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Thursday, June 9, 2016


Dear Friends:When the school year closes, I feel compelled, as historians do, to impose meaning and order on the many events that unfold over an epochal nine months. Having enjoyed the benefits of gifted teachers and mentors, I often rely upon their insights to frame these unwieldy narratives, and as I reflect on my first full year at Sidwell Friends, I remember the words of Bob Smith, who stewarded the School with care and brilliance. In A Quaker Book of Wisdom, Bob explains that in “a good school teachers and students are jointly engaged in a search for truth, in what Quakers call continuing revelation.” The concept that the truth must be continually revealed, that “truth is the best there is in each of us” and we have an obligation to discern and nurture it, is a core tenet of Quakerism. As John Rowntree, the Quaker chocolatier, put it: The truth is “a seed with the power of growth, not a fixed crystal, be its facets never so beautiful.”When we entered the 2015/16 school year, we planned, through the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS) self-study and reaccreditation process, to seek truth and identify opportunities for growth. As so often happens in education, however, our deepest and most inspiring learning emerged, as the length of this letter suggests, from unanticipated challenges and opportunities.Self-Study and Accreditation UpdateThroughout the year, each teacher and many staff members served on a self-study committee, evaluating the School based on AIMS standards of excellence and culminating in reports with recommendations for improvement. These reports will serve as the point of reference for the AIMS Visiting Committee, a group of 20 or so educators who will visit the campus in October, evaluate our work, and lay the foundation for an action plan to promote growth. This plan will be incorporated into a strategic planning process (see below) and will be published after it is approved by the Board of Trustees. Special thanks to Becky Farnum, who clerked the self-study, Laura Barosse-Antle and Lindsey McAuliffe, her co-vice clerks, and to faculty and staff for investing so much time and thought in the process.The Washington Home PurchaseIn September, Board Clerk Margaret Plank and I announced the School would purchase The Washington Home to reunify the three divisions on one campus and provide us with much-needed flexibility for the future. Since the announcement and subsequent opportunity to consider further the impact of this transaction, several things have happened.First, we appointed an ad-hoc committee to advise the Board and administration on ethical matters regarding the placement of residents and operational issues such as monitoring the Home’s closure plan. This committee includes alumni and staff who care deeply about social justice issues, and features two nationally recognized experts on eldercare: Katie Sloan ’73, a SFS trustee and CEO of Leading Age, and John Diffey, former CEO of Kendal Corporation, a Quaker-based organization that provides senior care and operates nursing homes. Members of the committee have advised both The Washington Home and the School, and in the spirit of continuing revelation, we continue to consult the committee, communicate with the Home, and monitor relevant reports from the DC Department of Health.Second, the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) has granted the special exception to repurpose the Home into a school. Under the leadership of Assistant Head of School Kate Lindsey, we worked closely with our neighbors to agree upon a traffic management plan and construction schedule. Our collaborative approach enabled our petition to the BZA to pass unopposed by residents. We are grateful for their support and their concern for the well-being of the neighborhood.Third, having learned unexpected truths about real estate transactions, we have tempered initial expectations for developing the site. Before we move forward, we must first raise sufficient funds to purchase the Home by the close of 2016. At the same time, we will engage in a broad strategic planning process that will allow the Board and the School community to think carefully about how best to utilize the property and take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity. Given the terms of the transaction, we have been moving expeditiously and now need to be certain that we have set the appropriate course. The strategic planning process will enable us to think collaboratively about our priorities and to integrate them fully with a long-term financial plan that seeks, as I explained in my January letter, to balance programmatic excellence with reasonable tuition growth. We will share more about the planning process in September.Update on Investigation and Policy ReviewOver spring break, I contacted you regarding a matter that required significant reflection, patience, and openness to truth seeking. Like all of you, I was dismayed and disturbed by the allegations that a sexual assault had taken place on campus. While law enforcement authorities had been notified and were investigating, our Board of Trustees and School administrators jointly determined that simply leaving this matter to others was not a sufficient response. Our community needed to consider not just what had happened, but also the context: Have we been doing enough to educate our students on critical and difficult issues related to consent, harassment, bullying, and the use of social media? Are our policies and procedures as clearly stated and as strong as they should be? To explore these queries, we hired outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation of the incident, and a highly respected expert to review our curriculum, handbooks, and disciplinary procedures.Our investigation and the resulting disciplinary process have only recently concluded. I hope you will understand that, in keeping with our long-held practice of protecting the privacy of students and their families, the outcome remains confidential. I can assure you that the matter received full and appropriate attention and that we have taken all requisite precautions and actions to protect student confidentiality and to ensure student safety. As we have considered the allegations, we have installed additional security cameras, improved lighting, and surveyed the campus to ensure that spaces are appropriately secured. And we continue to hold those who need it most in the Light.Meanwhile, the expert we retained to undertake a comprehensive review of all of our policies, procedures, and disciplinary measures recently completed her assessment. The Board of Trustees and School administration will be reviewing her findings and recommendations over the next several months, and we will inform the community of our response soon thereafter. Preliminary recommendations call for the School to develop more explicit policies addressing student sexual misconduct and technology use. Many of the changes will appear in the new edition of the Handbook for Parents and Students, renamed the Sidwell Friends School Community Handbook. A memorandum highlighting the changes will also be shared with parents and students in appropriate grade levels before the next school year begins.In addition, the School has already begun to consider a range of programmatic enhancements to help students understand how to prevent sexual assault and to navigate the complicated landscape of sexual relations. Upper School Principal Mamadou Guèye has planned a summer health and wellness summit to evaluate curricula in his division, and the Middle School has offered programming to support parents in talking with their children about sex and sexuality and in thinking about their children’s social media presence. Lower School Principal Shereen Beydoun has also been considering how the curriculum might be enhanced in age-appropriate ways. Counselors, nurses, and principals will work to develop a coordinated health and wellness curriculum to address these matters across divisions.Continuing RevelationsBeyond these challenges, the school year also brought many joyful moments and experiences. Our students and faculty have, as always, inspired us in their shared exploration of the truth and through their many accomplishments. The School’s most meaningful work occurs in classrooms, galleries, fields, courts, and stages, where, in authentic and meaningful relationship with faculty, students have demonstrated tremendous ability to think critically and creatively, to ask questions that expand our perspective, to deepen our sense of community and speak to our values, to open the way to accomplishments we did not necessarily anticipate. I wish I could capture the nuances of these remarkable moments, but cannot begin to give them justice. So let’s pause for a moment to express gratitude to our faculty and staff. And let’s also give thanks for people who have let their lives speak in various ways: Our retirees. Barbara Conte, Jane Hartquist, Rick Honn, Anne Kennedy, Lindsay McAuliffe, Bill Price, Susanne Saunders, Sally Selby, and Carl Wilbur, collectively have given more than 250 years of service, wisdom, and professionalism to the School and its students. The Upper School Student Government. Our student government passed a resolution stating that the mascot of the District’s National Football League team is offensive and antithetical to the values of the community. As a result, the Student Government has asserted that wearing apparel referencing that mascot violates the School dress code and should be appropriately addressed by the School administration. The Administrative Council fully supports this recommendation and admires the thoughtful manner in which it was made. The principals will communicate with students and families about this new practice in preparation for the 2016/17 academic year. Leadership outside of student government. Our students continue to demonstrate remarkable leadership. A few examples: Middle and Upper School students protested against the Westboro Baptist Church’s picketing of the School; Upper School students organized Mental Health Awareness Week; and members of the Black Student Union and Female Empowerment Club, as well as the Black Liberation and History of Gender and Sexuality classes, conducted meaningful dialogue about how to improve student experience. Meanwhile, such organizations as the Investment Club and Financing for Fools expanded student understanding of economic growth and development. And congratulations to the Middle School A-ZSU for promoting inclusivity and dialogue, and for coming up with a great new logo! Our inspiring artists. Whether students participate in class plays, the 8th grade musical, Upper School theater and dance productions, or our extraordinary concerts; whether they paint, sculpt, photograph, or throw pots, their focus and efforts encourage reflection and revive our spirits. Our inspiring student athletes. Our athletes earned two District of Columbia State Athletic Association championships, won the Gatorade Player of the Year in cross-country and captured the Director’s Cup in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAC). Twenty-five of our athletes plan to continue their careers in 13 different sports at the college level. Our students who participated in academic competition and mission-based learning. Kindergartners tried the case of Goldilocks in front of a judge; three US students qualified for nationals in debate, as did two teams in the “public forum” division; Upper School students participated in robotics and science competitions, winning the statewide FIRST Tech Challenge and the DC regional Science Bowl; the Upper School chess team won the DSCAA title and the “unrated” division at the United States Chess Federation’s K-12 National Championship. Meanwhile, 4th graders expanded their knowledge of environmental sustainability at Echo Hill, and 6th graders studied causes of poverty and potential solutions at the Heifer Global Village. The leadership of the Parents Association. Our parent leaders deepened our sense of community and collaboration, organized a day of service to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and planned a moving, meaningful, and well-deserved tribute to Sally Selby. All those who have given to Sidwell Friends School through service and financial support. This year’s Newmyer Award recipients—Corky and Ralph Bryant, Norma Scogin, Carolyn Thornell, and Neville Waters ’75—have let their lives speak through visionary volunteer service. It was truly an honor to celebrate these legends in SFS history. An ethos of service permeates our community, and whether you volunteered to chaperone a field trip, worked the Next-to-New Sale, organized the Lower School Heritage Festival or A Night for Scholars, or served on the PA or Alumni Board, you have contributed enormously. We could not do it without our dedicated Institutional Advancement staff!I also thank the nearly 3,000 donors who have provided extraordinary financial generosity to the School this year. While we are still focused on meeting the budgeted goal for the Annual Fund, we are grateful for the many faculty, alumni, parents, and friends of the School who have committed their support. And I am delighted to report some record-breaking news: The School has received an anonymous $5 million gift, which nearly doubles the previous single largest gift in our history. Donors have pledged nearly $12 million for the Washington Home purchase and more than $2.8 million in gifts for endowment, including a gift of more than $100,000 from 110 contributors (so far) in honor of Sally Selby and her remarkable leadership. In addition, the Class of 1966 established our first endowed class scholarship at their 50th anniversary reunion, a gift topping $200,000 to date. Fundraising totals for 2015/16 (including new pledges) will exceed $16.5 million; since 2012, our annual average has been just over $4 million. We still have much work left to do to reach our goals, including the purchase and repurposing of The Washington Home, but the generosity of donors, and their faith in and support for the School, has been inspiring. In the next school year, we will reach out to more alumni and parents whose philanthropy (both volunteer service and financial contributions) will provide the necessary leadership for the achievement of the School’s goals for the next decade.As these examples demonstrate, we have much to celebrate as the year ends, not least of which is the Class of 2016. I am also thankful that together we have had the discipline and courage to seek truth and to recognize, as did Rowntree, that its facets are not fixed. It is an honor to be part of a community that cares so deeply about learning and about one another. Please know that I admire your commitment to this school and the compassion with which you have responded to our challenges. I hope you have an enjoyable summer with family and friends, one that is regenerative and restorative, that will replenish resources and prepare us to embrace the opportunities for growth we will once again enjoy together next year.In friendship and with gratitude,Bryan


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