The Spiritual and Community Life committee did not meet -- the retreat did, instead; see the discussion below.
One sensed the feeling of comfort and security of the students have in being a part of this community.
Dean's Advisory Committee: If someone breaks a rule, it goes to a group of 6 students and 3 staff members who recommend a course of action to the Director. It is clearly recognized as an asset to the school by students and staff. The student members take it very seriously, particularly the confidentiality.
Most significant aspect dealt with by the community, first by Dean's Adv.Comm -- was long period of harassment of a particular student -- it was very intense and involved the entire student body. The process used was particularly successful in building community.
Response to the War in Iraq -- a sensitive topic within the school -- Students have varied responses, and some were not feeling supported in their view (particularly those who are supportive of the war). On Thursday, the school had a discussion on the situation. This included a discussion of the importance of hearing and respecting dissenting opinions. The international students' concerns are known to the community, and there was some discussion of them, although these students tend to be rather quiet in the larger group than in smaller groups.
There was a brief discussion of Registration for the Draft. Not much yet. Two students are pursuing Conscientious Objector status. Most students who are required to register are registering. It is important to register -- if you don't register and pass the age of registration it is NOT correctible -- you will not be eligible for gov't jobs, and many other gov't benefits -- better research that.
The school has not cooperated with Army Recruiters wanting to visit campus, as it is exempt from the requirement.
There has been some discussion of the role of the media in reporting on the war.
The arial photographs have been taken, but we've been unable to get copies -- calls are not being returned. There's speculation that the pilot may be in the Reserves and ...
Mark Quee's germinator is an adaptation of a chick incubator.
Bees "on campus" --> "on the farm" at least initially
Interest rates are down, "other revenue" is dependent. Annual support is higher than shown, as new contributions have been received.
A question was raised concerning the plan for paving the road, given current economic conditions. Ken said it needs to be done, it would fix the parking situation outside the Main, for instance. However what little investigation has been done shows it would be prohibitively expensive to pave it with concrete and that "chip & seal" would be much more likely to be affordable, but even that would be much more than the $30,000 that had been alloted. It is not being actively pursued at this time.
There was an extended discussion of how to make the LRP fit into the school's operation again.
One major point that needs to be remembered in this, as in all other
efforts:
Keep the Head informed -- in the loop. This means, for
instance, that if the director cannot attend a subcommittee meeting, the
staff person needs to communicate with the director before and/or after
the meeting about what was discussed. There's a corrolary
common in business that is almost always a good idea -- Don't let your boss be surprised at a
meeting.
SC members who visited classes were asked if they felt welcome in class and if they'd noticed anything in particular, which led to a brief discussion of the sparse distribution of restrooms on campus.
There was also a discussion of the participation in classes, particularly with Asian students.
During the retreat itself, there was a communal gathering where, after an introduction, the community broke into small groups to discuss the following for about an hour and a half, and then came back together:
Change is happening at Scattergood, that
is both exciting and scary.
It affects us personally, as we are both a part of it, and subject to
it.
Use the following questions only as a guide or as suggestions to start
discussion:
When the community rejoined, a member of each group briefly
presented the notes the group had
taken. One interesting aspect of this was that the
spokesperson for each group was a volunteer, and in almost all cases
was a student.
This retreat involved Staff, Students, and School Committee, key components of the "Learning Community"we discuss in the Long Range Plan. We recognized that a key group that was left out of the retreat was the parents.
Ken: Thanks to Barb for pulling together the retreat, and thanks to all SC members for coming to attend. This retreat with staff, committee, and students while the seniors are away is an extremely important part of the school -- it helps new leadership emerge and lets them show their enthusiasm for the school. It's actually rather amazing how the students stepped up to doing the presentations in each group. It was also amazing to see the visitors/prospective students integrated into the process and contributing.
After lunch Crews: encourage crew leaders to introduce themselves to the SC members and give them assignments.
Yearly Meeting Planning -- is SFS/C doing something? who's planning it? Who wants to be involved? Friday Afternoon seems to be allocated to SFS -- what do we want to share?
Anita's ideas:
-- "Heeeeere's Sean!" -- meet with the new director. Particularly important because he's the first non-quaker director. Jim Kenney -- great opportunity for Sean to present his hopes and vision for Scattergood -- make his personality visible to the community and let them see what motivates him --- rather abstract for the first year, of course. Ginger Kenney -- Extremely important that the YM know what the school is --
-- Explore the relationship between the Farm & School, and how it's being integrated into the curriculum
Tour the farm, and show where the students do what when... (Erin)
Think about establishing relationship between SFS and the children of the YM. "Honey, I shrunk Scattergood!"
Evening where end of year slideshow can be on rotation -- take photos of the farm & what was on the tour yesterday.
Term limits -- Do we wish to return to the "take a break after two three-year terms"? Now that the LRP is established, that might be a good idea. Ken encourages it.
Open Session ended at 2:15