

Middle School

Long-tenured Middle School teachers Emily Marston, Judith Parker, and Stephen Bartholomew reflected on the history of the Middle School and what made TPS such a vibrant and engaging experience for both students and teachers.

At first, the Middle School consisted of grades five through eight, but by the early 1980’s it was clear that most fifth graders would enjoy the status of senior members of the Junior Unit. Judith Parker recalls what drew her to teaching at TPS: “I joined the MS team in August 1983. I was eager to be part of a school which looked at students through the prism of their strengths rather than judging them by an abstract standard of what a 6th or 7th or 8th grader should be. I was overjoyed to find that we teachers were able to truly get to know each student as a learner and to teach the curricular material in whatever manner that would reach those individual scholars. Because we had the students for three years, or later for two, we were able to make sure that the curriculum, the way we were teaching, and the projects we assigned would maximize the students’ chances for success and for learning.”

In the mid 2000s, the increased size of the Middle School dictated that a reorganization was needed. Just as the Kindergarten and third grade had done years earlier, the sixth grade now separated into their own classrooms and took on the study of identity using Africa as its focus. Seventh and eighth grades built on this more conceptual approach by considering the concepts of interdependence (how the connections between East and West beginning in the 15th century and continuing to the present provide “seeds of change” for both parties) and cultural change (how the work of creating the United States Constitution created a new social contract).

While the trend in recent years has been to teach and to learn in grade-level grouping, connecting students across grades in Middle School continues to be important. Steve Bartholomew notes that teaching a range of ages was a joy for him: “There was both formal education and a boatload of incidental learning. This came naturally out of the interaction of the learners of all ages. Having students who ranged in age from 12 to 14 in various combinations meant that the best of each age combined in a way that enhanced learning and growth for everyone.” More recently cross-grade collaboration for students and teachers has centered on the introduction of intensives and affinity groups, and the continuation of mini courses, first introduced in 1977. Intensives provide an opportunity for Middle School teachers to offer a course of study interesting to them that may lie outside the regular curriculum. Affinity groups allow both students and teachers to meet regularly in self-designated groups to discuss a wide range of topics of interest to them. Mini courses, which now happen for a week in the spring, give students the opportunity to teach and to apply classroom skills to new material and to discover new interest in the process. They also allow teachers to pursue meaningful tangents to classroom units of study. The role of voice and choice continues to drive a great deal of learning in the Middle School.

Music & Performance

Music and the Performing Arts have a long and rich history at TPS, from Betty Darby’s early introduction of recorder and percussion instruments to Marcia Kravis’ many musicals and current jazz, string, and drum ensembles. Aaron Picht, music teacher and director of the Sandra Dean String Ensemble, shares the history of music innovation over the ensuing years.

During the time Sandra Dean was principal (1983 - 2006), students attended twice weekly music classes, which were eventually supplemented by once-a-week chorus classes. Each student experienced a chorus repertoire that was built upon theme study in their vertically grouped classrooms. The repertoire’s relevance to each student not only made chorus meaningful but also served as an additional pathway to understanding classroom content: for example, miners’ songs during a study of American industrialization, songs of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and medieval Gregorian chants. As they sang, students stood in the shoes of people from historic times and, at the same time, shared the emotions and voices of composers and lyricists. Today music classes still meet twice a week and closely follow the thematic lead of unit projects. For example, during the study of China, Junior Unit students learn about Chinese opera, instruments, and composition. Seventh graders form a rock band each year to perform music that is expressive of what they are learning. Often incidental music for Shakespeare plays is composed and selected by eighth grade students.

Under Marcia Kravis’ creative leadership, chorus became the foundation of an extraordinarily robust musical theater and opera program. The subject matter was usually closely related to the all-school theme and featured student generated scripts and original music. One year, Primary Unit students created a musical entitled Swimmy, based on the Leo Leoni book. In 1987, Marcia, Judith Parker, and Sandra Dean wrote an original musical entitled The Great Experiment 1787 , which celebrated the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.

Also noteworthy was the introduction of a cappella. After a performance by a high school group for our middle schoolers, our Middle School students could be found throughout the school trying out percussive sounds and harmonizing. Chris Taranta, Middle School advisor and science teacher, and Rob Redei, music teacher, formed a middle school group, named Measure for Measure. Measure for Measure performed in concert at TPS, at senior centers, and at community events, such as the annual Fitler Square Fair. After a pause because of the pandemic, a cappella, under music teacher Chris Gignac’s direction, has regrouped and is once again building a repertoire to perform here at school and in the community.

The origins of the TPS string ensemble program go back to 2003. Sandra Dean obtained funding to support violin lessons for a group of first grade students. Over the years, the ensemble grew and performed regularly at different school functions, including events for prospective parents, Board meetings, graduations, and winter and spring concerts. The string ensemble played a variety of classical and popular repertoire. During COVID, the ensemble was discontinued. However, thanks to the String Grant fund, nine kindergarten students started violin lessons this year and will undoubtedly form the nucleus of the next Sandra Dean String ensemble.

Visual Art

The visual arts have always played an important role in students being able to express their understanding of often challenging and complex ideas. Rick Jacobsen, an art specialist at TPS since 2005, describes how one such project animates the study of ancient Greece.

The art program at TPS has grown from a single art studio to three studios, with one dedicated to early childhood art education. Neesa Becker- Procaccino, long tenured art teacher, adds “While TPS has grown with more art teachers and art spaces, the mission of the art program to explore, integrate, and excite lives on.” And, while a rabbit no longer lives in the Second Floor Art Studio, many of the projects have become rites of passage, completed by generations of TPS graduates. One of those projects is the ancient Greek ceramic vessel project.

This project “scores” points for its beautiful outcome, “squishes” together many disciplines, and “smoothly” joins many pieces of progressive art education at TPS into a sophisticated unit of study. Students connect their project to the traditions and art of others, both historical and contemporary. They learn skills through experimentation. Student artwork reflects learning in all-school themes, classroom studies, and cultural studies.

TPS students learn the historical eras and methods of ancient Greek pottery. They learn from art historians about the uses of the vessels and the myths decorating their exteriors. Students visit museums in the city to see actual art objects and connect them to work they are doing with their own hands.

Students create long lasting artwork that blends their own ideas with specific skills. They build these skills by experimentation that begins in preschool art classes and is built upon each year. When they begin their Greek vessels, they have already used various ceramic handbuilding techniques and are ready for a challenging multi-month project. They re-interpret the classical shapes and designs to create their own style and infuse the work with new meanings.

Art projects are purposefully planned with all-school and classroom themes in mind. Children are immersed in studies across disciplines that enrich their understanding and experience. In the art studios children can make tangible objects that reflect their learning. Neesa states, “Projects were often based on the all-school theme but also allowed for the art department to complement what was being studied in individual classrooms.” The Greek vessels tell the story of both the students’ capability with clay and their knowledge of ancient Greek myth. It is something that links them across centuries and with hundreds of TPS graduates across the years.

Physical Ed.

Our earliest physical education teachers included Brenda Birdsall and Marty Phelan who imagined a program that stressed cooperative games. After-school sports were taught by teachers in various locations throughout the city. After the current gymnasium was opened in 2000, we were able to include more team sports and even lure parents into playing basketball after hours! Claudette Coverdale, PE and movement teacher, as well as admission associate, reflects on her experience at TPS:

While reflecting on my experience teaching movement and physical education the last five years at TPS, it’s amazing to witness what has changed and what remains the same. So to take the reflection journey all the way back to TPS’ earliest days, I am extremely humbled and grateful to be a part of the evolution of this program. With the help of former PE teachers, coaches, and students, I had the opportunity to learn about what remained essential to the program and what has shifted over the last fifty years.

As early as 1987, one of the biggest structural changes for PE was the gym space. Former PE teacher Marty Phelan taught all PE classes in what we all know as part of the front office and Multi-Purpose Room in the Lombard building. The school yard had a slanted basketball court which was not the most ideal space for outdoor games and activities. In the early 2000’s the Lombard gymnasium was built where former PE teacher, coach, and Athletic Director, Terry McConnell spent his last nine years teaching before his retirement. He shares that out of his entire teaching career, TPS was the best place he ever taught. He considers TPS to be “the real deal” where we always put the kids first. Terry has fond memories of teaching a variety of units from the foundational locomotor and gross motor skills for our youngest learners to a variety of team sports and social dances.

I was fascinated to learn that a co-teaching model remained consistent for many years in PE. Terry shared that there was a co-teaching model used with a lead and assistant teacher. Our program today still follows a co-teaching model that shifts from having a lead and assistant model, team teaching, or parallel teaching. Depending on the unit or activity, the PE teachers adjust their approach which allows for differentiated learning to meet the students where they are but also challenges them to build on skills and strategies they have already learned.

Another change in the PE program over the last few years has been integrating TPS’ commitment to social justice into our PE classes. Aside from our daily practices of reflection and praise as a group and an individual, we intentionally connect the Black Lives Matter Week of Action guiding principles to our lessons. Additionally, during Black History Month, we also hold discussions and lessons about athletes from the past and present who have used their platform to stand up and speak out on social issues that continue to affect our society. We value the importance of sending the message that we all have an opportunity to be upstanders and to speak up for what is right. I look forward to seeing the PE program at TPS continue to grow and continue to put kids at the center.

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Spanish

In the early years foreign language instruction consisted of conversational French enhanced by lessons in French cooking. As the school matured, it was clear that more formal instruction should be adopted in a language that had a wider audience in Philadelphia, namely Spanish. Jésus Rodriguez and later Barbara Cortínez-Maurer designed a program that included twice weekly classes for all grade levels that exposed students not only to the language but the culture of Spanishspeaking countries. Marco Velis, a friend of Barbara’s, who first came to help us paint sets for a Shakespeare Festival in the early 1990’s, soon joined the staff and has these memories of his thirty years at TPS:

I joined The Philadelphia School in 1992 when TPS was turning 20 years old. It was also the year that the entire country commemorated Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World five hundred years earlier. At that time the school was about half of the size that it is today in students and faculty. That year, as it was a tradition at the time, the teachers would prepare a short presentation to introduce the year’s all-school theme. We wrote and performed a short play about Columbus’ voyage. The interesting thing was not only that the teachers dressed in costumes and acted in front of the students, but we also did it in the Multi-Purpose Room, where the entire school– students, faculty administration, and some parents– fit comfortably.

At that time all specials classes (art, music, PE, and Spanish) were vertically grouped, with the exception of Middle School. My room, the Quad, was in the center of the second floor, and it disappeared when the gym was built (1999-2000).

During my first two years at TPS, I was the only Spanish teacher for the entire school, but due to the constant growth in the number of students, it was necessary to invite another teacher to work in Spanish (eventually, our Spanish team grew

to five teachers in 2015). In 1994 my dear colleague Lisa Morales came to be part of our Spanish team. Lisa brought many years of experience and ideas to enrich our program. Among them, she proposed the idea of traveling with the students to a Spanish-speaking country to offer a full immersion experience. Although It wasn’t easy to convince the school and the parents that it would be a safe trip, eventually, in 1997, we traveled to Mexico with twelve students. During the following 22 years, the students traveled to many countries, but unfortunately during the pandemic, it was necessary to cancel our trip. However this current year the trip will take place again. Our graduating class traveled and learned to Puerto Rico to practice their Spanish and learned about the five hundred years of history and culture of Borinquen.

My thirty years at TPS have taught me that although we have been constantly challenged to adapt to new things and change, important core values remain, like empowering students to develop their own path to learning, which continue to motivate and rejuvenate this institution. In many ways, TPS is different but also remains the same.

Technology

The history of technological innovation in the classroom at TPS is certainly a joyful one, as each decade brought new gear, new computers, and new ways to demonstrate teaching and learning. Matt Murray, the Director of Technology Instruction, brings us up to date on what is happening in classrooms throughout TPS.

The classrooms of TPS have always been filled with makers and doers, tinkerers and scientists, mathematicians and engineers, aspiring technologists and even futurists. From the very beginning, teachers operating within our progressive school model have challenged students with rigorous projectbased learning activities — whether it be constructing an “egg protector” and conducting drop tests in the 2000s or collaborating on a “super whizzy rocket ship” in the 1980s. Another theme of past teaching and learning as it pertained to STEAM, however, was the isolation and siloing of this specialized work. Whether it was aeronautical engineering or inventive prototyping, a scope and sequence were missing from the curricula as were some integrative applications that STEAM uniquely offers as a multidisciplinary approach to pedagogy. With the launch of the Junior Unit Full STEAM Ahead Program in the fall of 2018, TPS endeavored to dedicate full blocks of class time to rethink STEAM education in the context of a progressive education experience as well as redefine capstone projects students ventured to create. In the Upper Grades, the student STEAM experience now includes inventing musical instruments with homemade circuits, programming functions to navigate drones safely, and automating animatronic robots to draw works of art. In the Lower Grades, a STEAM integration specialist now works with teachers to intermingle engineering principles and design thinking with traditional curricular endeavors; for example, 3rd graders this year integrated their own invented seed project with a block-based coded animation that enhanced their final presentations.

In the coming years, teachers and students at TPS will continue to build their understanding of the interconnected world by maintaining their maker mindsets, but they will also create a future that’s shaped by their STEAM-powered making.

When you learn everywhere, you can go anywhere.

Thank you for the trust, partnership, and learning we shared this year. We look forward to seeing where you go next. Happy Anniversary TPS!

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DEIB

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND BELONGING

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging work at The Philadelphia School has been a focus since the beginning of the school in 1972. In the Prospectus published in 1971 the founders made their vision clear, “[The School] will do all it can to build in chances for children to make ethical judgments about vital issues. This means your child will feel the concerns for peace, social justice, and for a better quality of life because these concerns will be part of the life of the school, just as they are a part of the life of all of us.”

While this work is the responsibility of everyone in our community, we have benefited from the leadership of our school Heads and former Diversity Directors Nica Fleming, Frances Hoover, Brian Johnson, and Gerald Dessus. Parents, teachers, staff, and students have taken a variety of training to heart over the years and implemented safe spaces to have important conversations. Brian Johnson, who came to TPS in 2014 to work in Admission with Frances Hoover and gradually took on increasing responsibility for diversity work, remembers his early days in the work as visiting classrooms, reflecting on what he noticed about the culture of TPS, and landing on important initiatives with the support and collaboration of Jeffrey Mordan, his immediate supervisor. Professional development for faculty and staff was critical to growth, as were parent discussion groups and affinity groupings for students. Teachers have fully committed to carrying on this important work.

Middle School teacher Noel Yee describes what has been gained in recent years: “At TPS DEIB is work that teachers infuse within our curriculum. This is shown in the entire school participating in the Black Lives Week of Action , sharing our pronouns with one another in conversations, and with the intentional placement of a communal middle school time for students to participate in affinity groups. What makes the work progressive is that the students and teachers learn and choose the directions that this work will go. For example, for the past six to seven years there have been affinity groups, but last year a new group was suggested and wanted by the student population. The neurodivergent group is now a part of our affinity group rotation. With teachers we are working on finding ways as a community to help raise up marginalized voices in our community. As a teaching community we have formed Professional Learning Circles to help us share our thoughts. We have a white anti-racist group started by teachers, adult POC groups, and more. As TPS moves into the future, I am excited to see where the students, faculty and parents choose to guide it.”

City Learning & Community

One of the original tenets of the founders’ vision was that this school not only be in the city of Philadelphia but of the city. That vision included gathering a student population reflective of the diversity of the city, partnering with city institutions (museums, parks, libraries) to understand their role in supporting city welfare and participating in that mission, and valuing social justice initiatives as a key part of realizing true democracy.

SHERLOCK PROJECT WITH THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

Originally, this project was designed for medical students to increase their skills in observation (hence the name Sherlock, a detective of unsurpassed observational prowess), key in diagnosing disease. Educators at the PMA felt that building observational skills, using art as the medium, would work well with middle school students across disciplines. The PMA invited our middle school teachers to see if we would be willing to help craft and pilot this program, and in 2017 we offered an intensive (a six-week, cross-grade course) which featured five visits to the museum and a final project that asked students to display their enhanced observational skills. Along the way, students journaled about their insights, shared their questions and comments in discussions with museum educators, and used their artistic talents to complete a final landscape given only a scrap of a piece of art. The success of this pilot program made possible the museum’s adoption of Sherlock for the education program for middle school students across the tri-state area.

THE ADVENTURES OF MANJIRO WITH THE ROSENBACH MUSEUM AND LIBRARY

In 2000 the Director of Education at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, Bill Adair, approached The Philadelphia School with a proposal for a musical program that would cut across all disciplines. With the support of Sandra Dean and the teachers of the Primary Unit, the Rosenbach commissioned Rob Redei, one of our talented music teachers, to write and direct a musical inspired by the museum’s exhibition Drifting: Nakahama Manjiro’s Tale of Discovery. The exhibit documented the journey of a Japanese boy, ship-wrecked off the coast of Japan in the early 1840s, and brought to the United States, one of the first Japanese to set foot on American soil. This collaboration gave students the opportunity to learn concepts relating to time, history, geography, sea life, and cultural differences, as well as present a musical inspired by their learning (program cover drawn by Maurice Sendak). The Rosenbach, in turn, was able to animate its wonderful exhibit. As an extra bonus, four TPS students, two TPS teachers (including Rob), and a curator from the museum traveled to Japan in the summer of 2001 to meet with Japanese students and artists and present scenes from the musical.

PLAY SPACES WITH SMITH PLAYGROUND

In their study of identity with Africa as the focus, sixth graders addressed three essential questions throughout the year: How does land define us? How do others define us? How do we define ourselves?

The play unit had several threads including a study of various philosophies of the importance of play, time for structured and unstructured play for the students, and then opportunities to observe preschoolers playing indoors at TPS and outdoors at The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education and Smith Playground. Students developed hypotheses about play in young children and then set up experiments to test those hypotheses using preschoolers at TPS. They used their findings later in developing the playspace at Smith Playground.

Students interviewed senior citizens in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philly, where Smith is located, to learn about how they experienced Smith in their youth. Students also looked through the raw archives at the playground, analyzing primary sources for hints to what Smith was like in earlier times, how it has changed, and how its role in Philadelphia reflected, or did not reflect, larger social trends and ideals.

Students were given freedom to explore big sections of the woods at Smith Playground and, over time, pick a spot that called to them to play. Based on their understanding from all the other threads, they designed a playspace using only natural materials and found objects. They created presentations explaining their design and the rationale, being explicit about their inspiration and how playing in their space would encourage growth in children. A tour was arranged for parents and play designers engaged by Smith Playground. The idea was that parents would learn a little more about the importance of play (maybe impacting a little how they parented), and the play designers would get ideas from the wisdom of kids on what makes a great play space.

Outdoor classroom

Virginia Friedman, long-time Middle School teacher and coordinator of Outdoor Education at TPS, has continued to champion the importance of integrating experiences in the out-of-doors as essential to education at all levels. Virginia shares the history and evolution of environmental literacy at the school.

The Philadelphia School was founded on the principle of “city, country, classroom” – the idea that learning can and should be integrated throughout our landscape. The school’s first “country” site was Sycamore Farm, a working farm in Ambler owned by Chris and Madge Donner. JB Baker-McAllister, who taught in the Junior Unit in the 1980s, recalls the days at Sycamore Farm. The site had horses, sometimes goats, a garden, hiking trails, a stream, and other features. “Students spent most of the time outside,” Baker-McAllister explains, adding that contrary to today, each unit would go out and spend one day a week year round, even in the winter. “It was amazing to see, year after year, kids who overcame the ‘ugh’ factor of being outside, being cold, and really embraced being out there.”

When students arrived at the farm, they got to work doing the necessary chores — building a fire, getting water, starting hot chocolate, and setting up their space. “We also had a garden there.” Baker-McAllister recalls. “I’ll never forget the kids’ faces when we’d go back in the fall, and the kids would see these massive pumpkins. For city kids to see that kind of thing growing, that was a really amazing thing.”

When TPS shifted its country classroom site to Shelly Ridge, a Girl Scout property in Miquon, the farm aspects of the program were swapped for a deeper dive into ecology, and curricular connections to the classroom strengthened. Marco Velis, who taught both Spanish and Cultural Studies in the Middle School (6-8th grades) in the early 2000s, recalls “The Big Dig” project, which began in the fall. Teams of students were tasked with creating a civilization with language, a writing system, history, currency, religion, customs, and tools. They then made artifacts representing their culture, buried them in a secret location, and created a map to help find the site. After analyzing all the surviving artifacts (sometimes the rain or animals destroyed some), they would propose an entire explanation of the found civilization. Every hypothesis proposed by the ‘archaeologists’ not only made sense based on the artifacts, but taught the students how to value evidence and logic over random speculation.”

TPS shifted to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in 2010 in an effort to situate the outdoor program in the city of Philadelphia, as well as to partner with a site with a strong environmental education philosophy. The Center’s 250 acres provided myriad opportunities to continue ecological

studies and to collaborate with their educators and restoration staff. Certain parts of the property were unlike anything else in the region. “The Pine Grove is an amazing place for children to explore and learn as they play,” says Kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Zack. “It always felt like we were entering Narnia, with the huge White Pines, carpet of needles, the scent of pine filling the air. Children would work collaboratively and learn about physics as they built forts together.”

In 2021, TPS expanded its view of its “country” program once again, this time to partner more closely with Fairmount Park and other organizations in the region. This allowed each unit to identify sites that would best support the skills, ideas, and developmental needs of its students. The Junior Unit, for instance, takes advantage of the trail network around the Wissahickon Environmental Center for its study of navigation and orienteering. The seventh grade explores the expansive – and nearby! – John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, one of the region’s premier birding sites, to support its studies of migration and colonization.

Despite the changes in site over the years, TPS’s commitment to outdoor learning remains as strong as it did in JB’s years at Sycamore Farm. She still recalls a time when a student looked out the window of the bus and cried, “Oh look, there’s a cow!”

“It was actually a horse,” JB says, “and I remember thinking, this child has never seen that farm animal in person before!” Such joyful moments of discovery prevail. Preschool teacher Pam Holland recalls a student patiently watching a chipmunk at Smith Playground disappear into a rock wall. Moments later, a toad emerged from the same spot, clearly displaced by the rodent. “Pam,” the girl asked with wonder, “can chipmunks turn into TOADS?!”

After School Program

From its humble beginnings as day care in the seventies and early eighties, the After School Program has grown and prospered. In addition to ASEP and MSED, the After School Clubs Program and Middle School Athletics have enriched a student’s time between the end of school and six pm. Summer Camps and Special Programs for conferences and teacher in-service days have continued to expand. Diane Pepe, Director of The After School Enrichment Program from 1993 until 2018, reflects on her work in ASEP.

In the 1990’s, aftercare at TPS was known as Day Care. Missy Randolph directed the activities for fifteen Primary Unit students in a shared space in the corner of the Multipurpose room. I became Director in 1993 and renamed the program The After School Enrichment Program to reflect the expanded curriculum that included significant educational and enrichment activities. ASEP, as the program was called internally, was a theme-based, art-oriented program that offered students a choice of activities during the hours after school. Students encountered a comprehensive experience with visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory sensations related to various concepts that broadened their capacity for learning and memory. Under the leadership of Ann DiMezza, the program was expanded to include Preschool students. By 1998 Middle school students had their own focus. By 2018, more than 185 TPS students were enrolled in ASEP on a yearly basis utilizing locations throughout TPS.

A day at ASEP began with an introduction of the current theme (e.g. Layers of the Earth, The Elements, Math in Nature, and Leonardo’s Inventions). Each theme was presented via a Theme Board, with colorful images and supportive text that explained the initial educational concept. Students participated in art or science projects as well as cooking activities related to the theme. Additional choices for students included indoor and

outdoor games in the yard or gym; reading in the library; building constructions in the Lego room; completing homework in the supervised study hall; playing monitored computer games; and interacting with their friends and siblings in a nurturing, home-like environment.

The After School Enrichment Program also offered Special ASEP Programs (currently called Special Programs) during conferences or on teacher in-service days, when regular school was not in session. These programs enabled students to enjoy trips, tours, and interactive activities at locations throughout Philadelphia and neighboring regions. Venues included cultural centers; art, science, and history museums; universities; theaters; musical institutions; and horticultural parks, farms, orchards, arboretums, and gardens. An example of a two-day Special ASEP Program celebrating the Philadelphia Cherry Blossom Festival was an immersive experience in Japanese culture. On the first day students traveled to the Shofuso Japanese Cultural Center in Fairmount Park, toured the historic Shofuso House, and enjoyed a traditional tea ceremony. The following day, Japanese KyoDaiko Drummers came to TPS for a live performance and students participated in interactive drum lessons with the musicians. For snacks, students formed handmade sushi rolls and prepared sticky rice balls with Japanese noodle soup. Students then created decorative papers using the vibrant art of Suminagashi, Japanese marbling. The program concluded with a hands-on activity when students learned about the history and art of nurturing small trees while they planted miniature Bonsai trees to take home.

Kimberly Carter, the current Director of After School and Auxiliary Programs adds that “ Auxiliary Programs were expanding prior to pandemic, and even more so now as TPS

attracts more families with two working parents. Currently, more than 80% of the TPS student body participates in after school programming. After more than thirty years, the ASEP program has returned to housing the program hub in the Multipurpose Room, with many more children than Missy Randolph’s group of fifteen. Even after enrolling more than 140 students per day, there is a waitlist for the After School Enrichment Program.”

Chelsea Weis Passmore, PE teacher and Athletic Director, shares how the athletics program has developed over time: “The middle school athletics program continues to grow to become a more competitive and comprehensive program. Prior to the pandemic, in the winter of 2020, highlights included the girls basketball team winning the annual TPS Tigers Invitational Basketball Tournament, while the boys team were runners-up. While the pandemic put a pause on middle school athletics, we were able to come back in the spring of 2021 thinking outside the box, offering intramural soccer and a running club. The fall of 2021 brought back the return of TPS athletics, and while athletes still had to wear masks while competing, they rose to the challenge and represented TPS well. A highlight of the 2021-2022 athletics year was TPS once again qualifying and competing at Penn Relays! In the 2022-2023 school year, the program continues to grow and expand, now offering athletics four days a week across all seasons, and more opportunities to compete, practice, and grow. With a growing interest in athletics our boys soccer team now has an A and B team, with potential growth in 2023 for two girls soccer teams as well as three boys basketball teams. The athletics department hopes to continue to improve and become more competitive with our peer schools, demonstrating tiger pride and tenacity to get after it!”

Learning Resources

Director of

Since our founding, TPS has valued a program that is intentionally flexible, meets students where they are, and supports their next steps of growth. We have always believed that children learn in different ways and at different paces and that it’s important to support both the academic and socialemotional development of our wide range of learners. Long before we had a formal Learning Resources Department, TPS students were supported in taking ownership of their learning, reflecting on their growth, and embracing their unique learning styles, needs, and interests.

As enrollment and class sizes grew, enlisting the help of additional adults who could complement the work of classroom teachers felt important. While the collaborative co-teaching and team teaching models allow for built-in differentiation and small-group instruction, there were students who needed more repetition or more targeted support.

Things developed organically in earlier years, with more systems and structures put into place over time and in response to evolving best practices.

Remaining committed to a flexible and collaborative model of support was, and is, essential to who we are. Today, the TPS Learning Resources team is seven members strong. Our skillful learning specialists and expert mental health professionals continue to build on best practices, incorporating the latest research and responding flexibly to our diverse learners. Just like decades ago, members of the team partner closely with teachers and families to ensure that each student’s academic and social-emotional needs are supported as holistically as possible.

“Relationships have always been a big part of what we do, and the work was always centered around kids, differentiated, and responsive. No two years looked alike; we waited to see who the students were and what they and their teachers needed.”

Although the mechanics of how we do the work has shifted (binders and file cabinets full of handwritten notes have turned into easily accessible digital records), the goals and intentionality remain the same – having a responsive program that meets the needs of as many students as possible and provides thoughtful collaboration with families and teachers.

“Our program matched the size of the school and the resources available. We were building something fluid and progressive and dynamic. TPS was, and is, an organic, evolving, adaptive, really thoughtful place.”

ABBIE SEGAL-ANDREWS, TPS SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST FROM 1996-2016

AMINAH FINNEY, TPS TEACHER AND LEARNING SPECIALIST FROM 1995-2014

Allison Kirshner Oz,

Learning Resources and former Primary Unit teacher, traces the development of the support system we have in place for all learners.

TPSA memories

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY OF YOUR TIME AS TPSA PRESIDENT?

“My two years involved not only bidding farewell to Sandy Dean after 24 years of dedicated amazing-ness, but planning the welcoming for the next Head, Amy Vorenberg! TPSA was tasked in 20052006 with executing the hugely attended “Celebrate Sandy” Festival. It was great fun! But perhaps my proudest memory is the monthly Community Service Drives TPSA initiated”

MAR GARET BARRY, ‘05-’07

“It was almost 30 years ago that I was TPSA President, which I shared with my husband John Chase, so I’m having to work at remembering those days. My best memory was being able to attend the Thanksgiving Dinner – for which I had made so many potluck items, over the years, but never lucky enough to attend. It was beyond wonderful.”

JANE RATH, ‘96-’97

“When I was the TPSA Vice-President in 2019, JJ Shirley and I planned a family party for Friday afternoon in May in the Schwartz-Siegel garden and garage. TPS teacher Brian Jordan’s band City Love performed and a bunch of students stole the show with solos. We brought in a Bassets ice cream sundae cart, giant games like Jenga, Corn Hole Toss, plus a bubble-making machine. We had a huge turn out across multiple grades. My best memories as a TPSA leader all have a common theme: bringing our community together to have fun.”

REBECCA SELVIN ‘20-’22

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY’S TIME AT TPS?

“Hands down, my favorite family memory is the two years that I was able to attend the Thanksgiving Feast as TPSA President. I will never forget seeing the excitement on my three kids’ faces when I arrived in the gym, and being able to share that special event with them!”

MAR GARET BARRY, ‘05-’07

“My favorite TPS memory/event would have to be Swimmy the opera that Marcia Kravis wrote with the Primary Unit. The concept, the music, the libretto and the performances of the children all bring me to tears as I write this email. Who can forget Matthew Othmer’s beautiful solo!”

JANE RATH, ‘96-’97

CELEBRATING OUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY

We kicked the year off in September when our eighth graders revealed our all-school theme “From Roots to Branches” at the school year’s first Encuentro and thus began a year full of guided learning, questions, projects, and activities to dive deeper into the school theme. In the fall, our students learned all about trees in their family circles, eventually creating and designing their own tree that served as the centerpiece at their Thanksgiving Feast table.

Our community joined us for the Fall Family Festival on a beautiful October Saturday. The day included arts and crafts, carnival games, face painting, inflatables, and a Happy Birthday to TPS cake. It was a wonderful success to have so many members of the community join together for the first time since the pandemic began.

700+ Members at Fall Festival

In the winter, students made connections with “the roots” of TPS as we began with an Encuentro where students sat with their classes for an exciting game of TPS history trivia! Questions ranged from how our outdoor education program began to which teacher has been with TPS the longest (can you guess?).

170+ Attendees at Alumni Feast

Throughout the 2022-2023 school year, we have done a lot of celebrating, commemorating and connecting with one another.

On Monday, January 16th, the TPS community gathered for a MLK Day of Service and learning about ways to support our city and the organizations working to make it a better place for all. Parents and children worked on projects from letter writing to making bags of snacks for four organizations: The Bethesda Project, The Sunday Love Project, Women Against Abuse and Sara’s Smiles Foundation.

This was an amazing event for our families and community, and members of each organization attended to talk more about their work and how this day will impact those they serve. Our middle

In November, we held our first ever Alumni Thanksgiving Feast, alumni from the 1980s up to our most recent members, the class of 2022. It was a wonderful time that included reconnecting with former and current teachers, viewing artifacts from the span of TPS history, chatting with classmates, touring the school, and enjoying an upscale version of the familiar lasagna menu. Many thanks to Becca Fischer (class of 2000) for chairing this important event.

300+

People at our day of service

school students in Student Council shined as they helped younger children with the projects and read books about MLK. We also had the great pleasure of welcoming City Love, a Philly-based social justice music and education group, with one of its members being Primary teacher, Brian Jordan. The band’s members are teachers and musicians who make music for the world we need and use their songs to spread love, hope, dialogue, justice, and healing. If you are inspired by their mission and message, we encourage you to check out their website for more materials, their albums, and resources for families and educators.

We had several alumni, as well as past and present faculty and staff join us at school and virtually in January to help our students understand the history of the school. Each of TPS’ 23 family circles were assigned two or three years of the school’s history to research and come up with questions to pose to our alumni historians. After interviewing the alums, students created posters of their findings, thus creating a visual timeline of the school’s development. These posters were on display at our May 5th spring celebration.

Lastly, this spring our students are diving deep into environmental stewardship learning more about how we care for the earth. There are a lot of memories from this year’s theme, and we can’t wait for our next anniversary celebration.

Class of 2023

THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL’S MOST RECENT CLASS