Principal's Letter
Announcements
Events
Other
News Around the School
Principal's Letter
MESSAGE FROM MAMADOU
Dear Friends,
As you know, this past week we hosted the visiting team from the Association of Independent Maryland & DC Schools for our reaccreditation. William Penn Charter School’s head, Darryl Ford, who served as the visiting team’s chair, shared his observations with the faculty and staff on Wednesday afternoon. Darryl offered us praise for the excellent teaching the team observed while on campus. The team witnessed our students’ joyful engagement in learning and our community’s deep commitment to Quaker values.
Next week, students begin the second academic quarter. Report cards will be posted for parents to view through Educator Online on Friday, November 4.
The fall athletic season is nearly at an end, with tournaments beginning next week. Fall PE classes end November 4, and winter PE classes begin November 14.
We have completed our first semester series of grade-level Parent Coffees with Upper School administration. If you were unable to attend these sessions and have any questions about your child’s experience in the School, please feel free to reach out to your child’s advisor or to any member of the administrative team.
Warmly,
Mamadou
Mamadou Guèye
Upper School Principal
Announcements
9TH GRADE PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
Parent-teacher conferences for parents of 9th grade students will take place November 11. Parents will be able to register for up to three teacher conferences. Online registration will open on November 4 and will remain open until November 10. Registration instructions will be e-mailed separately to parents of 9th graders. Questions about these conferences should be directed to 9th Grade Dean Diane Scattergood at scattergoodd@sidwell.edu.
Since many teachers teach multiple sections of 9th grade classes, they will not be able to meet with all the parents of their students on the conference day. If you are not able to meet with a particular teacher on November 11, we encourage you to reach out to your child’s advisor.
Events
"DEFENDING GIANTS": DARREN SPEECE BOOK TALK
Join us on Wednesday, October 26, at 6:30 p.m. for a book talk and signing with Darren Speece, assistant dean of students, Upper School history teacher, and newly published author of Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics.
The talk will be held in the Robert L. Smith Meeting Room. Afterward, there will be a dessert reception and book signing in the lobby. Books will be available to purchase on site through Politics and Prose. If you plan to attend, please register here.
SCHOOL YEAR ABROAD INFO SESSION/RECEPTION: NOV. 16
The School Year Abroad (SYA) admissions team will be hosting an area reception for interested students and their parents. It will be held Wednesday, November 16, in the Upper School Library from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Light snacks will be served. Please join us and get all of your questions answered about this unique program.
PARENT COFFEE WITH QUAKER LIFE CLERKS: OCT. 31
What do Quaker values mean for families at a Friends school?
Join the MS and US Quaker Life Clerks for discussion over coffee of the meaning of Quaker values and testimonies, followed by Quaker Meeting for Worship and reflection. We will finish by 8:45 a.m. While timing is geared to US and MS drop-off, all parents are welcome.
GAMETIME! TENNIS: OCT. 25
The next GAMETIME! is Tuesday, October 25, when the girls' tennis team takes on Flint Hill. The match starts at 4:30 p.m.; refreshments will be available on the patio by the tennis courts and Zartman Circle. Once again, spectators will be facing west---consider wearing your SFS baseball cap or sunglasses!
Upper School will celebrate the cross-country team during break on Friday, October 28, the day before the MAC/ISL Championships on October 29. This wraps up our fall GAMETIME! program, but many of our teams still have league championships and games, so check the athletics calendar (www.sidwell.edu/athletics) if you’re looking for a game on a beautiful fall day.
SFS PARENT SPEAKER: TONY WOLF: NOV. 10
Tony Wolf, author of a number of parenting books that are written with a sense of humor, will be speaking with SFS parents on Wednesday, November 10, at 7:00 p.m. in the Robert L. Smith Meeting Room. Light refreshments will be available at 6:30 p.m.
Tony’s work is mostly focused on tweens and teens. More about Tony and his writing can be found here. Please feel free to bring any friends whose students are not at Sidwell Friends---we are happy to share our time with Tony. Free child care is offered for school-age children who are part of the SFS community. Please e-mail webbk@sidwell.edu if you plan to use the child care.
PCW PARENTING SPEAKER: OCT. 26
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2016_PCW_Fall_Speaker_Flyer.pdfTina Payne Bryson, PhD, a psychotherapist and coauthor of The Whole-Brain Child and Teen: Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture the Developing Mind, is speaking as a guest of the Parents Council of Washington on Wednesday, October 26, at 7:00 p.m. at the Landon School. Sidwell Friends is a member of the Parents Council, and all are welcome to come to this free talk. The address, along with other logistical information, is posted to the SFS calendar here.
BOOK FAIR: NOV. 5 & 6
If books are something you treasure, consider an outing to Politics and Prose and support the Lower School Book Fair on November 5 and 6. If you mention Sidwell Friends, the store will donate 20 percent of your purchase to Sidwell Friends. Hungry after shopping? Comet Ping Pong, next to Politics and Prose, will donate 15 percent of your bill to the School (you must bring your coupon to Comet). The Book Fair has wish lists for Lower School classrooms and the library as well as a wish list for the Jamaica Library Project. This year, funds raised will be donated to SFS student financial aid.
Other
QUAKER QUOTES AND QUESTIONS: HALLOWEEN EDITION
With Halloween approaching, I was wondering—are there any really old Quaker graveyards in Washington?
Indeed—and you may have played soccer on it! Here is what we think we know.
On December 12, 1807, Jonathan Shoemaker, a Quaker who built the mill on Rock Creek that was later known as Adams Mill (namesake of modern Adams Mill Road) after it was purchased by his friend John Quincy Adams, donated a quarter acre of his land to be used as a Quaker burial ground. Today, this plot of land is essentially the southeast corner of the soccer field at Walter Pierce Park just east of the Duke Ellington Bridge.
The burial ground remained in use for about a century. Ownership passed to Alexandria Friends Meeting in 1825; the deed was authenticated by lawyer Francis Scott Key. Many early DC Friends were buried there, as were numerous slaves, native Americans, freed people of color, and others whom Friends---perhaps uniquely in that era---welcomed in their graveyard.
The original burial ground became increasingly crowded, so in 1870 a much larger area was purchased by the Colored Union Benevolent Association and served as a major African American cemetery for many years. Thousands of citizens were interred there.
Because Friends rarely erected gravestones, the area found use as a neighborhood playground, but in the 1940s a developer managed to acquire title to both the original Quaker and the expanded Benevelant Association parts and began leveling the area for development. Neighborhood outrage ensued, and the work was stopped, but not before considerable disturbance occurred and parts of skeletons were showing up in the dirt dumped into the ravine. The land passed to the city and became Walter Pierce Park. Today, the Washington Parks & People organization holds annual remembrance ceremonies on the site.
Quaker quotes alternate with questions about Quakerism in this newsletter feature. To ask a question about Quaker history or practice, e-mail our Sidwell Friends Quaker Life Committees’ authors at quakerquestions@sidwell.edu.
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Upper School Weekly E-Newsletter Submissions
How to Submit an Article to the E-Newsletter. Fill out the form at www.sidwell.edu/submit by 12:00 p.m. Thursday.
Note Concerning the School Calendar: The calendar entries that appear in the right column of each Newsletter are automatically generated by the official school calendar and are not subject to editing by the Newsletter Editors. All changes or additions to the school calendar must be made through the school scheduling office, reachable at: scheduling@sidwell.edu.
The Upper School Weekly E-Newsletter is a forum for communication among parents and is designed to provide announcements concerning school events or information. E-newsletter submissions should be filled out at www.sidwell.edu/submit.