SPRING 2003Drew Smith
Head of School
ast week the Quaker Outreach Subcommittee of the Board met with Lori Talbot of Greenwich Meeting. Lori's son, Will, is a new fifth grader at the school this year. Like other Quaker children here, he is among the small minority of Quaker students who attend our school. His minority status is not unique to our school, either. I know of no Friends’ school whose population of Quaker students outnumbers those of other denominations or faiths.
The concern Lori brought to our committee is that she would like to encourage more Quaker children to attend the Friends School. This is a concern she shares not only with me and our Board of Trustees, but also throughout the schools within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Some Friends’ schools have done better than others in changing the ratio of Quaker to non-Quaker students, but even the successful schools struggle in this effort and are constantly searching for new ways to connect themselves to families in our Yearly Meeting.
From my perspective as a Quaker teaching in a Friends’ school, I believe that our Friends’ schools must first continue to develop as many connections with monthly meetings and Quaker institutions, such as AFSC, as is humanly possible. The primary purpose is not to recruit new students; rather the purpose is to help ensure that the voice and spirit of "greater Quakerism" will permeate all aspects of life at a Friends’ school. It is clear to me that as a whole, Friends’ schools have a great deal of work to do in this area.
Having Quaker students in our midst is, however, a powerful component of this connection between Friends’ schools and Friends. As a first step in furthering work on Lori Talbot's concern, I want to welcome any of you in the Quarter, whether you have school-age children or not, to come to speak with me if you yourself have a concern about our school, or if you feel led to become a part of the work that we perform here each day. We are always open to the leadings of Friends and friends.
We are anxious to welcome more Quaker students from the Quarter into our school. Our admissions policy very clearly states that we give special consideration to Quaker children in our admissions process. And the Yearly and Quarterly Meetings, along with a few monthly meetings, have joined with all Friends’ schools in making sure that finances are not the issue that drives the decision regarding enrollment. I myself benefited from the generosity of both the Friends’ school I attended and the various meetings. That generosity allowed for my experience as a younger Friend at a Friends school. And it is that Friends school experience that very directly lead me here to Friends School, Mullica Hill.
I have said before that I do not believe that Friends schools have a monopoly on powerful education. I do know, however, that connecting our schools with our young people and their meetings is critical work. I hope that any of you will feel welcome to connect either yourselves, or a young person who would benefit from a Friends school experience, with us. And most of all, that you all know that the door to my office is open to any of you, as a Friend and a friend.
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Last modified:
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
