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Above Board: Leading without a Map

I’m grateful to say we have found our bearings.

 

Advance Friends Select, our strategic plan, has helped us navigate through unknown terrain and conflicting traffic reports for the past six years.

 


Last summer, how many of us heard the common refrain from kids in the back seat on a road trip, “Are we there yet?”

 

Above Board

Ingrid Lakey '89, P'27, Board of Trustees Clerk

 

Given whatever map app you use, you could give a pretty accurate answer. Even when an unforeseen traffic jam occurs, almost instantly the app gives you a new route and ETA.

Running a school doesn’t work this way. In the past, as Friends Select’s board of trustees, we might have considered many of the decisions we needed to make to be relatively straightforward and on a clear recurring timeline. We knew which lane we were in. But these days, it can feel as if we are trying to find our way without a map.The COVID-19 pandemic was a massively destabilizing experience. Suddenly, the usual modes of operation were up in the air, unknown, and potentially risky.

Although we aren’t in the depths of that crisis anymore—and I’m grateful to say we have found our bearings—we must also recognize that this is a time of tremendous ambiguity. Climate disruption, artificial intelligence, gun violence, the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action in higher education—we must reckon with each of these issues as a society and as a board.

Advance Friends Select, our strategic plan, has helped us navigate through unknown terrain and conflicting traffic reports for the past six years. We have been diligently working to make the goals—excellence in teaching and learning, financial sustainability, use of space, and strategic partnerships—articulated in that plan a reality. This fall, we will update it to take into account our progress and incorporate priorities like environmental sustainability. Over the past year, we have also created a dashboard that will enable trustees to track information more easily so that we can more effectively make real-time, data-informed decisions. As always, our mission as a Quaker school is the bedrock.

As we face day-to-day obstacles and chart Friends Select’s course for generations, we must continually test if we are accountable to our mission. We have to constantly ask how we can approach each challenge as an opportunity to live more fully into our purpose. In this time of ambiguity, we have to be both reactive and proactive to fulfill Friends Select’s mission today and into the future. Deciding which route to take can be daunting, especially without a map or a clear ETA, but there is no doubt we are on an exciting journey.

 

 

Sun, 10 Nov 2024

Michael Gary Speaks

With the start of another academic year, I am incredibly proud of all that we are able to accomplish at Friends Select School.

Sun, 10 Nov 2024

Incorporating Environmental Sustainability to Advance Friends Select

Friends Select School’s administration and board of trustees are augmenting the existing framework of its strategic plan, Advance Friends Select, to include initiatives that will emphasize the school’s dedication to environmental sustainability.

Thu, 29 Aug 2024

2024-25 New Employees List

Please join us in welcoming the following new employees to the Friends Select community:

Sun, 05 May 2024

Michael Gary Speaks Spring 2023

I am so proud of what we have accomplished together since we launched our strategic plan, Advance Friends Select.

Sun, 05 May 2024

Giving Back: Lon and Bonnie Greenberg GP’25, ’27

Former Friends Select grandparents and longtime supporters of the school, Lon and Bonnie Greenberg GP’25, ’27 recently made a significant contribution to create an endowment fund for SummerSessions, a facet of the Advance Friends Select: Transformation Campaign.

Tue, 30 Apr 2024

Upper School Writer Program Thrives

To enrich the educational experience of upper school students and celebrate Philadelphia’s vibrant arts and culture, Friends Select School established the upper school Visiting Writer Program in 2019 with support from the John M. Dallam ’49 Endowed Fund. Each year, a distinguished Philadelphia-based writer is invited to engage with students and share their expertise, insight, and literary talent.

Tue, 30 Apr 2024

Successfully Navigating the College Application Process as a Student-Athlete

For students interested in pursuing a collegiate athletic career, the college search and application process add layers of complexity. Balancing academic and athletic commitments requires foresight, careful planning, and a strategic approach.

Tue, 30 Apr 2024

Students Participate in the Mayor’s African American Historic Statue Advisory Committee

Two Friends Select students had the privilege to serve on former Mayor Jim Kenney’s African American Historic Statue Advisory Committee convened by the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (OACCE).

Tue, 30 Apr 2024

Students Lead Voter Registration Drive at Shackamaxon Powwow

Friends Select upper school students facilitated a voter registration drive last September at the Shackamaxon Powwow at Penn Treaty Park. Hosted annually by the Native American House Alliance (NAHA)—a nonprofit organization that supports family, housing, and employment services to the local Native American community—the Shackamaxon Powwow honors Lenape culture and heritage.

Tue, 30 Apr 2024

Michael Gary Speaks Spring 2024

Watching and reading the news about boards of education at various levels throughout the United States purposefully censoring books and altering curricula to fit their political ideology, I am grateful to be an educator at Friends Select School.

 

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