2014 President’s
Report
Our Vision Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco is a preeminent center of learning, teaching and creativity that launches purposeful, globally engaged young minds and hearts on paths of excellence.
Table of Contents 3 5 6 9 13 17 21 25 31 32 35 37 38 41
Message from the President School Administration, 2013-2014 Path to the Strategic Plan Academic Preeminence Organizational Alignment Education to Mission Financial Equilibrium Institutional Communications & Positioning Pura Vida Design Thinking Symposium Space to Create, Share and Influence The Great Texts 5 Questions, with Kelly Whalen Board of Trustees, 2013-2014
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Message from the President Knowing this is not the only era in history when change and transition seem the only constant, educators need to be bold and nimble enough to prepare students for paths not yet worn. The strategic legacy left to us by our founders – Mother Stuart and Madeleine Sophie Barat, RSCJ – included foundational ethos for educating children for futures that may look drastically different than the present. The realities of the second decade of this millennium informed the bold vision that grounds our current strategic plan Achieving Academic Preeminence 2012-2017. When the Society of the Sacred Heart was born during an era of revolution in France and Europe, Madeleine Sophie Barat never hesitated to rigorously prepare her students to engage their global futures with timeless disciplines and skills. The results of our community’s strategic planning inspires a similar journey now with our students and families. The multitude of voices that have come together to design our work recognize that the best way to prepare them for the Next Big Thing(s) is to offer a foundation in problem-solving, critical thinking and resiliency as much as anything else. We serve our children best when we couple traditional instruction with context for exploration, and strategies for approaching acquisition of knowledge in many different ways. These contexts and strategies may be the part of the lesson with meaningful translation in to new ways of knowing and sharing. These first two years in my tenure as president have passed in the blink of an eye, yet forged an expansive vision of what is possible in the life of Convent & Stuart Hall students and our extended community.
Epochs of transition must keep us on the alert. They ask us to keep our eyes open upon the distant horizons, our minds listening to seize every indication that can enlighten us. – Janet Erskine Stuart, RSCJ (1857-1914)
We work toward this vision, heeding Mother Stuart’s call for eyes open to the horizon, through the Strategic Plan. I invite you to journey with us through the following examples of progress made and future work identified toward realizing our strategic goals. In a year that marks the centennial of Mother Stuart’s death, and a celebration of her life as a prolific thought leader in education, we embrace her call to stay alert with expectant wonder for what the future brings. In the spirit of our founding traditions, we continue to seize what can enlighten us and thank those who walk this journey with us every day. Sincerely,
Dr. Ann Marie Krejcarek President
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2013-2014 School
Administration
Ann Marie Krejcarek, EdD. President Ron Bannerman Vice President of Finances & Operations Sarah Leffert Vice President of Advancement Howard Levin Director of Educational Innovation and Information Services
Heads of School Angela Taylor Convent of the Sacred Heart Elementary School Rachel Simpson Convent of the Sacred Heart High School Jaime Dominguez Stuart Hall for Boys/Vice President for Academic Alignment Tony Farrell Stuart Hall High School
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Path to the Strategic
Plan
2011-2012
2012-2013 Four Strategic Goals (Pillars) articulated for the Strategic Plan
Ann Marie Krejcarek begins tenure as president
Plan foundation created
Research to launch new Strategic Plan
Search for new president commences School adopts first-ever shared school year theme: Gratitude
Framework for the Future Campaign Eclipses Goal, Raises $22,300,000
Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco celebrates 125 years in San Francisco.
Adoption of the school year theme Cor Unum is well received. (Cor Unum is Latin for “one heart,� and is part of the Society of the Sacred Heart motto.)
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2013-2014 A fifth Strategic Goal is articulated, and strategies and initiatives are identified to add depth to the plan
Vision Statement approved and launched. Strategic Plan is socialized with the community through facilitation with consultant Christina Drouin
Final Plan articulated and approved.
The President’s Report initiated as a way to keep the community updated on the five Strategic Goals and their initiatives, and the impact they have on students. The five Goals are: • Academic Preeminence • Organizational Alignment • Education to Mission • Financial Equilibrium • Institutional Positioning & Communications
Discover & Aspire adopted as school year theme.
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The school commits to design a relevant learning environment and a pre-eminent K-12 experience that develops resilient, resourceful and engaged thinkers who are equipped to thrive in an evolving world. Many alumni of Schools of the Sacred Heart illustrate of what can be achieved when a student begins life with a strong basis in core competencies – reading, writing, arithmetic – coupled with the ability to think critically and speak thoughtfully on many interests. Today’s students need to have that basis and more as we prepare them for life that includes career paths, challenges and thought paradigms that may not yet be created or envisioned. This means giving faculty, staff and administrators tools to create a nimble and optimal learning environment that truly is unlike any other program in the city, with single-sex classrooms and a thriving co-ed community for students in K-12.
Identified Strategic Areas for Work • Engage with all students to identify each learner’s “growth edge,” and identify outcome metrics around student growth. • Identify academic experiences to meet each learner at his or her growth edge. • Create engaging and effective delivery systems, and identify metrics that measure outcomes. • Attract, develop and retain an excellent team of effective, inspiring and compassionate professionals. • Reconcile the paradox of our single-sex and co-ed school; leverage the joint value proposition of an academic community whose educational philosophy is rooted in both practices. • Become a compelling global hub of educational practice, and a magnet for thought partners in educational innovation.
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Preeminence
Academic Preeminence
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Academic Preeminence
Helping Students Achieve
Technology
1050 students with individual growth edges
Use-to-Learn replaces Learn-to-Use Model
Class of 2014: 65 Students admitted to 238 Universities
60%
6 Innovative Education Coordinators now immersed in daily classroom life
Early Admission to: Princeton, Duke, Barnard, George Washington, Stanford, Notre Dame, Cambridge (England) and Occidental.
920 iPads deployed to faculty and grades 5-12
K-8 student body taking advantage of the After School Program
94 Kindergartners
24offered Faculty peer-led sessions on ed tech
will learn Mandarin in 2014-2015.
654 students in grades 7-12
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8th Graders Entering High School...
Redesigned Spaces
were inspired by a Design Thinking Symposium in May.
81% 86% 8 place into a secondor third-year world language course
place into an advanced math course
$2500 each of two seed grants students can apply for to propel a great idea or business forward.
70” mobile flatscreens with Apple TV deployed in classrooms
classrooms to be redesigned into “collaborative learning studios”
5,250 square feet of library spaces in two buildings will be transformed for collaborative digital media institutes in summer 2014. 3,100 square feet of kindergarten space is being re-imagined and built for fall 2014.
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Academic Preeminence
Completed & Ongoing Initiatives Work to improve the educational experience and help students achieve more is ongoing, and some specific initiatives that have been completed, or are in progress, toward that strategic goal include: • The ePack 1-to-1 program was implemented and will expand to provide ubiquitous access to technology. • Math course offerings expanded for Middle Form students, providing more breadth of offerings and depth of understanding. • Curricular modernizations were made to the K-8 Language Arts program for boys and girls. • A Mandarin program for kindergartners will launch in 2014-2015. • A “Great Texts” canon is currently being developed to set an inspirational and congruent reading path for students. • The school will develop learner profilers for each of the divisions – K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 – defining qualities of learner outcomes. • Mindful Schools’ Mindfulness Training program explored with faculty in K-8. • A student assessment review was conducted, which led to offering the PSAT for Grade 9 at Stuart Hall, and formative and summative assessments of boys and girls in K-8. 2014 President’s Report
• Refocused the Sophomore Symposium to a “20% Project” model, which asks students to explore a problem or passion for which they may have a solution. Spending 20% of class time on such initiatives expanded to Grades 7 and 8 in 2013-14. • Installed “Flexible Classroom Initiatives,” mobile displays, wall surfaces with white board paint, and “node chairs.” • Redesigning educational spaces: the refresh of the Student Center, reimagined kindergarten classrooms, libraries and “collaborative learning studios.” • Educational Innovation Workgroup has been established for a high-level layperson- and school-generative think tank. • Provided new direction for energizing After School Program and Summer Program. • A conservation biology elective launched as a partnership with the Kew Gardens in the U.K. and the U.C. Reserve System, to explore the California ecosystem.
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The school commits to leveraging the unique K-12 school structure to maximize the experiences of our students, faculty and staff, alumni and parents. This singular institution has two single-sex elementary divisions and two single-sex high school divisions united by mission, budget and administration. Each hemisphere of the school has its own needs and opportunities based on the varying constituencies it serves, but each part can be strengthened by harnessing the resources and energy of the whole. Believing, as we do, in the effectiveness of single-sex education within a coed environment, and the value added to a curriculum that extends thoughtfully from kindergarten to Grade 12, we are challenged to find areas where the student and adult experience might benefit from alignment, coordination and collaboration. The school will become a space where students and teachers find encouragement and inspiration in being part of a larger learning community. We have identified several ways to improve academic and operational effectiveness.
Identified Strategic Areas for Work • Define and develop a pervasive culture of professional excellence for faculty and staff. • Design and articulate an aspirational K-12 curriculum and culture. • Identify and implement flexible administrative structures that maximize operational outcomes.
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Alignment
Organizational Alignment
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Organizational Alignment
Completed & Ongoing Initiatives Creating opportunity for students and faculty to work together more often requires eliminating organizational hurdles and redundancies, and inspiring those in the community to think bigger about collaboration: • An expanded scope and new titles were created for: Vice President of Advancement and Vice President of Finance and Operations. • Stuart Hall for Boys Head also serving as Vice President for Academic Alignment.
• Joint professional development workshops have included Responsive Classroom, a Teachers College Reading Specialist embedded in classroom training, Fountas and Pinnel leveled literacy training and technology applications.
• Admissions and enrollment management have become coordinated and streamlined.
• Internal expert resources have been engaged to lead workshops for peers.
• K-12 curriculum work groups are evaluating alignment in Modern/Classical languages and Mathematics.
• Two new endowed awards recognizing excellence for high school faculty and Central Services staff have been established to mirror similar funds for elementary faculty.
• Administrators are in the process of establishing K-12 departments by discipline. • Administrators have increased financial support of professional development for faculty and staff. • A work group has been established to undertake thorough review of Athletics, including a single philosophy statement, offerings, resourcing and alignment. • School programs are working to identify areas where the community can rally around an event, such as homecoming. • The Inclusion Committee sponsored the screening and discussion of the thoughtprovoking film “American Promise.”
2014 President’s Report
• Administrators are expanding alignment of K-12 service and co-curricular opportunities, such as the President’s Sophomore Trip to Costa Rica this February. • Conducted thorough review of database use/ applications and revised a number of contentgathering processes to be less cumbersome. • Natural attrition has led to new and experimental administrative structures at the Dean level. • Adopted new Google suite to improve internal communication and collaboration. • New evaluation model developed for all K-12 faculty; new tools implemented for employees and supervisors. 15
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The school commits to empowering the community to understand, experience and foster the mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart, enhancing the integration of personal faith, values formation and keen intellect in our students and adults, inviting them to lives of purpose. Most students can speak knowledgeably to the five Goals & Criteria of a Sacred Heart education, and all are provided space to explore what those Goals mean to them, and to other Children of the Sacred Heart worldwide. Through curriculum, reflection and activity, our students are encouraged to think deeply and comment thoughtfully about what their own spiritual journey looks like. Of equal importance is keeping such reflection and purpose alive and active within the adult community of employees, trustees, parents and alumni. Woven into the fabric of Sacred Heart education are centuries-old traditions and educational philosophies that are beloved, and, by design, meant to expand and mature with the times. The celebration of these timeless founding principles can also be inclusive and relevant, and deeply personal, and will ensure that the mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart will thrive in San Francisco for another 125 years.
Identified Strategic Areas for Work • Articulate and celebrate the essential value of the school’s traditions and rituals. • Maximize the value of the theology curriculum, the values-based education and the diverse faith community.
Mission
Education to Mission
• Expand the culture of service. • Embrace the new Society of the Sacred Heart US Provincial model to serve the evolving landscape of Sacred Heart education and to deepen the commitment to the aspirations expressed in the five Goals & Criteria.
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Education to Mission
In Service of Others
25 200 Hours
1482 Hours
local organizations benefitting from regular, involved service from high school students in 2013. the average amount of service hours completed per student over the course of four years for Convent’s Class of 2013, twice the graduation requirement.
the collective amount of service hours Stuart Hall’s Class of 2013 logged during their senior year alone.
Exploration of Mission 124
posts on the employee-only mission-themed blog Vox Populi (Voice of the People); answering “What inspires your heart? What nourishes your spirit?”
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times each year the cohort of new employees meets to further explore the mission
Environmental Stewardship $6800 saved by the school each month since 2011, when it was able to eliminate two of the three garbage dumpsters.
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average number of elementary students who joined in Walk to School Wacky Wednesday each week to reduce traffic.
UP 10%
73% 63%
recycling/composting output on the Broadway campus, since January 2013
Global Exchange
Locations where students visited in last 3 years Face2Faith & Network Penpals
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Education to Mission
Completed & Ongoing Initiatives The five Goals & Criteria of a Sacred Heart education invite schools to encourage personal faith in God, respect for intellectual values, service, building community and growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom. The mission inspires students and adults alike. • In October the school presented the opening ceremony for a year of celebration of Janet Erskine Stuart, RSCJ, with an event streamed live on the internet and watched by thousands.
• Regular content supporting mission in alumni communications.
• Speaking to mission is an explicit component of new trustee recruiting and selection.
• Create an annual employee survey to reflect on mission adherence and support.
• Provide the New Trustee Orientation with indepth discussion of the mission that the Board holds in trust, as articulated in the Goals & Criteria (including Foundational Principles).
• Increased employee attendance of adult retreats.
• Provide funding for Network of Sacred Heart Schools conference attendance so more employees feel confident in educating the mission.
• Explore and articulate how Founders and Goals & Criteria inform classroom pedagogy. • A proposed multi-year thematic cycle of adult education that generates new initiatives for weaving the mission into the community. • Honored the legacy of Mary Mardel, RSCJ, by naming the Flood Mansion chapel for her, and celebrating her contributions through a special dedication ceremony in May 2014.
• “Standardize” content for communication around major mission-related traditions. • Create a publication of quotes and context from Barat, Stuart, Duchesne and Hardy for new families, and add material to the school website. • Emphasize religious inclusivity of founders and explore the impact of religious instruction – filtered by students to parents – on adult connection to mission and Catholic education. • Extend New Employee Orientation to include periodic meetings in first year of service focused on Society of the Sacred Heart spirituality, history and traditions. 2014 President’s Report
• Organize annual retreats to support Sacred Heart Mission, Goals & Criteria themes.
• Ensure all employee communications support mission themes and reflection.
• A retreat for faculty, Trustees and employee inservice was led by historian Juliette Mousseau, RSCJ. • Renowned essayist Richard Rodriguez spoke at an employee inservice in May about what it was like to grow up as a “scholarship boy.”
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The school commits to maintain dynamic financial equilibrium to ensure a vibrant future. The school administration is committed to creating a thriving and nimble organization utilizing multiple revenue streams. Strong enrollment is a crucial building block, and reliable revenue streams from a growing endowment and a successful and robust annual giving program are also critically important to the health of the current operating budget. The challenge is to identify what the school can do to ensure efficient operations and to develop steady streams of funding to sustain the school in perpetuity.
Identified Strategic Areas for Work • Develop a culture of philanthropy. • Position the institution to be nimble and flexible in order to maximize opportunities and mitigate threats. • Achieve and maintain sustainable enrollment goals.
2014 President’s Report
Equilibrium
Financial Equilibrium
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The school commits to define, communicate and elevate a strong and clear identity to build loyalty, community, understanding and connection. A brand is the promise you make to your constituents. Throughout various rounds of work – with outside communications and branding agencies, accreditation committees and community focus groups -- very clear areas of strength have been championed by parents, employees, alumni and others. This is a great time to elevate the school identity, promote the brand promise, and refine the experience various groups have with the school. Elevating the school’s profile while telling the school’s story will help illustrate what is beloved, what is authentic and what is differentiating about a Sacred Heart education in San Francisco. Generating that awareness internally and externally will give the school better leverage to build on its strengths.
Identified Strategic Areas for Work • Refresh and refine the K-12, one-school brand. • Assert the value promise of a San Francisco Sacred Heart education. • Increase the standard of communication, enduring sophistication and saturation of message in all communication vehicles. • Define and create continued membership value for unified alumni, past parents, past trustees and extended community.
2014 President’s Report
Positioning
Institutional Positioning & Communications
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Institutional Positioning & Communications
Small Classes, Big Community Tell the Story Most Clicked Tweet of 2013
Category of 1 Authentic
Our Brand*
Relevant
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*Convent & Stuart Hall is the only school in the Bay Area that offers elementary and high school students a dynamic blend of single-sex education in an authentic co-ed environment.
Differentiating
62 84 867 families enrolled in 2013-2014 45 16 of 246 pre-schools contributed to our elementary school applicant pool
elementary schools contributed to our high school applicant pool
current parents are also alumni
employees are alumni of a Sacred Heart school
5274 active alumni 2861 alumni live in SF
@sacredheartsf Apr 9 Look what we found in our archives! Do you recognize the famous alumna in this dramatic photo? http://ow.ly/jUpMu
6180
news/announcements were added to the school website in 2012-2013
2292
all-time record for views of a single Flickr set – 125th Anniversary set
Our Readership
60%
*Based on current parent data
40% desktop
mobile
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Institutional Positioning & Communications
Completed & Ongoing Initiatives • Compel internal audiences to tell the story of the school every day by increasing awareness of the positioning platform and narrative that succinctly defines who we are as a K-12, one-school brand. • Develop a timeline for an update to brand/ identity work, creative development, execution and delivery to market.
• A sustainable relationships work group of alumni and past parents has been engaged to increase the extended community’s interaction with the school. The group is evaluating how legacy and traditions are honored and how the mission and vision of Schools of the Sacred Heart is currently realized.
• Continue integration of traditional publications and electronic platforms into inbound and outbound marketing plan to keep everyone connected with the school.
• The school conducted focus groups and a survey in 2014 to cultivate feedback from alumni about the ways they want to be engaged with the school community.
• The President’s Office, Advancement and Admissions teams are working together to increase points of contact to insure consistent messaging from the first exposure to the school through matriculation and beyond.
• Streamline family information collection so that data is captured at one point but shared between all offices; maintain accurate data to maximize communication with all constituencies.
• Create names for hallmark programs for students and ensure the school has the appropriate platforms in place so that hallmark programming can be promoted internally and externally in a prominent way.
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Spotlight Programs 30 Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco
Spotlight Programs
Pura Vida A co-ed sophomore trip to Costa Rica for cultural immersion and service sets the course for future student travel that invites students to be more than just tourists. The call for adventure was answered by all 104 sophomore boys and girls – as well as their 11 chaperones – in February when President Ann Marie Krejcarek inaugurated a travel experience to Costa Rica. The program asked students to stretch beyond comfort in global engagement, cultural immersion, serving others, showing respect for the environment, showing respect and gratitude for one another, and showing respect and gratitude for the sacred. Administrators also asked students to leave all electronic gadgets – including cell phones – at home, so that they could truly be present in the moment. The week-long experiential trip had fun – a zipline among the trees, horseback riding, waterfalls to climb and jump off – but the students also got their hands dirty, working at a local school on maintenance projects, handing out school supplies, showing the students how digital camera work (and showing them what their pictures look like, many of them never having seen their own photos before). The students described our idea to take the entire class as bold and adventurous and empowering. While Convent & Stuart Hall service trips are common, taking the entire class was a successful new endeavor. In the words of a few students: “I felt as if we really were a co-ed class, even though we have single-sex learning experiences. I think the balance is perfect.” “In all of my school years before Stuart Hall, I could never imagine myself traveling the world, now I have and with classmates that I will be close to forever.” “It was pretty cool to be speaking in Spanish as though I really knew the language while playing games and being with the kids during our school service day. Those kids really did not have much and just playing soccer with them seemed to do as much as the painting we did.” 2014 President’s Report
Ann Marie reflected on the trip to parents: “What differentiates us is that we celebrate academic rigor and creativity and are careful to remember the nature of the vessels receiving the school experience – managing to stretch their capacity for excellence while keeping their spirit alive and well in a global learning community centered on the heart as well as the head.” The trip is now slated to be an annual excursion, with the Class of 2017 preparing for their January 2015 departure.
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Spotlight Programs
Design Thinking Symposium: Big Ideas... and Then What? The second annual spring symposium, this year on design thinking, included a powerful lineup of speakers and an announcement for an unprecedented opportunity for students. About 650 students and faculty from Grades 7-12 at Convent & Stuart Hall gathered at the Palace of Fine Arts on May 21 for a day designed to inspire them to start thinking BIG. The day started with President Ann Marie Krejcarek explaining the symposium title “Design Thinking ... and Then What?” saying that it was meant to be a conversation starter to inspire students to think about what passions they want to pursue or problems they want to solve. The day ended with the announcement of a pair of seed-funding grants that students will be eligible to apply for next year if they have a business idea they would like to pursue.
Ron Conway, Angel Investor The morning began with a keynote by Ron Conway SHB’66, the legendary angel investor who helped to fund start-ups like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Airbnb, and Square—all of which have grown into mega-successful tech giants. He offered a document to the students that he normally gives to people who pitch to him at his firm SV Angel, which outlines key characteristics he and his team look for in successful ventures. He invited Pinterest HR Director Michael DeAngelo to talk about what students need to be viable job candidates in fields such as tech. The two closed with a Q&A session.
Dana Heart-Stone’s Design Activity The students then participated in a two-hour design activity with artist/innovator/educator Dana HeartStone, who coaches with Stanford’s d.school. He led students through the process of problem-solving, investigation, prototyping—and talked about the generative power of failure. Faculty also participated in the activity, which helped to get them thinking too. “I would have paid to have this kind of professional development,” one teacher said.
Success Stories After lunch, students heard from three success stories in 20-minute TED-style talks: • Sameer Gandhi, investor who helped students understand the power of the the time and place in which they live, in the hub of innovation that is Silicon Valley (he also inspired two lucky students by giving them iPad minis); • Kara Lind, owner of Kara’s Cupcakes, a San Francisco-based company that cornered the market on “luxury small desserts” (who inspired them by having 700 cupcakes delivered to the Palace); and • David Kopf, who along with his brother founded Remind101, a tech startup that pitched to investors and that “failed plenty” before catching a break. The day closed with Krejcarek announcing an unprecedented opportunity for Convent & Stuart Hall students to develop a business plan and apply for $2,500-$3,000 in seed funding from the school in January. “We believe in you,” she told the students. “We know what opportunities lie ahead for you ... we know there are a great many things you can accomplish.”
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Spotlight Programs
Space to Create, Share and Influence
How the school’s partnership with two design firms is helping teachers and students reimagine the learning experience. As you ascend the marble staircase toward the third floor of the Flood Mansion, you see a wall of archival photos telling the story of 125 years of Sacred Heart education in San Francisco, in black and white. Just past the first landing, as you turn the corner, you see ahead of you in turquoise scripted graffiti Cor Unum, part of the Religious of the Sacred Heart’s motto meaning “One Heart.” As you approach the top of the stairs, a bright spacious area greets you with soft blues and greens and purples; modern, modular furniture of all types are pushed into different configurations atop refinished 100-year-old hardwood, with white “cloud” lights hanging from the tall ceilings. A technology mediascape welcomes the kind of entrepreneurial brainstorming that you would find in the hub of a Silicon Valley startup. The transformation is amazing, considering the burgundy shag carpet and dated conference tables and chairs that had been there. The space has always been for students— mostly seniors—as a lounge, but now it is a mixeduse space, with small teams and discussion groups settling in throughout the day. The refresh of the Student Center in the Flood Mansion was the first big project the school completed in partnership with Cannon Design’s Third Teacher+ team. This international educational design consultancy asks how space can be used to help communities “learn, work, play, create, and connect more richly.” After a visit in April 2013 to observe students and adults, the team worked to propose some “quick wins” and some “signature projects” for a school community that was built into a series of historic single-family homes. Smaller “quick win” projects included product pilots that lead to more flexible classrooms, such as “white board” paint covering the walls of a math class so the teacher could cover every inch of his classroom 2014 President’s Report
with equations and principles. Another product with rave reviews from students are the “node chairs” that allow them to move around more freely from small group work to class discussions.
Signature Projects But the visiting designers asked administrators and teachers to challenge the conventional classroom set-up of immovable desks, stationary students, dacing forward in a passive configuration – the “sage on the stage” model. The truth is, most teachers at Convent & Stuart Hall have embraced many types of delivery systems, collaborative projects, and
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Spotlight Programs technology integration, so conventional no longer is functional. Based on that feedback, the team suggested a series of classroom transformations into “learning studios” that are more flexible and more conducive to creative thinking. They also asked administrators and teachers to challenge the conventional library space. Quiet spaces organized by collections and sources, made accessible to a community, have served an important purpose in civilization for hundreds of years. But if a student has a world of information and resources at their fingertips via internetconnected device, what is the best use of the space that traditionally served that reader? Not many schools in the country have adopted the “learning commons” model in their libraries, but some have with success. It makes the space a priority for the people, rather than the books, and allows students to experience collaborative and creative design, and even “social learning” where they are teaching each other. Visits in Fall 2013 had the Third Teacher+ team working with faculty and students in generative exercises promoting curiosity, and began to wonder what these traditional library spaces could be if they were more than a research space. The result of their visits is a complete renovation of the Helen Carroll, RSCJ, Library on the third floor of Stuart Hall High School and the creation of a Wonder Lab for elementary students on the first floor of the Grant House. That does not mean the end of book repository at Convent & Stuart Hall, but an exciting transformation that is bold in school design to help students thrive.
More New Spaces Administrators are also working with Wonder, By Design on a new space to better serve kindergartners. And RPR Architects is helping to make a design leap in the Unkefer Lab in the basement of the Grant Building; in 2013 the lab started the school year as a more fluid “maker” space rather than the computer lab it had been for decades. Now that a 1-to-1 program has faculty embracing a “use to learn” ed-tech model, rather than the “learn to use” model that once made computer labs necessary, the next step is to design the space intentionally to be for projects like 3D printing, LEGO Robotics and building drones for GoPro cameras.
The Space as a Third Teacher The term “third teacher” was coined first in the 1940s by an Italian educator who designed preschool and primary school curriculum based on the idea that each child has three teachers at school – adults, other children and the physical environment -- and that combined, they can empower self-guided exploration. Since then, a trio of notable design firms, including Cannon Designs, wrote the book Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Use Design to Transform Teaching & Learning, engaging schools and corporations in generating ideas for creating space that tempts inquiry and imagination.
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Spotlight Programs
The Great Texts In a school brave enough to reimagine libraries and adopt an aggressive plan to place a device in the hand of every student in Grades 4-12, a new literary philosophy emerges. You are on a desert island alone but you are able to bring three books with you. What are they? Most readers have a short list of favorites, of “must-reads,” of literature that they found to be transformative, eye-opening, relevant for that particular moment in time. William Shakespeare. Maya Angelou. Thomas Jefferson. Judy Blume. What do teachers choose to read and teach? When is it introduced to students? And how? A faculty committee at Convent & Stuart Hall has begun a conversation on great texts. But this isn’t just a book club. The group is reviewing and testing a new philosophy that will lead to an intentional and dynamic list of “must-have” texts that will correlate with intentional placement of these texts within the K-12 curriculum.
Great Texts Philosophy, Spring 2014 At Schools of the Sacred Heart, we believe that reading widely and rigorously across the curriculum is the pathway to critical thinking and the development of the intellectual and reflective self. We believe that an expansive reading list is the foundation stone for all students to develop the essential cultural literacy that crosses and connects all academic fields. To this end, the Schools of the Sacred Heart canon invites students to think critically, flexibly and passionately as engaged citizens of the world.
2014 President’s Report
The texts that guide this engagement are multi-genre, canonical, anti-canonical, classic, controversial, historical, fantastical, and more. They invite our students to appreciate the fact that the act of reading opens up a universe of meaning. Our comprehensive and flexible 4th Grade to 12th Grade reading list engages topics that build a critical and varied perspective of the events, ideas, thoughts, and emotions of centuries of human experience. As one school within a global network of schools, the selected texts represent many cultures and illuminate the human experience from multiple vantage points. In the exploration of genres to be included, the group is discussing many groups of texts to include on the list: novels, plays and biographies, as well as speeches, legal writings and decisions, and essays. The faculty committee will continue work on this canon in 2014-15.
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Spotlight Programs
5 Questions, with Kelly Whalen The President of the Parents Association, and mom to Oliver (gr. 5) and Saybrook (gr. 3), talks about the strength of the the partnership the school has with parents and families. 1. The qualities I most adore in this school community are: The caliber of caring, bright and talented people we are surrounded by: faculty, staff, heads of schools, parents, and board members. I have loved the opportunity to be part of a community that really has become an extension of our family, and a bridge between home and school life. The standard of education for our kids is a great balance of academic excellence, within a nurturing and caring environment that helps us to raise really good people going out into the world.
2. My most proud Parents Association accomplishments from the past two years as President are: The relationships I’ve developed with the people I’ve been so lucky to work with, first and foremost! I have loved getting to know parents and faculty and staff that I may not have had a chance to get to know as well if our paths hadn’t crossed in this way. I think the Goal 3 morning the Parent Board spent at Ella Hutch Community Center this past February was a great chance for parents to do the kind of service our students often do. We also added an educational component to our Parent Board meetings with speakers to give perspective on all of the work happening at the school. We also worked to raise awareness of, and appreciation for, the balance that is necessary to keep our parent volunteers engaged and avoid volunteer fatigue.
3. The biggest challenges to parent involvement are: Recruiting enough volunteers to staff our big events without making people feel pressured. Communication to the school community will always be important, especially when we make changes to events, because we really are trying to strike a balance between trying to preserve well-loved traditions and keeping things manageable for our volunteers and achieving our financial goals. There is a lot of thought and effort behind the scenes, and all decisions are made without a great deal of input.
38 Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco
Spotlight Programs
4. The best piece of advice I would give fellow parents about how to make the most of being part of this community: Get involved! As cliché as it may sound, I can honestly say the involvement both my husband and I have had with the school has added so much to our experience here. Find the opportunities that are right for you personally rather than doing something out of obligation, and take breaks when needed. I would also say remember we all have challenges in life with family, work and unforeseen circumstances. There’s so much love and support in our school community and if you find yourself needing more of that, remember we’re all in this together and we can all help eachother out.
2014 President’s Report
5. My favorite Goal from the five Sacred Heart Goals & Criteria is: This is the easiest answer for me: Goal 3: Social awareness that impels to action. When I was growing up, my father used to say to me, “Remember, we all drink from wells we have not dug ourselves.” This taught me not only to give back when I can, but being a parent I now realize that kids really do listen and follow our example. This one always resonates with me, and I’m so grateful that it’s part of our education. It is bittersweet to leave this role now that my twoyear term is up. I have loved this job and it has been an honor to work for our school. It will be hard to leave. On the other hand, I think two years is the right amount of time before letting someone else have a turn to contribute his or her ideas, energy and talents. That is what keeps things fresh and exciting, and I’m happy for someone else to have the same opportunity!
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40 Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco
2013-2014 Board
of Trustees
Mark Tellini, Chair Robb Eklund, Vice Chair Lisa Wendt, Vice Chair Greg Berardi Walt De Petris Sally Furay, RSCJ Sameer Gandhi Keith Giarman John Greer* Troy Griepp Stephen Katsouros, SJ* Ann Marie Krejcarek, President Margaret Mack Larry Miao
Patricia Munter ‘86 Gabriela Parcella Robin Praeger Martha Roughan, RSCJ* Michelle Growney Syufy ‘84* Raymond Syufy SHB’76 Alyce Werdel* Diana Wall, RSCJ’82 Roger Wu Emerald Yeh Mark Zanoli Lisa Zuckerman
Trustees Whose Terms Ended in 2013: Joseph Niehaus, Chair Nancy Bolmeier Fisher * Trustees leaving the Board in 2014.
2014 President’s Report
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This is a publication from the President’s Office at Convent & Stuart Hall. Editorial and photography contributors: Belle Akers, Stefani Blair, Molly Gallagher, Ann Marie Krejcarek, Sarah Leffert, Brian Long, Pamela Rickard, Tracy Sena, Lisa Sze, Third Teacher+, Kelly Whalen. Design: Beth Ponticello, CEDC
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