Head of School Report
Scattergood Friends School and Farm
July 2017
Dear Friends,
To know yourself and your place in life is always an unfolding mystery. This was my mind during Meeting for Worship a few days ago with Scattergood alumni in the Hickory Grove Meeting House. During that hour I reflected onmy experience sitting here four years ago as a prospective staff person for the school: I felt at peace and at home in a place that was wholly new to me. I write today with that same mysterious sense. I realize that I remain calledto be here, and I’m grateful for this opportunity to report again to the YearlyMeeting.
Priorities, themes and accomplishments this past year
Nine students received diplomas June 4th as the Class of 2017 this year withletters of admission to colleges and universities: Jazz Baizel, Theodore Byrnes, Esteban Zambrano Cabrera, Isaac Chen, Amen Fekadu Gabre, Lovangel Faulk, Reza Dad Mohammadi, Tsion McYates, and Savanna Yang. Additionally, two received certificates of attendance as post-graduatesthis year: Luis Rios Nuricumbo and Matthew Trueblood
Cameron McReynolds ‘18 was recognized as the year’s Berquist Scholar,and Kian Ganbari ‘18 earned our Fine Arts Scholarship.
In our program this year, engaging courses in the arts, humanities andprojects were offered along with the core subjects of math, science, and Spanish. Courses titled Human Health, Disease, and Physiology, Medieval Longsword, Art Drawing, The Messianic Motif, Literature and the Natural World, and Principles of Modern Computing were among the numerous options that gave students a wide variety of avenues for academic growth and skill development.
The academic year concluded early in May, when seniors remained on campus to build an arbor by the pond, paint dorm hallways, and install wood paneling (from boards reclaimed from the school’s old farmhouse) in thestudent lounge. Other students went off campus to canoe and hike the Ozarks or they travelled to a working farm in Michigan that promotes international rural development where they volunteered their energy.
Later, May Term classes and trips were again held in which studentsinvestigated topics of death and dying, chess, food writing, performanceart, automobile repair, greenhouse design and construction with reclaimed building materials, or they explored rivers in Missouri and northern Wisconsin with kayaks, and 250 miles of the Appalachian trail with backpacks.
Earnest and sustained community conversations on diverse facets of racial, cultural, gender, and ability identity were undertaken throughout the year, and these are enumerated in the Academic Report to this year’s Meeting. Staff were very much involved and discussed best practices inregard to their interactions with students and recent alumni and developed a better understanding what constitutes sexual harassment. I have been greatly inspired by the respect and sustained attention given by all staff to these difficult conversations in committee and staff meetings. Open andcompassionate communication among staff and students on these issues hasin my view strengthened the integrity of our small community. I believe itessential if we are to sustain ourselves in these current economic and social circumstances.
Strategic planning has been the other critical element of this past year’s work. At the heart of this effort is to focus on the central question: how do we rebuild student enrollment to sustainable levels? We continued this year with the initiatives to bring the farm closer to student life and learning, andwe also chose to enlist professional advice in the marketing of our school.In January we invited Kelsh Wilson, a firm that has provided consulting and design services to Carolina Friends School among other Friends schools and small colleges. Their visit and extensive interviews produced a detailed report that has been well received by the School Committee as well as the administration. They feel we should put three central messages out in ourinitial communications with audiences:
We are an authentic alternative to traditional high school programs,be they public or private.
Our farm and prairie serve as unique living laboratories for study. Our student trips throughout the year provide unique and enrichingopportunities for exploration and personal development.
A re-design of the Scattergood.org website reflects new messaging thatmore strongly engages prospective students and their parents. We are adding new short videos and hiring professional help to position ourselvesthrough social media to further these recommendations. Lastly, we’ll shift our market outreach to focus more on our local market for day and boarding students, as the national market is extremely competitive and international student recruitment has been significantly hampered by Federal policies and pronouncements.
Enrollment, Budget, and Financial Outlook
Outreach
My personal outreach this for the school this past year has included the following:
Fall Friends School Head’s Conference at Pendle Hill
Spoke at Strategic Planning Retreat for Chicago Friends School
Evanston Meeting House Second Hour with four Scattergood students
Midyear Meeting: On the relevance of Friends Schools in our current society with Scattergood students participating
Alumni Gatherings in the Twin Cities and Denver-Boulder corridorNorthern Yearly Meeting
Illinois Yearly Meeting
Staffing
Eight staff have moved or are moving on to new chapters in life after serviceto the school this year: Catherine From, Claire Tanager, Michael Carlson, Sophie Shanahan, Seth Wenger, and Shumpei Yamaki. Alicia Taylor leaves the Admissions Office after four years to become a mother, and Cindy Oliverius leaves after five years, with the last two as our Business Director. Andrew Orrego Linstad was an early departure in August of 2016 and wewere without a Director of Development this year.
We welcomed new staff after last July’s report: Gwen Morrison taught Social Studies and U.S. History and Government and became a dorm sponsorand Eric Andow taught Physics and provided technology support. Lisa Kofoed has served as associate business office clerk to Cindy last year. With 30 years’ experience in accounting and business operations, Lisa will provide the school with vital continuity in our business office. A search for a new second clerk will begin soon to preserve integrity of business operations.
This summer we are bringing the following individuals to the school community: Matthew McCutcheon is our new Academic Dean with Gabriela Delgadillo assuming the leadership of residential life as AssistantHead. Kelsey Clampitt and Chelsea Hunt-Teachout will co-teach Biology and Advanced Biology, while Kelsey will also be our Prairie Manager and teacher of Agricultural Research, and Chelsea will provide academic support with her training in special education. Genevieve George is our new English Language Learner instructor and will coordinate support for our international students. Keva Fawke will be our next artist in residence to teach ceramics among other duties. Administratively, we’ve welcomed Jennifer Jansen as our new Director of Admissions and Miranda Nielson as our new Development Coordinator.
We will for the first time engage professional psychological counseling services for 12 hours a week in the 2017-18 year for on-campus consultingfor students and staff.
Enrollment, Budget, Giving, and Major Capital Improvements and Needs
The school continues to receive requests for applications and we predict enrollment to remain even with our end-of-year number in June: 33 students. We continue to receive inquiries and make careful assessment of academically qualified students to determine if their social and emotional needs can be met by our program. Life and learning at Scattergood takes a huge personal commitment by each and every student, and each must drawprimarily on their internal resources to rise to the expectations of classes, crew, and life in a small and relatively isolated community. Like a goodorchard keeper’s view, healthy trees attract healthy insect and birdlife and repel the pests that lead to their demise. So must we ensure a healthy student body for future growth.
Capital improvements this year included linking the two wells on campus
to ensure water if one well fails, the installation of LED lights in the gymincreasing illumination while reducing electricity consumption, and asbestosremoval and salvage of materials from the old farmhouse which is soon to be razed. We are now also fully wired with fiber optic connectivity thatnow allows for seamless video conferencing. I am optimistic that this newcapacity will bring meaningful collaboration with experts and classroomsaround the world in our classrooms.
Our preliminary totals for the 2016-17 fiscal year show a $16,000 deficit in a $1,200,000 budget. Prudent budgeting and spending, along with improved collections and payments by the Business Office have contributed to this overall positive result. That said, we remain very concerned about the level of non-tuition support needed to balance budgetary losses in a period of low enrollment. The cash balance in any given month has required close and vigilant attention. We fell well short of our budgeted goals for annual giving and for a campaign of 3-year commitments of $10,000 or more this year. We were able to make each month’s payroll and payables, but a healthier operating cash cushion is needed if we wish to do more than tread water. Working with members of the School Committee and the Scattergood Foundation Trustees, I am preparing a 3-year budget outlook to better fund our efforts to bring more sustainable enrollment to the school. We’ll work with a team of development-minded individuals to make a more concerted effort to increase annual giving beyond the totals of the last two years.
Looking Ahead
At Pendle Hill last fall I was among heads of school who learned about Horizons National, an organization which incubates summer programmingfor at-risk students and receive additional support throughout the year.Summer programming at Scattergood has yielded very low enrollments in recent years, and I hope to further this initiative to not only increaseenrollment (and income) but also attract philanthropic support from sources previously out of reach of Scattergood.
The Academic Report to the Yearly Meeting describes our first-ever Student Diversity Leadership day last April. As a next step I hope to initiate a Middle School Student Diversity Leadership session with Scattergood students in thecoming year.
Catherine From and I will give a talk to the National Association of Independent School Educational Consultants in Washington DC in November, where we will relate the successes and challenges of our work fortransgender inclusion in a residential school setting.
We will engage a Scattergood alumnus and filmmaker to produce short films in which recent alumni will talk about what Scattergood as done for them. These films will be posted on our updated website and promoted with socialmedia.
In Year Two of our re-accreditation cycle the school will conduct the writingof our self-study: a community-wide assessment and report of all that makes for a healthy school and its pursuit of its mission. It is a vital component
to maintaining continuous improvement and integrity to the service of our school mission.
Concluding remarks
I close with my continued thanks to the Yearly Meeting for their continuedand significant support of the school. We appreciate that we are prominentamong your ministries.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas Weber, Head of School
Scattergood reports
Academic Subcommittee Report
Scattergood is a small community that has the advantage of being very diverse. That fact is a rich asset to help us prepare our students not only for college but mostly for life. This year our Senior Class had Black, White, Asian, Latino and African students coming from the east and west coasts of North America and three other continents. Only Senior students spoke more than 7 differentlanguages. But diversity did not stop with race, ethnicity, religion and languagebut also with different gender identities and different learning abilities.
Admission to a four-year college or university is one of the school’s requirements and our Senior students were accepted this year at the following colleges and universities: Kalamazoo College (3), Warren Wilson College (3); University of Iowa (3), Cornell College, Knox College, Reed College, Mills College, Luther College (2), Augustana College, Purdue University, Calvin College, Graceland University, Earlham College (4), Macalaster College andMarist College.
As part of our mission, we actively encourage leadership among our students, and we consciously provide opportunities for them to exercise it. As a clear example of that leadership embedded in the Quaker values of equality and social justice, this year our students led conversations about diversity that permeated our community. They helped us to talk about sensitive issues thatare not necessarily part of our day-to-day conversations. One morning during Collection, a group of Black students shared their past experiences of racialinequality. The ownership and sharing of those experiences foster their need to raise awareness in our community about the the Black Lives Matter movement. These students helped us think and understand the relevance of skin color, even more in this specific historical moment of our country.
Our transgender community compelled us to rethink gender conceptions asthey pushed to break the predominant binary view at the school, working withstaff to make changes in policies and practices to create even a safer living environment for students facing gender identity struggles.
Moreover, a student with Down syndrome enrolled for a post-graduate yearpresented the school with another challenge to our assumptions of “normalcy” that kept us constantly questioning our expectations and limitations to deal with inclusion. All this healthy unrest was fuel to organize the first Eastern Iowa Diversity Conference for Independent Schools, with more than 250participants coming from three independent schools of the area. MiddleSchool, High School, and Staff all gathered in our campus to talk about theseissues. We are hoping to continue these conversations internally and looking to involve more schools in the near future.
In order to help our students struggling with emotional and mental issues wedecided to split responsibilities between a student support team (SST) and the structured study hall team (SSH). SST focused on emotional and behavioralneeds, seeking professional help for our students and helping teachers navigatethe impact of this issues in the classroom. The SSH team focused on learningand academic needs, developing strategies such as different situations ofhomework, test preparation, materials and time management. Statistics about anxiety and depression among high school students are alarming. Publications of the National Institute of Mental Health mention more than a 60 % increase in the number of students reporting these problems in the last ten years, and our community is not an exception. All the strategies are designed to help students succeed academically. In order provide more structure for the SSH and SST teams, we developed, implemented, assessed, and adjusted differenttools, processes, and procedures designed to provide more consistency andaccountability. Among them is a contract for twelve hours of on-campus service each week by a licensed mental health counselor.
Our strategic plan and marketing differentiation placed the farm in a veryimportant position. For the last two years we had at the beginning of the year the Farm Immersion Program (FIP) for our freshmen and sophomore students.Four teachers were involved designing the curriculum and implementing theprogram. Students’ FIP feedback reflected some of their concerns missing class time in classes required for graduation and the difficulties for upperclassmen to connect with sophomores and freshmen and build stronger peer relations. The analysis of this situation, combined with the success of our May Term classes, motivated us to create a new farm term this year. All teachers arepreparing interdisciplinary, hands on learning classes for the farm term whichwill take place in morning during the the first three weeks of the first quarter. All students will attend the farm term. Math and seminar classes will be shifted to the afternoon so key subjects do not miss class time. This first term will also emphasize the development of the 21th century skills as enumerated by educator and author Tony Wagner (Critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration across networks; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurship; effective oral, written and multimedia communication; accessing and analyzing information; curiosity and imagination). It is clear that these skills are as Wagner explains “survival skills” to prepare students for college and their future work life, and we are working to insert them across the curriculum.
For this May term we had a Greenhouse construction class to build a structureto protect thousands of seeds that we need to transplant out into our gardenevery year. Students used the windows from the old sunroom. It has been a sustainable way to recycle our old farmhouse! They began the project at the design stage and finished with the actual construction of the building. Along the way they learned about design, geometry, materials, tools, teamwork, and problem solving.
Finally, another thought-provoking project this upcoming school year will be the writing of the Self-Study for our re-accreditation by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS). Sharing only about the section of the self-study report that talks about the academic program, thesteering committee in consultation with faculty decided to choose a different structure to present our program that goes in tune with our movement towardsan interdisciplinary, and project based learning integrated curriculum. In the Self-Study we will talk about “Developmental Stages” instead of the more standard description of our program through academic disciplines. The developmental stages included will be Intellectual, Aesthetic, Kinesthetic, Ethical/Moral and Social Practical.
I am very thankful for experience gained during this past academic year andI am ready to continue the journey and the seeding of values and ideals in the brains and hearts of the Scattergoodians that chose our community as theireducational soil.
Respectfully submitted,
Gabriela Delgadillo, Assistant Head of School
Scattergood Farm Report
July 2017
Dear Friends,
Since winter I have been pondering a quote from Wes Jackson, founder of the Land Institute in Salina KS, who famously said “If you are working on something that can be finished in your lifetime, you are not thinking big enough.” Though I fancy myself a thoughtful farmer, and I am certainlyfocused on perennial issues of food production and soil health, offeringvaluable learning experiences and being a good neighbor, and I feel that these fall short of the challenge Jackson posed.
This seems especially relevant this past year in which we have lost two former Farm Managers, Belle Hinshaw and Don Laughlin. They likely faced the sameissues that we currently face, some short-term like too much rain or too little,poor quality hay and not enough of it, soil too wet or too dry and always too weedy; and also some longer term issues like how to honor and encourage thegift of fertility, how to let our work speak to the world, how to cultivate wonder and awe and offer experiences that can inform or transform an adolescent life.
Embodying love and integrity Don and Belle each thought big and lived well, finishing plenty and leaving just enough for the rest of us.
So what have we finished this past year?
Ninth and tenth graders who were part of the Farm Immersion Program studiedsustainability and developed rubrics to help the Farm evaluate its performance in managing soil health, water conservation, energy use, biodiversity and doomsday preparedness. Agricultural Research class studied biochar production and benefits, aquaponics, and proper potato storage conditions. May TermClass designed and constructed a greenhouse lean-to on the south side of thebarn, repurposing windows from the condemned farm house. Farm Projectsand crews helped in so many of the daily functions of the farm, while PrairieProject and PE removed autumn olive and helped manage the sheep as they grazed parts of the prairie for the first time. All students took part in a massive squash harvest in October as well as Farm Fun day during orientation in which we harvested, constructed, weeded, and organized, followed by a picnic and the first Meeting for Worship of the school year. Two graduates, Isaac Chen and Theodore Byrnes contributed greatly to the Farm during their four years here: night feedings of bottle fed lambs, weeding, harvesting, planting, and simply being present to all that happens on the farm and advocating for it.
They will be missed.
The Scattergood Farm also welcomed many guests. Students from Mark Twain Elementary, Willowwind School, Stepping Stones Preschool, and Taproot Nature Experience all from Iowa City, as well as Summit School in Cedar Rapids visited throughout the year. Campers from the Scattergood Summer Camps, Peace Camp, Outdoor Adventures and Congregational United Church of Christ visited this summer. Environmental Science class undergrads from Cornell College and Regional Planning graduate students from the Universitiesof Iowa and Minnesota visited last fall. We also grew food for a wedding,hosted children’s activities at the Iowa City Farmers Market and remained active in Practical Farmers of Iowa, Iowa Farmers Union and Field to Family.
All of this was the work of many. Ben Bowman remained diligent in his workwith the livestock. Dana Foster shepherded the Farm Immersion Programand May Term Farm Class. During his time at Scattergood. Mike Severino established the Agricultural Research class, worked hard to maintain the prairie, and never seemed happier than when he stood before a large pile of manure with a shovel in his hands. Tim Schulte guided the razing of the farmhouse and the raising of the new greenhouse. Our cooks continued makingwonderful meals maximizing the bounty from the farm. Sam Taylor, Karen Huff and Isaac Chen have helped keep the farm productive and beautiful thissummer. Ken Fawcett managed our row crops and advised us in many otherareas. And the Farm Subcommittee of the School Committee again listenedcarefully and assisted when necessary.
So, does working hard on a beautiful farm producing food for its community pass the Wes test? Likely not, but then I think of the early Quakers of Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative who fought long to start Scattergood, to keep it open until they couldn’t, who reopened it to start another perennial battle of enrollment issues and fiscal challenges, and I am so thankful for their foresightand strength and faith and generosity, so that I might now continue the work of Don and Belle, and do a thing I love, for people whom I love, in a place that is worthy of so much love. Perhaps for some, the work of this lifetime is enough.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mark Quee, Farm Manager