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FALL 1999
John Harkins
Head of School
When I came to Friends School ten years ago, one of the first things I did was to install a big sign out front. The sign I ordered said FRIENDS, in letters sixteen inches high. Below that, in letters six inches high, it said SCHOOL. Under that, in letters four inches high, it said MULLICA HILL. The sign stands there today on Woodstown Road, announcing who we are, what other schools we count as our cousins, and where our spiritual foundations are built.
The sign has helped. Many families seek us out because we are a Friends’ school. I both understand and respect their motives, but there is more work to be done. I want more Friends’ families to seek us out because we are a Friends’ school. This is not because we need enrollment — the school is almost at full capacity. I want more Friends’ children because:
- They will help the school be more of a Friends’ school.
- Their school experience will reinforce the family experience as Friends.
- They will benefit from having some Quaker teachers and a curriculum that addresses Friends’ concerns.
- They will feel a fellowship with a wider community of Friends and Friends’ schools.
- They will help the school strengthen as a Salem Quarter institution.
- They will help the school serve as a form of Friends’ outreach.
Our school has Quaker percentages similar to most other Friends’ schools—about 7 per cent of our students, about 20 per cent of our faculty, and about 50 per cent of our Board of Trustees. Why aren’t those numbers higher? Scarcity is the first answer. There are just not very many Friends’ children in southern New Jersey. Philosophy is the second answer. Some people have a commitment to their local public school. Money is the third answer and the one I think we can do something about. In fact, we have already done something about it and plan to do more.
Friends School has made a major commitment to financial aid, sometimes accounting for 10 per cent of our operating budget. All financial aid is need-based and calculated according to a formula similar to those used by colleges in determining their grants of financial aid. Many middle-class families are surprised to learn that they are eligible, though no one would call them poor or needy. Tuition is a major expense, especially for a family with several children, and the formula is designed to support middle-class families that need a boost to help with the added burden of tuition. Approximately 25 per cent of our students receive some financial aid.
Quaker children are eligible for further funding from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, from Salem Quarter, and from some of the monthly meetings. A few years ago, our Board of Trustees approved a policy of calculating financial aid from the school independently of other funds that might be coming to a family from Quaker sources. This policy provides a generous advantage to Quaker children seeking financial aid. Some Quaker children have received three Quaker grants plus the school’s. The Board has also committed all the proceeds from the Amos and Eleanor Bond Scholarship Fund to support Quaker children. We are trying hard to enroll more children of Friends.
Funding Friends’ children in Friends’ schools is not a local issue. A group of us from a broad representation of meetings and schools has been meeting at 4th and Arch under the guidance of Tom Hoopes, Coordinator of Education for PYM. We are working to implement the Covenant on Education recently approved at PYM annual sessions in Allentown [see Annual Sessions and Education—ED.]. Part of that covenant states that “. . . no PYM family seeking an education in a PYM Friends school for their child be denied that opportunity for financial reason.”
Toward that end, we are exploring ways for PYM to raise a substantial endowed fund and have developed a pilot project to enable us to move toward that goal. The Chace Fund has recently decided to commit up to 20 per cent of its annual budget to this project. There is much more work to be done, but I predict that our efforts will succeed.
Meanwhile, I would be pleased to meet with any Salem Quarter Friends who would like to enroll their children in Friends School. Money should not be the issue.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
