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WINTER
2000 Drew Smith
Head of School
I wrote the following paragraph for the most recent issue of Notes for Parents, the newsletter distributed to all the parents at Friends School. It seemed to me, as I thought about what I might say to Salem Quarter in this issue of the newsletter, that the two words “community” and “collaboration” had important relevance here as well:
“Community and Collaboration are two of the eleven words that form the basis of the school’s operating principles. Those words were used primarily to describe the programs that your children are involved in at school every day. It is clear that those two words, and the actions that must accompany them, are critical to ensuring the academic and social growth of your children. I know I speak for the entire staff when I say that it is a pleasure to be building a community with you and your children.”
These are two words critical to the health of the relationship between the Quarter and Friends School as well. And I am encouraged to report to you concerning a few important collaborative steps that will lead to a better sense of community between us. Karen Huber of Woodstown Monthly Meeting is working with our school on two important joint projects: one involving work with Amnesty International, and the other, a clothing drive sponsored by Planet Aid Philadelphia. In both cases, members of the Quarter and the school community will work jointly on projects important to Friends. I believe these projects will be successful, and it is my hope that they will serve as a model for how we can collaborate in the future.
I am also encouraged by the invitation I received to talk with members of Quarterly Meeting in Greenwich this past September, and by the invitation I received to meet and share a meal with the Worship and Ministry Committee of the Mullica Hill Monthly Meeting. I believe that we Friends have an awful lot to offer to our communities and our world. And I think that we need one another in order that that message is delivered in as many ways as possible. I have appreciated the opportunity to speak to the Quarterly Meeting, and as with the community service projects, I hope that conversations with one another, either with the Quarter as a whole or individual meetings, will serve as the model for our continuing communal association.
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Last modified:
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
