Left Handed Lay-ups for the Holiday

December 21^st 2009

Have you heard the phrase “the teacher arrives when the student is ready”?

The idea speaks subtly to the magic of timing in one’s life – academically, and beyond. When I look back on a year, or even several decades (easier for me now as I move closer to fifty than forty), I see how that ineffable quality called “timing” keeps mattering.

At our All School Meeting last week our History Department Chair, Bruce Berk, spoke about service, and his timing could not have been better. He spoke directly to a core value at our school, making it accessible to 6^th through 12^th graders, as well as the adults.

“What is the relationship between left-handed lay-ups and generosity?” he asked. He captured my attention instantly - in part because I had been thinking in the previous moment about Derryfield’s basketball teams, the extraordinary good fortune of our community, and the holiday season. He managed to tie my disparate thoughts together, capture the community’s attention, and get us thinking - all at once.

The teacher had arrived and, just a few moments into our meeting, the students were ready to listen.

“You see, left handed lay-ups and generosity are about the same thing,” he continued. “You cannot be good at either unless you practice. And you cannot understand the experience unless you try it and keep doing it. Generosity does not necessarily come naturally, just like left handed lay-ups.”

The Derryfield School continually offers our students opportunities to practice. We require a variety of academic, artistic and athletic experiences so that our students are continually stretching themselves and practicing what may not come naturally at first. From these requirements come one of the most common and uplifting sentiments I hear from parents and students: “I am so pleased my child had to play a sport. She loves field hockey, and would never have known that but for Derryfield.” Or “If I did not have to take Latin in 6^th grade I would have never known how much I love it.”

I believe the time is right for our school to move toward a service requirement for all our students. At present, the majority of our students have a profound, Derryfield-based service experience before graduating, and many describe it as “transformational.” And yet I think of Mr. Berk’s observation – that one must cultivate the habit of service before it becomes integrated into one’s personality, before it has a chance of becoming natural. No doubt creating a requirement has the capacity to diminish the sincerity that comes with making an unfettered choice – but philosophically, I believe our school has arrived at the point where requiring some form of service prior to graduation will detract very little, with enormous potential for a lifetime of value for our students.

I have been heartened by our community’s embrace of our core values exploration this year, and cannot resist the urge to “Aim High” in the realm of service, too. By routinely practicing the generosity of spirit that is at the core of serving others our students will continue to honor their Derryfield education – and their Derryfield education will continue to serve them. My twin hope is that it would be unthinkable for our graduates not to continue to serve others as they grow beyond our campus, and that all our alumni can trace the routes of their passion for service back to the parent/teacher/school relationship that is the hallmark of Derryfield at its most inspiring.

Both Susan Grodman, our Director of Service and Global Education, and I are interested to know what you think about a service requirement at Derryfield. Let us know your stories and your insights.

Enjoy the holiday break – perhaps you will even have a chance to practice your left-handed lay-ups. In any event, may each of us be on the lookout for the transformational teachers in our lives in 2010 and beyond!

CNS

Lamplighter Interview

Questions from Jesse Fortier for the Derryfield Lamplighter

1) What is your favorite part of a day at DS?

You are starting with a hard one – let me just tell you about a bunch of favorite parts.

If I get in before 7:30a, I usually see Mr. Holland at the US Front Desk, and he usually looks up from the newspaper and says good morning. If DS is in a newspaper article or photo, he will tell me, and offer a sentence or two of commentary. It is a brief interaction, but like most simple rituals, it reminds me that the world is in order and that the day has begun with a measure of predictability.

If I get in after 7:30a, I am usually met with Mrs. Wall’s cheery “good morning” and – as I have often told her – that greeting is better than coffee. Her vibrant voice starts the day with an energetic, uplifting trajectory, and makes me smile right from the moment I walk in the door.

If it is a day we have All School Assembly, my favorite part hands-down is standing at the door and greeting or just watching our community go by. I like to see the differences in body language, hear the variety of conversational snippets, and get a broad sense of the mood of our school. I enjoy the creativity, talent and courage on display at Assembly, and I like knowing that Mr. Bouton has created a thoughtful package for our community to experience each week. I enjoy listening to the texture – the quality of the quiet - of our minute of reflection.

Since Thanksgiving the favorite part of my day is helping Mr. Whitmore coach middle school boys basketball. Prior to working with him in this way I had no idea what a talented coach he is, and I have been very impressed with the talent on the team. At the same time, we are having lots of fun. And it gets me up, moving, and burning some calories.

Lastly, the best part of my day is if I am looking forward to a faculty, staff or student party. We don’t do this all the time, but I always love the gatherings – recent examples might be Mr. Barnard’s gathering of seniors for breakfast, the championship soccer team and their parents having a potluck in the evening, the faculty/staff at Shortys before Thanksgiving, or the Holiday party at my house this Friday that will include the family of faculty and staff. I love the laughter, the sense of community, and the implicit understanding that we are very, very fortunate people with a great deal to be thankful for.

2) What is the hardest part of your day?

Another challenging question – I’ll admit I haven’t really thought in terms of “hardest” but one of the things that jumps to mind is often not having time (or forgetting) to eat lunch, which usually makes me sleepy, cranky, or just plain foggy in the early afternoon. This does not happen often, but enough for me (and Mrs Dollard) to know that it is something I need to watch. I think my wife tells people in the Main Office to watch for it, too.

Another hard part could be wanting to spend time with someone who has just “dropped by,” but having a meeting scheduled at the same time. You don’t want to be rude either way - to the person who made the appointment with you, or to the person who had a nice, spontaneous idea or conversation to share in the moment. Most of the time the better, understandable decision is to spend time with the person who made the appointment, but it still echoes with a bit of dissatisfaction when I look back at the day. I also recognize the blessing in the decision, because the larger concern would be if no one wanted to talk with me at all.

3) Does your schedule change on a daily basis?

Pretty much – yes. My school day usually starts between 7 and 7:30a, and goes to about the same time in the evening – unless we have an event at night. For the rest of December the consistent parts will be helping with basketball in the afternoon, but otherwise I have a variety of meetings of different lengths with different purposes throughout the day.

My daughter is going to Shaker Road School in Concord and I am also trying (but, alas, usually failing) to pick her up from school once a week. I really love that car ride for the conversation time that parents talk about – otherwise, living less than two miles from school, there is not a lot of time for connection.

Here are some examples of meetings I will have for the week of December 14^th – Annual Fund Committee; Safety Committee; Governance Committee; School Council Meeting; Executive Committee; Talk with architects about a new administrative building that will replace the Art House; Finance Committee; “Stand Up;” Meeting with Mr. Powell, Mr. Blaisdell and Mrs. Carter.

4) Why do you like your job at DS?

Have you ever had a job that really did not feel like you, or did not align with what you think matters in life? I don’t mean every job you do has to be bursting with profound meaning – by the end of high school, I had been a tennis instructor, a dishwasher, a beach raker, a fast food worker, a ticket-taker at a movie theater, a car mechanic’s apprentice, and probably a bunch of other things I have forgotten. Most of the time I just needed to make money, and I was happy to be doing that. But as I got older, I wanted to do something that felt more connected to things that mattered to me.

At Derryfield I get to spend my days surrounded by people who – and I know this sounds a bit over the top, but it really is the way I think – are heroes to me. Obviously not every person at every moment, but people who spend their life trying to make the world a better place by teaching young people just inspire me. It does not feel at all exaggerated or fake to me – great teachers and great schools changed my life, and I know that dynamic is real. I want to be a part of doing that for someone else, and being at Derryfield gives me that chance.

Anyway, how can you go wrong when you are greeted by Mr. Holland or Mrs Wall each morning?

CNS

Thanksgiving Assembly Talk

November 20^th 2009

Our school has a terrific tradition of reflecting on themes related to Thanksgiving during this assembly, and I am honored to continue that tradition today. Just as importantly, Mrs Devino and our talented students will send us off humming, and with our eyes and ears somehow a bit closer to vacation, if not a bit closer to heaven.

When I think about Thanksgiving I think about the double-helix of family and gratitude… . and those combined thoughts, especially this time of year, usually lead me to thinking about my grandfather. He was born in 1900, so I always knew how old he was. His parents named him Harry, and when his mom shook the President’s hand at a whistle stop tour shortly before he was born they chose his middle name – McKinley. His grandparents were first generation from Germany. They had been coal miners like their parents, and they came to the promised land called America and settled in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, because they could continue to be coal miners there, and because the land reminded them just enough of the place they left in Germany.

My grandfather was planning to be a coal miner because that’s what his family did since they could remember – they were big, hearty, hard working people who enjoyed life and were appreciative that they had jobs at all. He said that was just what you did in Pottsville, you worked in the mines, and he really did not think much of it either way.

That was his plan,that was his expectation, except for one thing – he had a passion for baseball, he loved the game and played it every spare moment he could. He was a modest man, and when he told me he was pretty good at, I just got the feeling that meant something.

He was playing for the Pottsville town baseball team late in his high school years, and a man named Mr. Clothier was in the stands, saw him play, found him after the game, and said if you go play baseball for my college, I’ll pay your way. My grandfather told me he wanted to say to the man “what is college” but he knew enough about the idea of college, and did not want to seem dumb to this man who was talking with him about college, so instead he said “what college?” and the man said a place called Swarthmore. Mr. Clothier said it was only 100 miles away, that he could get there in an afternoon train ride, and reiterated that he would pay the tuition if he went to Swarthmore and played baseball.

So my grandfather went home to talk to his parents about it. His parents had not heard of Swarthmore Pennsylvania, let alone Swarthmore College, but said if he should give it a try if he wanted to – the coal mines, they said, would always be there for him.

He went to college, he loved it, and it changed his life because it changed his horizons – it changed, in the language of one of our school values, where he was aiming with his life. No one in his family went to college before him – everyone in his family has gone to college since.

These scenes have played out time and time again in a black and white movie in my mind – in the movie, Mr. Clothier looks something like Mr. Holland, and my grandfather looks something like a teenage Mr. Hastings.

It turned out he loved chemistry at Swarthmore – he said it just fired him up – he found a job as a chief chemist for a company and when the great depression hit in 1929 he was the only one on his block who kept a job. He was devoted to his company – worked there his entire life. It was a time when companies returned the loyalty and, if you were fortunate enough, you would retire from the place where you started with a big party and a gold watch as a symbol of gratitude for the 30 or more years of work.

Again, I can play the story out like a movie – he had a chemistry teacher at Swarthmore who looks like Mr. Bradley, and the baseball coach looks like Doc Sanford, and his best friends – the ones he introduced me to at his retirement community – look like . . . well, you can fill it in from there.

My grandfather loved telling the story to me about the meaning of Mr. Clothier in his life, and I now know he also used the story to have me understand the incredible, time-traveling power of what it means to help someone else. He told me the story with greater detail as I got older – he never had an ounce of boasting about himself, rather he always spoke of his incredible good fortune, and wanted me to know that I had the ability to do the same thing as this man I never met, but whose name was on a huge department store in Philadelphia, called Strawbridge & Clothier – which, by the way, was bought by Macy’s in 1999 and, best I can tell, is no longer in existence.

And so I want to be bold enough, and clear enough, to have you do some specific thinking over Thanksgiving – I want you to be aware of two things, and each bit of awareness has a responsibility that comes with it.

First – there are Mr. Clothiers in our life in 2009, and I urge you to be aware of who they are. Thanksgiving is simply the perfect time to reflect on, and be grateful for, people who have helped us. Not every story needs to be dramatic, but if you are not aware of your Mr. Clothiers – those who offered inspiration, those who saw something in you and had faith in you, those who encouraged you to stretch and aim high - you won’t know how you have grown from their kindness, and you will miss out on how their encouragement keeps echoing in your life.

Why does knowing the Mr. Clothiers in your life matter? The answer connects to my second bit of homework.

Each of us has the ability to do for someone what Mr. Clothier did for my grandfather, and start that phenomenal, time traveling arc of opportunity for someone else. Again, it does not have to be dramatic – in some ways, the smallest gestures have the capacity to be the most meaningful . . . but you just never know. So I would ask you to find a way to help someone by recognizing a talent they have, and encouraging them to pursue it.

Harry McKinley Sellers left me his gold watch, and I know he wanted me to have it for the stories it could tell, and for whatever ability his grandchildren may have to inspire others to think about the way a kind act can travel across time . . . Have a terrific Thanksgiving.

Admission Open House

Thought you might enjoy seeing the notes from my welcoming talk at our exceptionally well attended Admission Open House today.

* * * * *

Good afternoon. My name is Craig Sellers, I am in my third year as the Head of School here at Derryfield, and I am also a parent in our school.

I want to start by saying, on behalf of our faculty and staff how much we respect the idea that you are here researching – doing your homework – about your own or your child’s education. Making that decision is a process that can only benefit from taking the time to be here today, to learn, and to consider how Derryfield can be an integral part of your life as a student, or your life as a parents, as well as the life of your family, for the next several years. So thank you, once again, for being here.

I am here to give an elevator speech of sorts, but I will confess that I plan to stop at three floors. Here is my premise:

Any school that thrives in the next ten years will have a challenging 21st century curriculum that is both global and green, delivered by an inspiring faculty who know and care deeply for their students. Friends, the Derryfield School is thriving, and you will see that for your self today.

So what does Derryfield mean by a challenging 21st century curriculum?

First Floor: Well I think it means a lot of things, but one simple idea is whether students are having fun – that might surprise you, but kids actually enjoying their work means they are engaged, understand its relevance, understand its meaning in their life, understand that it matters and that it actually has value both now and in the future. A sense of enjoyment and excitement are also prerequisites for gratitude – that is, the gratitude our community has for having access to a Derryfield education in the first place.

This does not mean every student looks forward to every Latin Test or US History test, but there is no denying that a 6th grader, for instance, will have a blast in our Circus curriculum – but they will also learn lessons about agility, hand-eye, Performance, trusting one another, and what it means to be a part of a team. Our students’ learning is meaningful and useful, it brings them joy, and it gives families wonderful conversation topics for the diner table.

Second Floor - you will find a school that is committed to thinking globally, and with an awareness of sustainabiity. I am talking about exciting trips and experiences, but I am also talking about a mindset that understands a service project in downtown Manchester, or building Habitat housing in West Virginia, have global implications. As our alumnus Gary Hirshberg told us, there really is no “away” anymore – as in, we simply send our trash “Away” – and our curriculum embeds that essential understanding in a variety of ways across grades and subjects. Our children are going into an increasingly inter-connected world, and our curriculum embraces that vision.

Third Floor: today you will meet our exceptional faculty. Since its founding Derryfield has understood that the faculty are the center of our program. It is fantastic to have a new Turf Field, for instance, but I think it even more important that you get to know members of our Athletics Department – our coaches – whose devotion to students, not to mention their credentials, will simply astonish you. I want you to be impressed with our facilities, but we know our priorities are with our people, our Teachers – they are the ones who will inspire you, and they are the ones who motivate our alumni to come back for homecoming year after year. Our faculty is simply sensational, and today you will begin to get an understanding of why they are the soul of our school.

To summarize:

First floor – a 21st century curriculum;

Second Floor - A global mindset;

Third Floor – An inspiring faculty who are the soul of our school.

We have arrived at our destination, at least for now, and I will ask Allison Price to help you continue on your journey today.

Thank you for being here, enjoy your day.

CNS

Facing History

November 4th 2009

Today I attended a workshop hosted by teachers from Facing History and Ourselves on the topic of “Differences Among Us: Examining Perceptions, Stereotypes and Homophobia.” The workshop opened with the question “What are the experiences of students who identify as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered in our schools?”

Derryfield has made improvements in this area, and I continue to think we can do better. I am certain that our adult employees are in unity around the need to create a safe environment for students to express themselves and be themselves, and I am also clear that students are routinely reminded that the world can be a difficult place for those who challenge convention.

One of the guiding questions for the day was “What impact do deeply held stereotypes and rigid gender enforcement have on our lives?” A brief, current film had kids explaining how it was not particularly safe for boys to express too much emotion, for instance, or for girls to be too tough or confrontational. The kids spoke plainly in expressing their sense of the “rules” around their social lives. The adults don’t necessarily see it, but for the kids it is pretty simple – step outside the hidden lines they see clearly, and risk the consequences.

Still, the workshop reminded me of a hopeful moment that I had my first year at Derryfield. I had been to one or two hockey games before I realized that girls were on the team (clearly I am not proud of that delayed observation – the ponytails ultimately gave it away!). In fact, the girls were some of the best players on the team. In talking with the players back on campus, neither the boys nor the girls seemed to think anything of it. You could tell that, from their point-of-view, it was an issue that spoke to my generation, and was nothing they seemed particularly conversation-worthy.

I found this to be incredibly hopeful. Perhaps not unlike my ability simply to presume that women can (and, therefore, always did) vote, the students were a part of a new world that presumed equality in this way. Their lack of guile was refreshing, and left me to dream about all the progress to come.

At the end of the day, we discussed the following poem by James Berry -

What Do We Do with a Variation?

What do we do with a difference?
Do we stand and discuss its oddity
Or do we ignore it?

Do we shut our eyes to it
or do we poke it with a stick?
Do we clobber it to death?

Do we move around it in rage
and enlist the rage of others?
Do we will it to go away?

Do we look at it in awe
or purely wonderment?
Do we work for it to disappear?

Do we pass it stealthily
Or change route away from it?
Do we will it to become like ourselves?

What do we do with a difference?
Do we communicate to it,
let application acknowledge it
for barriers to fall down?

A Legal Constant

I get a number of magazines about education. One I skim as soon as it arrives is called “Principal Leadership,” and it is published by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. I recently noticed that the first column in each issue is called “Cases in Point - A Legal Constant.”

That’s the bad news – it is true that every Head of School is constantly connected to lawyers for a variety of reasons – issues related to personnel, employment, contracts, zoning and more come up all the time. No doubt the ubiquity explains why legal issues are the first column in each issue of “Principal Leadership.”

The good news? As the article says, “Almost every legal issue that arises in the school environment can be traced back to fundamental constitutional principles.” That is good news because I am fascinated by the Constitution. While I don’t necessarily enjoy every discussion I have with lawyers, it is helpful to think that “the guiding principles and specific tenants of the Constitution can and should serve as a reminder of the correct course of action in many areas of education law.” Thinking about that sense of history and fundamental principles helps to give purpose to an area that, otherwise, might be a constant drain.

On the Move

October 20th 2009

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of touring the Segway manufacturing plant in Bedford, NH. Besides learning about something that is a quintessential New Hampshire product, I confess to having a fascination with sophisticated manufacturing. How do you set-up the factory? How do you think about managing inventory, quality control, continuous improvement, supply and demand? I like to listen for the thinking, and the motivation, behind the systems.

But I have another reason – probably best described as a kind of jealousy. When people in manufacturing see their product role off the line, they get instant feedback, instant understanding, instant gratification. I think some of the most important outcomes in education are on the other end of that continuum – is the student committed to learning for a lifetime, is s/he kind to others, is s/he creative, tolerant hard working and resilient?

My guess is that, at the earliest, it can take up to ten years to see the full value of a Derryfield education. I’m not the most patient person – you can see how I would be jealous.

New Hampshire Humanities Council Dinner

Cary and I were fortunate enough to attend the NH Humanities Council annual dinner last night and hear the keynote address from Salman Rushdie. He began by expressing some doubt around whether authors should be allowed to speak in public, and then he hooked the audience thereafter with the following thought - “I won’t say a lot about my little disagreement with the Ayatollah Khomeini, except that one of us is dead. Remember, the pen is mightier than the sword.” You could not help but be impressed with the man’s courage, yet before too long you got the clear sense that he also takes a certain delight in being a provocateur. For instance – “The Nobel Peace Prize was recently given to your President for the enormous achievement of not being the previous President.” He got some laughs, and he made the point that novelists have to be truth tellers, regardless of the consequences.

Toward the end of his talk he returned briefly to what he learned from the fallout of the Satanic Verses. While the book was published 20 years ago it seems that the fatwa — a death sentence — against Rushdie for allegedly blaspheming Islam in the novel remains in effect – at least according to Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard, who recently described the order as “irrevocable.’’

He said the central question that emerged from his experience was “who should and does have the power over the story?” This matters because, in his view, what makes us distinctly human beings is our capacity to tell stories. Thus, power over the story is power over our humanity. He makes a compelling case.

The sentence in his closing thoughts that caught my attention, however, was almost a throw-away line: “When you know the stories, you belong.” This further clarified the purpose of a question I have asked many people in our community this year – what are the distinctly Derryfield stories that we need to share? What are the stories that speak to our mission, that illustrate our values, and that capture the soul of our school?

While stories can illustrate our mission and values, and tend to make us feel good, he revealed another result for me from the telling – stories create community by promoting a sense of belonging. Thanks, Salmon – your courage and clarity re-energized me around telling Derryfield’s stories.

Grandparents and Special Friends Day Assembly Speech

October 2, 2009

Welcome to our Grandparents and Special Friends. I am Craig Sellers, Head of School, and I want to tell you that we look forward to your presence each year, even if the kids do have to put on ties or special dresses.

Your schedule calls this our Assembly Program, and I am pleased to have a few minutes to speak with you about our school. Last year at this time I was a few days away from hip surgery, and while I did not ask for a show of hands at the time, I got the clear sense that I would be joining a few of you who have had, shall we say, some kind of bionic surgery. So coming up on my one year anniversary – that many of you asked about today – everything is great, and I have joined the ranks of people who have a brand new body part in a not quite new body.

So we are so pleased that you are here, that you spent the morning with us, but even better than our pleasure is that you are getting a sense of where your Grandchildren and special friends spend their school days. My hope is that when you spend time at Derryfield you get a sense of the values that guide our school, and this year we began the practice of lifting up two of our six core values per year (you can read them in our Program), and considering them together as a school community.

We are putting a special focus on the values “Aim High” and “Balance” this year. Beginning on July 20th this summer I began asking all kinds of Derryfield-age kids what it meant to “Aim High” – do you know why I chose that date? Its the anniversary of the moonwalk – and mostly I got blank stares around that 40th anniversary, and what it meant to them. Or I got a Michael Jackson reference. And from that experience – a really astounding experience to me, because I believe in the transforming power at the intersection of technology and human accomplishment – I begin to think about what we do here in a different light.

You see what matters in the lives of your Grandchildren and special friends is not the iPods, the cellphones, the digital-what-have-you’s, or even one of the most amazing accomplishments of all times - going to another planet! – it is relationships. If the moonwalk, a quick 40 years later, is not on their minds – well friends, what is on their minds, by and large, is you. History shows us that as powerful as the internet and the digital world is, it is very likely to be next year’s moonwalk.

What is on their minds is friends and family and relationships and, yes, school. How many of you remember a teacher from some time in your 6th through 12 grade life? Or, sadly, a slight from a friend or an adult in that time? I bet most of you can call that up in an instant. Again, it is the relationships that are timeless, not the technology.

And so we begin the practice of exploring our value of Aiming High with simple acts of kindness, person to person. What our graduation speaker, Mr. Anthony, called “the dignity of civility” at our graduation talk a few months ago. My hope is that you saw this kindness everywhere in your time here today – I can tell you that you will see this in our commitment to excellence in athletics, in the arts, and in our
academics.

My view is that by beginning with simple acts, and by moving that circle of kindness and civility outwards, our school culture gathers momentum and starts to speak for itself . . . But I can’t help but try to describe what I see. In a phrase, I think Derryfield is very good at putting old heads, on young bodies. That image works, perhaps especially on this day. But in the year of considering the value of balance, I have to tell you – the Grandparents and Special Friends here – that this day makes it very clear to me that our school is fantastic at something else. Your participation, your smiles, your energy, eagerness & enthusiasm confirms to me that we are also very good at putting new heads on older bodies.

If we can have new hips, new hearts, new knees, why can’t a school be a place where we practice developing new minds? It can, and spending time with you today, and our presence here today, proves that idea is very much alive at DS.

And with this idea – the idea that a school can be a place where we practice having new minds – I want to say two things, and connect them both to the value of Balance.
When your grandchildren and friends see you here – see you embracing the value and the relationships inherent in a great school - it makes our jobs not just easier but more exciting, more vital, more effective. You have seen families where the dynamic coming from the home simply values learning – where education is a spoken part of the family value system. The values matter – the kids pick this up, and it enriches everything they do, including when they run into that impostor called failure – you see, you never promised them it would be easy, but rather you said that education matters, learning matters, and that people of any age can learn just as much from mistakes as from success.

The second point I want to make needs help from our school librarian, Betty Jipson. The point is that an essential characteristic of a Derryfield education – and an essential part of Aiming High at Derryfield – is to engage, to create, to struggle, to use the material. So we thought we would let you in on a discussion we are having . . .. We will be a bit provocative, a bit dramatic, to make a point, to get your learning juices flowing, to give you a conversation topic that will resonate beyond today, and to have you come back next year!

What I am talking about is including you on a brief discussion about Derryfield creating an All-Digital, All Electronic, All-the-Time Learning Center . . .. (The following Link projected on the Big Screen behind me):

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/0904/a_library_without_the_books/

Here is my dilemma – Principals around the country are considering getting rid of their libraries because of everything going digital. They are talking about a “bookless campus.” My problem is, I love libraries, and I think Ms. Jipson is extraordinary, and my favorite school memory in my early years goes back to a Librarian . . .. Still, I thought it only fair for us to have some fun with you, and let her present the case for a “digital, bookless learning center” . . ..

So, Mrs. Jipson, in brave new digital world, would you like to make the argument for your own demise?

(We look at each other in faux argument tone)

Betty – think of the time saved by not having to walk through the library stacks! No more browsing the shelves! Think of the space saved!

We could put any of 300,000 books on kindles -- electronic book readers -- and if someone wants to read one of the other millions of books that have been published, they'll just have to be flexible. We could have Starbucks in what used to be the library instead!

Craig – Yes – but what about the actual, physical, lovely books? What about the value of books? What about holding them, looking at them, browsing them, being with them? The whole approach seems out of balance in the year of exploring our Core value of Balance!

Betty – We know the future is digital. Why are you dragging your feet? Many of your Principal colleagues have seen the light, and the light is the glow of a computer screen!

Craig – But to announce this on Grandparents Day? Everyone in here loves books! Books changed our lives, expanded our minds, gave us hope . . ..

Betty – Yes, but that was before the computer, before the internet, before the iPhone!

Craig – (turning back to the audience) So what would you do? Have a conversation with your Grandchild/Special Friend about this – what does it mean in 2009 to “Aim High” with respect to Libraries? How can we uphold the value of Balance as we approach our beloved books, and our beloved librarians, in the digital age?

And come back next year to find out what we have decided!


Now I would like to Introduce Avis Mello, grandmother of Jared Hammer, Austin Hammer & Allen Mello . . ..

Economic Forecasting

Wed, September 23rd 2009

Yesterday I went to the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s annual Economic Forecast Luncheon. Subtitled “Do you wonder what the future holds for the New Hampshire economy?”, the event promised a cross-section of academics, researchers and business people that sounded intriguing.

After some friendly introductions at my table, I noticed that 7 of the 9 people I was sitting with were using their Blackberries during the program. By comparison, our highly connected students are slackers. No wonder we struggle with kids texting during class and the like if the adults are also figuring out the etiquette.

The opening thought of the gathering was “If you are here today complaining about your ability to balance your budget, the challenging economic atmosphere, or that you are working harder with less people – congratulations.” This was a sobering reminder that many businesses (and, I would add, several schools) did not make it through 2009.

I did a pretty good job of scratching notes out on a napkin, the highlights of which are transcribed below –

• During the last 18 months the New Hampshire economy has lost jobs at about half the rate of the US economy, and Manchester in particular has lost jobs at half the rate of New Hampshire –a pretty good record for our local area.

• New Hampshire grows because families move here from elsewhere. Thus, the area has felt the “locked-in” effect of falling home values elsewhere that dampen the ability and/or the desire of people to move.

• The New England economy is proving to be remarkably resilient, and New Hampshire has managed to prosper, relatively speaking, in a declining region.

• New Hampshire will continue to be the strongest economy in New England, outperforming the nation as whole. This prediction is based on the expected continued strength in the health care, education and technology sectors – in that order.

• As opposed to a “V” shaped (hard down, quick up) recovery or an “L” shaped (plunge, with extended dragging along the bottom), the panel was predicting a “U” shaped recovery where we would bounce along the bottom for most of 2010 before beginning to add jobs and growth thereafter.

Just that so much of the talk was about a recovery was affirming – regardless of the letter you choose, most seem to think that some amount of light is ahead.



CNS

Professional Development Day

Friday, September 18th 2009

Our tradition of having a professional development day after Back-to-School night makes sense for many reasons, and one of the best is simply a matter of fatigue – switching gears from summer to school time always takes more energy and focus than it would seem. So by the time our students, parents and faculty get to the morning after a late Thursday night, everyone looks forward to the day – students for what seems like a gift day off, parents because they too have been struggling with the change, and faculty because the opportunity for a different pace after several weeks of start-up comes at a fine time.

Mary Carter, our Dean of Faculty and Academic Programs, designs the day with consultation from colleagues. While we have spent the entire day on one theme in the past, we tend to balance group or department time with the need for individuals to simply connect with one another as needed. For example, the first part of the day we worked in small groups on how we can use technology for distance learning – whether because we have to (if swine flu forces us to close for a few weeks, for instance) or simply because we want to keep improving how we leverage the internet. Later on in the day we provided time for departments to catch-up, for smaller gatherings, or simply to catch our breath.

Primary Election

September 15th 2009

We hosted about 2,000 voters from Manchester’s Ward One today. I arrived at school 5:30 a.m. and several DS employees were already hard at work helping sign holders, setting up the parking lot and generally serving everyone involved. As the sun started to come up, the voting began and the four people stationed in the parking lot had to keep an eagle eye out in every direction until the voting ended at 7 p.m.

The event takes about 60 man-hours for Derryfield to staff it appropriately. Our facility allows us to serve dozens of disabled people who would otherwise not make it to the polls, and along the way Derryfield gets a bit less mysterious to neighbors who have perhaps heard of our school, but certainly have never been on campus. We have two policemen to help with the traffic – one stationed at the bottom of Bicentennial, and the other at the top of the upper school entrance. Many middle school students and parents reported to me that they either did not know or had forgotten that we had voting on the other side of the campus. At the end of the day, the policeman who had been stationed at the top of the upper school entrance came to my office to tell me a story. He said “I just wanted you to know that in my twelve years on the police force, I have never been spoken to with such kindness by students . . . and adults weren’t even around when they were being nice!”

What more can you ask as a Head of School? This officer sought me out because it really mattered to him that I knew the extent to which our students are unusual. And, in his own way, he affirmed one of the reasons to host voting at our school – Derryfield is a gem too hidden, and when people get to know our students, our teachers and our community, they often feel the need to tell others about us. In this small way, we can keep the cycle of service, community presence, and goodwill growing.

Late Night Civics Lesson

September 11th 2009

I never made it to a New England Town Hall discussion on health care reform, but may have found the next best thing last night by attending a five-hour Manchester Zoning Board discussion on Wal-Mart’s plan to build a super-store in the city. I was there to help present Derryfield’s proposal to light our Turf Field, which took about 30 minutes, except that we were in the queue after Wal-Mart - which took about four hours. Which, in some ways, worked to our advantage.

One of Mr. Zeller’s opening questions to his middle school students this year was “what is civics?” The answer played out last night in a New Hampshire brew of community theater and old school, Norman Rockwell-esque participatory democracy. After a ponderous, detailed, and ultimately confusing, 90+ minute opening statement by Wal-Mart’s attorney, land planner and traffic engineer, the chair of the Board invited anyone in the room who wanted to speak on behalf of the project to approach the microphone. About five people spoke, with the lead-off person being a former Wal-Mart employee who could not have been more chipper. Then the Chair asked anyone in the room who wanted to speak against the proposal to approach the microphone and the entire room seemed to rise up and move, prompting the chair to impose a three minute time limit on each speaker. A quick count showed we had more than two hours of concerns ahead.

After everyone in attendance spoke, the Board decided to continue this conversation at the October meeting and the entire event made the headlines in the Union Leader this morning. The room emptied out but for a few people when the Wal-Mart matter stopped and Derryfield got to present our lighting proposal to a supportive Board. No “abutters” (that is, people with contiguous property) spoke either for or against the proposal, which was affirming to my sense of our school as a good neighbor .

We continue to make progress in planning for this important enhancement to our Turf Field and I look forward to the day our students can finish their games in the chilly fall evenings “under the lights.”

Dear Mr. President

September 10th 2009

Dear Mr. President,

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to speak to the young students across America this week. With luck, I will get to thank you in person during the next election, because last election season you asked to play basketball in our gym and while we could not work it out in the moment, I made your people promise you would ask again in 2011.

In addition to thanking you, I wanted to let you know how our school responded to your offer to watch your speech. We announced the opportunity in morning all-school assembly and told our students we would display the speech live at noon in our auditorium for anyone who chose to attend. One of our teachers had read the text of the speech beforehand, endorsed your message, and urged everyone to consider attending.

Over the weekend, some parents had expressed concern that we would require attendance and others expressed concern that we would not allow attendance. I was pleased with our balanced approach, offering the opportunity to those who could watch and urging others to watch at a later time. In this way, we minimized the impact on our classroom time but modeled respect for our public servants.

At noon time, I watched in our auditorium with about ten students and five faculty, and could only imagine the impact your speech might have on the future of our country. Surely many of our students watched your talk later in the day via internet or TV.

Thank you again for your uplifting, responsible, and inspiring message - I look forward to thanking you in person.

CNS

Designing Serene Start-Up Days

September 4th 2009

Last winter I convened a small group to discuss ways to make our opening August week of faculty and staff meetings more inspiring and less stressful. While I thought we were doing a fine job in general, I was aware that my tendency is to pack a lot of information into a concentrated period of time, and move the balance more toward efficiency, perhaps at the expense of community-building. Thus the purpose of the group became “Designing Serene Start-Up Days.” Thinking about the last two weeks – the faculty returned the week of August 24th, and the students came this week – I think we got the balance just about perfect. A few examples in particular come to mind:

We had a Student Leadership Summit attended by almost 20 of our high school students where we balanced discussions of theories of leadership with each person creating an action plan for their role (captain of the soccer team, student council president, etc.) that we will check-in on at a winter meeting.

Cary and I hosted a lunch at our house for our five new employees, including their mentors and many of their colleagues, and any other employee who was new to DS in the last few years. The event was small enough to allow attention to and conversation with each new person, but big enough to have a nice party atmosphere.

In response to being over-programmed and not allowing enough time for classroom preparation or individualized problem-solving, we allowed a day in the middle of the week that was an “Admin-free zone” – faculty could use the day any way they wanted, including working from home.

We ended last week with a well-attended and lively gathering at Shortys. You could tell from the attendance and the level of excited chatter that debriefing over nachos and a margarita served a need.

Finally, beginning the week with class retreats, new parent gatherings, and two days of academics eased the transition from long summer days to classroom time. No matter how exciting the teaching, that transition is effortful work for our students, and we are wise to build in the recognition that shifting gears – however welcome – comes with a certain level of energy demand.

No doubt looking at a beautiful three day weekend ahead seems just about the right balance for many of us.

The Minute of Reflection Diner

August 31st 2009

The senior retreat this week had a “Survivor” theme that was complete with tiki lamps, chariot races and tee-shirts. The ingenuity and attention to detail by the adults was exceptional, and the students had a fantastic time. One of the questions for the teams was “If Mr. Sellers had a diner, what would he call it?” The answers made me laugh, but first some background.

During the early 1990s I was part of a magazine called “Roadside” that was devoted to all kinds of roadside Americana, particularly the American diner – which we defined as “a pre-fabricated structure hauled to its site, with counter-service.” The magazine was a hit, particularly in New England, where Yankee Magazine featured us and subscription revenue took off. I never quit my day job, but had fun getting to know the people and the history behind these unique institutions.

First answer – The Segway Diner. A reference to my riding around campus on a Segway that a friend lent to me when I was struggling with my hip last year. It was a lifesaver before surgery when I literally could not get around campus. I still have great fun with it and it helps when I have limited time but want to get around and see different games or be in two places at once. It is, at all times, a great conversation piece.

Next answer – The Minute of Reflection Diner. A reference to a practice I started at all school assembly where our entire school takes time to sit in silence and think – mostly about whatever one wants to think about, but occasionally a speaker will suggest a topic for reflection. My first year it was a bit of a rolling squirm-session, and perhaps more distracting for many of those in attendance than anything else. Last year we started to move into the potential of the reflection time, and I could tell it had taken off when the student speakers started to build it into their talks, looking forward to the community building aspects of it.

Final answer: Big Papi’s Diner. A reference to the striking visual similarity between me and the Dominican-born Red Sox slugger David Americo Ortiz. I must remember to clap my hands together at the start of each day.

Applications and Experiences

August 22, 2009

A few months ago our splendid college counselor, Brennan Barnard, forwarded me an article from the Wall Street Journal wherein college and university presidents were asked to complete the student application to their own school, presumably thereby getting greater insight into the potentially torturous college acceptance process. The resulting pieces were fun to read. I thought it was a terrific idea, so I asked that the five new employees we have at Derryfield this year “apply” (even though they were already accepted) to the school using our student application, and I plan to use the documents as a conversation piece in our faculty/staff start-up days.

It seemed only fair to turn the tables on myself, so I got The Derryfield School application and, admittedly, studied it like never before. Without a doubt I re-lived some of the fright that comes with staring at a blank page after questions like “Why do you think Derryfield is the right school for you?” or “List several adjectives or descriptive phrases that you feel accurately capture your strengths and weaknesses as a student and a person.” Where to begin? “I like school” seemed too benign, and “The mission and core values reflect my way of thinking” seemed too obtuse. Do you go with an attempt at humor that could fall flat (“Weaknesses: kryptonite”) or do you play it down the middle (“Strengths: Honest, empathetic”). Neither worked. I moved on, appreciative that I have a choice that our applying students do not.

Next came the imposing (was it the bold all-caps, or the declarative tone?) “ESSAY: Required of all applicants” and it became unthinkable not to comply. I decided to apply to our high school, and was met with the requirement to “choose ONE of the following topics:

1. Pretend you are sending yourself an e-mail from the year 2020. What have you been your successes? What have been your failures?” or
2. Evaluate a situation in your life that you wished you had handled differently. What did you learn from the experience?”

In the year 2020 I’ll be 58, and my hope is that e-mail will be a distant memory, like eight track tapes or Sanjaya is now. I moved to question number two, checked the instructions once more (“Choose one of the following topics and write a one-page essay”) and started. I hope I get in.

“Evaluate a situation in your life that you wished you had handled differently. What did you learn from the experience?”

In January of 2006 I finished a typically sweaty elliptical workout and, within a few minutes of getting off the machine, thought I had pulled a muscle around my left hip. After a few weeks I realized it was not getting better, so I thought about seeing a chiropractor. Two or three months after that I began seeing the chiropractor. The pain was getting worse, but I thought the twice-a-month treatments were helping. After a few months I moved to weekly. After a few months more I went twice a week for a few months. My wife saw me pulling myself up the banister one evening and she “It really isn’t getting better – why not go and get X-rays?” Her observation killed my determined belief that my hip was improving, and the X-rays made it clear that it would never improve by itself. You don’t need years of training to recognize a picture of two bones that should not be touching. The doctor was straightforward – I was a candidate for hip replacement surgery. I could suffer and hobble along, or I could make a decision that would lead to improvement. For reasons that still leave me wondering, I chose to suffer and hobble along. I had the surgery in October of 2008, and not until recently have I realized how
much of my life I missed for close to two years. I rediscovered the simple act of walking with my family this summer – around fairs and festivals, around town and campus, around the house – and, in that flash of recognition, re-evaluated the decision not to act. This summer in particular I realized I lost time – pain-free, serene, healthy, mostly non-limping time – that I will never get back. I am so grateful to have received extraordinary medical care, and wonderful support from family, friends and the Derryfield community . . . but I would handle the decision to delay differently. While it is understandable to want to delay (or was it to avoid?) something as scary as major surgery, I learned there is a normal existence waiting on the other side.

I’ll keep an eye out for the fat envelope.

Climate Change and Security

August 12th 2009

The headline above the fold on the front page of the New York Times on August 9th was Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security, and while reading the article I thought I heard the discussion of global warming click into a new gear. The opening paragraph says “Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change.” Why is it that we need to invoke the specter of war, stability and safety before many of us are motivated?

Every student at Derryfield should be challenged to learn about climate change, think about their role with respect to both causation and solutions, and develop their own understanding of what could be this generation’s defining global concern. The world needs leaders in this effort, and I want Derryfield students to be at the front of generating peaceful solutions. In this regard, I am in complete agreement with the article when it states “If the United States does not lead the world in reducing fossil-fuel consumption and thus emissions of global warming gases, proponents of this view say, a series of global environmental, social, political and possibly military crises loom that the nation will urgently have to address.”

No doubt commitment to reversing climate change has many facets, but a key one for me is the sense that the effort is a form of proactive peaceful conflict resolution. As our society and our schools get clearer that “rising temperatures, surging seas and melting glaciers are a direct threat to the national interest,” I hope we will have a similar understanding that our efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle are also a form of peace activism. Meanwhile, the cost of doing nothing is becoming more apparent, more urgent, and more militarized.

Flannery O'Connor

August 2nd 2009

Today I heard a lecture by Brad Gooch, the biographer of Flannery O’Connor. In preparation for the talk I read a variety of her short stories, which I first touched on my sophomore year in college in an American Writers survey course - taught by a passionate teacher who seemed to have read everything ever written by an American author, O’Connor made me laugh and wince at the same time. Her fiction helped to tip the balance and have me declare an English major.

I think the first story I read in 1981 was Enoch & the Gorilla. I remembered A Good Man is Hard to Find and Good Country People (how could you not?). Gooch talked about O’Connor pretty much keeping to herself until going to The Iowa Writers Workshop in 1946, but having to write a note of introduction in the presence of the her interviewer because he could not understand her through her thick, southern accent. She wrote tough, funny, lean prose and many of the characters were inspired by friends and acquaintances in her small Georgian hometown. Flannery died of lupus in 1964, age 39, at the height of her powers.

I wonder how many students she helped inspire to become English majors.

Food, Inc.

July 25 2009

Last night I saw “Food, Inc.” at the Red River Theater in Concord. The showing was preceded by a reception with food provided by local NH farmers, growers, purveyors and the like – essentially, the kind of food you depart from the movie swearing you will seek forever and ever.

The theater was packed, including several folks from Derryfield. I arrived a few minutes late and could not find a seat (a nice problem for a small, not for profit theater). Connie Rosemont, the Executive Director of the theater, was in the front of the audience introducing the film and, when she saw me looking for a seat all the way in the back, called me by name and offered to help. It was both a somewhat awkward entrance and an impressive testimony to her ability to remember names amidst a crowd.

The movie has a clear point of view that is familiar to any fan of, say, Alice Walters, or Michael Pollan. Our own Gary Hirshberg, class of 1972, is an important part of the film as the chapters turn from a fairly horrifying set of circumstances to considering the way forward – can we have earth-friendly, healthy, food that is profitable to make without taking advantage of farmers or the workers? Gary and Stonyfield Farms, I am relieved to say, give us some hope. His refrain that we are voting with our choices every time we check-out at the supermarket is an essential idea for our students to understand, and one he spoke passionately about as our Founders' Day speaker last year. I often have the sense many teenagers have little understanding of how much power they have as consumers, and yet – looking through the other end of the consumption telescope – it seems marketers, advertisers and the like have a very refined sense that the teenage demographic matters to the success of their product.

I want our students to see this movie because I think it can add a great deal to the conversation about healthy choices in their lives – not just about food, but about what we put in and on our bodies, how our choices affect the planet and the people who may seem to be “away” but in fact are getting closer and closer (aside – just finished Thomas Friedman’s book “Hot, Flat & Crowded,” his follow-up to the sensational “The World is Flat,” so I may be more aware of population concerns than normal). No doubt some percentage of our students would be undeterred in eating McNuggets shortly thereafter. But the film demands a level of thinking about our daily choices, and I can’t help but believe many of our students, armed with new and provocative information about urgent issues, will be inspired to be a part of the solution.

Boston

July 23 2009

In the last few days I met with terrific alumni in Boston, as well as seeing Steely Dan at the Wang Center. They played the album “Aja”, which was the soundtrack for my high school years, in order and in its entirety. Good for me to know you can be 47 and still get goose bumps from great art – “I cried when I wrote this song, Sue me if I play too long, This brother is free, I’ll be what I want to be.” Popular music does not get better than that. Sadly, I realized I am going to less and less live music – thank goodness for Laurel Devino, Encore, and all the talented musicians at school.

In the afternoon I met with Dr. Shan-nan Chang, the Director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston. At the invitation of Paul LeBlanc (parent of Emma ’07, Hannah ’08, Board member, and President of Southern New Hampshire University), Dr. Chang toured our campus with Susan Grodman, our Director of Service and Global Education, after graduation in June. As he said to me, “I did not know whether to be more impressed with the beauty of your campus or the hospitality of your staff.” (I found out later he was referring to the charms of our Main Office, particularly Diane Wall, Sue Flagg and Patty Dollard). We are exploring the best way to create an ongoing cultural exchange (students, faculty and staff) that serves our strategic plan while allowing Taiwan to continue making ties with US schools. The future of the relationship looks bright. Stay tuned.

War Dance

July 14, 2009

War Dance

Summer is also time to feed my passion for great documentaries, and the most moving so far has been “War Dance.” The film (available on Netflix) is set in war-torn Uganda, and it keys on several young people attending school in a refuge camp who are inspired to pursue traditional Ugandan song and dance by a handful of great teachers. I could not help thinking about our performing arts department, and the students they have inspired, while watching the film. At the same time, the environment and their day-to-day life is virtually beyond comprehension for most of us. Beforehand, I imagined coming away from the film feeling intense, renewed gratitude for the circumstances in which we learn at Derryfield. But my reaction was more akin to watching people on the moon – I could barely believe many of the scenes. On the other hand, rarely will you see a more passionate testimony about the resilience of young people.

Fancy Food Show

June 28, 2009

I attended the Fancy Food Show at the Javitz Center in New York City during the last weekend in June. The gathering is a trade show that brings together producers, suppliers, and distributors from around the world with a dose of food groupies – my constituency. The event gives you insight into where the food industry is heading (for instance, a few years ago a new category labeled “vitamin water” arrived), and is a fantastic way to sample a phenomenal amount of different, innovative and emerging products.

My focus was on learning about healthier foods we can serve in our school, with more environmentally sensible packaging. As preparation I read “Food, Inc.” (and I plan to see the movie on Friday, July 24th in Concord). While healthy food choices for kids remains largely at the margins of the food industry, you can see that the category is gaining momentum, and that both producers and consumers are getting more sophisticated. I came away fairly optimistic about our ability to make progress in this area for our children.

Beginnings

One of the many pleasures of summer is the sense that one can “check things off the list” that manage to elude us during the rest of the year. Starting a blog is the perfect example of that satisfaction.

I understand experts on the web estimate that, when taken as a whole, the average blog has about six readers. By aiming high, I may get somewhere close to double that average. We shall see.

I am also aware that blogs often have a certain voice – a casual, connected immediacy that is a new kind of writing for me. The entire endeavor strikes me as a writing and thinking adventure. My hope is that this communication speaks to the DS community in some fashion and that – worst case - you have a wasted a modest amount of time.