SCATTERGOOD FRIENDS SCHOOL COMMITTEE

9 May 2009

Present: George Bergus, Debbie Galusha, Frank Griffith, Lucy Hansen, Sharon Haworth, Phil Henderson, Andrea Jilovec, Russ Leckband, Callie Marsh, Sylvia Sanford, Dan Schlitt, Dan Treadway, Doyle Wilson, Bob Winchell, Allan Winder, Bob Yeats.

Absent: Charity Muñoz.

Faculty Present: Margie Figgins, Bob Gutwein, Jan Luchini, Glenn Singer, Nicole Wolf-Camplin, Steve Wolf-Camplin.

The meeting opened near the appointed hour with quiet worship, followed by a reading from Howard Brinton.

Quaker education has therefore a threefold talks. It must be at once authoritative, rational and mystical, with emphasis on the authoritative in childhood, on the rational in youth and on the mystical in maturity. All three however must always, in some degree, be present. There is first the authority of the group which has discovered a way of life which is good and which it seeks to extend by imparting it to its children. For this purpose the school itself becomes a small community preparing for the larger religious community be being like it and by living, as far as is practicable, according to its pattern. Second there is the criticism and rationality of the college age which seeks to harmonize this older way of life with man’s knowledge of himself, of nature and of history or, if such consistency appears difficult to attain, to preserve as much of it as is possible by revising the old in the light of the new. Thir, there is the adult school where for a shorter or longer time the mature individual may retire to cultivate and sensitize his inner life through study, worship, work and community life. Here both the authority of the past and the reason of the present are transformed in the light of inner and outer searching which looks toward the future. Quaker education need not change its old objectives. It need only seek a higher measure in their achievement.

Brinton, Howard. Quaker Education, in Theory and Practice. Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Pamphlet, #9, 1949. p, 109.

George Bergus reminded us of the centrality of education for a religion that has no creed, but a way of life. Education prepares and teaches people for our way of life.

The clerk requests that we not email her on Fridays before Committee Meeting days, but call her if we need to communicate with her. She has no opportunity to read email that day.

We added an item to the agenda about the handbook revision submitted by the Human Resources Sub-Committee.

Minute: We approve the minutes of our meeting on 28 March 2009.

Callie, Debbie and Sylvia have agreed to work on the mission statement with the SCL committee.  They are asked to consider how it will be used and to make it a useful statement.

Glenn Singer, Director of Admissions, reports 49 students potentially enrolled for next year at this time. We practiced our ‘elevator speeches,’ brief and useful statements we can make about Scattergood. They need to be smooth and convincing, which is easiest when we speak from our own experiences.

Minute: We agree that the facilities and farm committees should ask Roger Laughlin to do concept drawings and give us an estimate for a new farm building. We want it to follow LEED (Leadership for Efficient Energy Design) specifications, although we do not anticipate pursuing certification. We understand that this is the first step toward a goal we have discussed for some time. We would like to present our progress at the Yearly Meeting sessions. Margie reminded us that it takes about five years to plan and carry out a financial campaign.  We will discuss in July the areas which we wish to pursue.

Phil Henderson brought us an excellent report from the Strategic Planning Sub-Committee. Although the subcommittee does not have a complete set of recommendations for us, we were most interested to hear its thinking so far. Some of the proposed ideas include the use of volunteers on campus, the alternate use of the campus, ways to increase enrollment, and to establish better communication with the Foundation Trustees.  Glenn Singer and Joey Giffen-Hunter will meet with this group to discuss the ongoing issue of enrollment.  Andrea would like to be included in that group. This group will look at the Image Audit, completed several years ago, which is on the website. Jan Luchini will get back to the clerk regarding a visit by David Abazs to our July meeting to discuss energy use at the school.

Minute: We approve the recommendation of the Consultation Committee that we keep the bequest of $91,436.70 from Arthur Evans for the use of the School, as a designated donation of $71,250 to offset the inability of the Foundation to make an endowment transfer this year. We recommend that the remainder, $20,186.70, be designated for capital needs, with the specifics to be determined in the future. If our investments improve so that the Foundation can make a disbursement before the end of the fiscal year, we will return that disbursement to the Foundation. Jan and Steve will bring a list of prioritized suggestions of capital expenses for the use of the $20,186.70 to the July meeting.

Minute: We approve the financial reports. We appreciate how closely the school follows the budget.

Minute: We gave our initial approval to the two proposals from the Human Resources Committee regarding revisions in the Scattergood Friends School Committee Handbook. The recording clerk will send the indicated passages to the members within two weeks, and in the July meeting we will consider final approval.

Minute: We heard reports from the following sub-committees: Academic, Admissions, Advancement & Development, Consultation, Facilities, Farm, Human Resources, Spiritual and Community Life. We thank the staff and Committee members for their good reports, and for all their efforts, without which the School could not operate.

We met in closed session to hear the preliminary report of the head evaluation by the human resources subcommittee. After much discussion of the evaluation results, we came to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of the school to not renew Jan Luchini's note of agreement for the year 2010-2011. We are saddened by this decision and recognize that Jan has done many good things for Scattergood in her tenure as Head, and in previous years as Business Manager. We wish her well. Debbie, Callie, and Lucy were appointed to visit with Jan after this meeting and let her know of our decision. We will need to begin work on forming a Search Committee in the near future.

We closed the meeting at the appointed hour with much care and appreciation for everyone at the school. God willing, we will meet again on 28 July 2009.

Callie Marsh, recording clerk