Newsletter for Ongoing Feedback and Growth
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April 18, 2008
Over the last four years - since I have been at RDS - we have grown by approximately 30 students each year while we have simultaneously stayed committed to maintaining and enhancing our intimate diverse community. This is a complex endeavor. Furthermore, we are poised to go into growth mode again as we prepare to open the doors of RDS Upper School in the Fall of 2009. The only way we can succeed is with honest feedback and sincere support—they go hand in hand. We as an institution continually need to know where we are doing well and where we need more attention, and then as a community we must work together to improve.
For me, what comes to mind immediately is our goal of creating and sustaining an intimate diverse community. Our success in this arena will come about only because of sustained and balanced efforts. There is no idealistic reality just around the corner. And the more we push and strive, the more frequent our bouts of confusion and doubt. On the other hand, the more often we persist, despite these unavoidable anxious states, the deeper our conviction and faith. It is a tricky path for sure, which is why many institutions take a pass on the tougher work.
In growing RDS, we are concurrently assessing the present and planning for the future as we examine ourselves in a range of areas: curriculum, communication systems, personnel and student policies, and inclusiveness, all while keeping a focus on creating an intimate diverse community. As an example of this assessment, we have hired an outside consultant who, beginning this month, is conducting a systems audit with all our staff and administration, in part as a way to make more efficient and rewarding all our jobs, and in part to plan for the expansion into a K–12 institution. As another example, we have hired Ray Wilson as our Upper School Director so that he can join us a full year before our first ninth grade is enrolled and help us grow into our four new grades.
I am also working with some PA board members as we consider how the PA needs to evolve alongside RDS. These are fascinating discussions as we look at the ramifications of three divisions of students spread out over two campuses. In this same vein, early next month we will send out our annual Parent Survey; we solicit your feedback on where we are doing well and how we can improve.
Similarly, for both current assessment and future planning, we have contracted with Frances Kendall, Ph.D., to conduct a Climate Assessment at RDS that will eventually lead to a Diversity Strategic Plan that will lead us through the next few years. That Climate Assessment began this week with the first of many focus groups. (Thanks in advance to everyone who attends and participates in those groups—I know time is valuable and that many of you have made Herculean adjustments to your schedules in order to help out.) The purpose of these groups is to give us a clear picture of where we are, directions for the future, and priorities as to those directions.
Part of the huge challenge of creating an intimate diverse community is recognizing that we all come from different experiences and therefore have different lenses from which we view much of the world. Given these differences, how do we meet our goal? Two ways. First, we work to continue to listen to what one another is saying and not saying. We simply listen to one another without judgment. Second, we look at the policies and structures that give our community shape and we ask: Do they support a strong school and are they inclusive? I am happy to report that as a school we are actively doing both: listening and evaluating. I expect we will do more of this as our consultants report back to us and as the upper school becomes real.
Finally, let’s remember why we take on the goal of an intimate diverse community: our students, your children. They are growing up in a modern world where they must be able to take on different perspectives of a problem if they are going to creatively work with and solve the issues they will face as adults. Whether it is in the work world, international politics, or family, the ability to take on multiple perspectives is more important and vital than ever.
Thanks for your ongoing feedback and support as we reflect upon ourselves as an institution and plan for major growth in the near future.
Mike
