Head of School

Dear San Domenico Community Members,

In 2016, noted American writer, feminist, librarian, and civil rights activist Audre Lorde wrote, “The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.”

Those of us who love SD talk often about how a Dominican education teaches you to break silences using your voice for good. To inquire. To question. To debate. To bridge divides and find solutions by studying, reflecting, and learning how to serve in community, together, reaching across different backgrounds to find our commonalities as human beings. Key to this is our international student body, which has perhaps never been more important than it is today.

For all of our SD students—both local and from afar—being part of an international community creates a uniquely powerful learning and growing up experience. The kindergarten student from Fairfax doing a science experiment with a senior from China. The second grader looking up to the Panthers Basketball player from Poland. The Upper School classmates and roommates from different countries and cultures, who must strengthen their ability to live out our commitment to diversity and inclusion with respectful inquiry and care, as they seek to understand perspectives different from their own.

It has been many years since I was a student at San Domenico Upper School, yet I remember clearly the excitement I felt as I met fellow members of the Class of 1977, who had come from around the world to our School. Leticia Ducru from Paris; Maria Eugenia Tabush from Guatemala; Terawan Techapongvorachai from Thailand; Elizabeth Strebl Ochmanek from Austria; and from China, Hoonae Kim and Meehyun Kim (now an SD parent to Lauren, Class of 2025). During this year’s Alumni Reunion—our first one in person since the beginning of the pandemic—former students came from around the world to celebrate our shared and beloved history and relationships. As of this writing, our current student body includes young people from more than 26 countries. Every day, I look at them interacting with one another, reflecting together, celebrating together, questioning together, and learning together—and it is inspiring to see and hear.

San Domenico students do not stay silent. We use our voices, even when from behind masks. I cannot say enough how proud I am of

the teachers, students, staff, families, and friends who comprise our School community and how they show up every day, regardless of pandemics, or war, or international crises. The arms of our SD family reach wide, around the world. They hold us up through challenging times.

It has been fantastic to be back together in person for so many on-campus events this past year, from reunion to plays, dance, music, dinners, SD Celebrates, and athletics, including a State Championship for the Varsity Women’s Basketball team. I am so grateful to each of you who contribute to our vibrant and thriving community. In these pages, you will read more about our international community. May their stories inspire in you the same hope and caring that gets me through every day.

Go Panthers!

Boarding students in the hills above campus

CECILY STOCK ’77, M.A., J.D., HEAD OF SCHOOL

San Domenico is among the just

5% of California’s 3,950 private schools that meet the ambitious educational accreditation standards required for membership in the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS). To maintain this elite status, San Domenico must engage in cyclical Self Study processes and report to CAIS and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. After submitting our latest report, San Domenico once again earned full accreditation in 2021. The response was exceptional and included broad praise for the School’s accomplishments and adherence to our mission and values. The accreditation report also included five key recommendations. Major Recommendation I advises:

“That the School consolidate its vision and progress in the process of drafting a new mission statement that will succinctly and clearly identify the unique significance and purpose of San Domenico School to its current and prospective community, in language that reflects San Domenico's enduring values, current identity, and the way it meets the needs of the students it serves.”

Our School’s 171-year-old mission to provide purpose-driven education anchored by our Dominican heritage has kept SD thriving, while many other schools founded in the mid- and late 1800s have long since closed.

In keeping with our core value of Community, updating San Domenico’s mission statement acknowledges the power of words and how their meaning evolves over time, even as values endure.

San Domenico’s Mission Enhancement Committee (MEC) began the work of responding to this recommendation in the fall of 2021, gathering input from SD’s extensive and diverse family, including alumni; current and former Trustees; Dominican Sisters; current students, parents, and guardians; current faculty and staff; and extended friends of the School. Gathering results from a survey shared with more than 8,400 SD community members, the MEC has been holding small group meetings and listening sessions in accordance with the Committee’s goal of discovering common language and themes among our community.

A mission statement describes an organization's fundamental, unique purpose. It communicates the value the school delivers, what groups it serves, and how. The best mission statements are succinct, typically between one and four sentences in length. According to Stanford Social Innovation Review, the most powerful of mission statements are eight words or less.

San Domenico’s current mission statement, updated in 2010 from the 1980 version, is five sentences and 100 words.

In the fall of 2022, the MEC and Board of Trustees will continue its iterative process to develop and refine a new mission statement, with a completion goal of spring 2023.

Thank you to all of our community members who have shared your perspectives, and to all who are contributing to this important work.

For more information, visit sandomenico.org/CAIS.

SAN DOMENICO MISSION ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE:

• SR. CYNDIE CAMMACK, O.P.,

Committee Chair • RICHARD GOLDMAN, Board Chair • KATHLEEN TONEY, Trustee and alumni parent • JAMIE GINSBERG, current parent • SR. SUSANNAH MALARKEY, O.P. ’48 • SANDY PFAFF, current parent • LAURA REVENKO ’85, alumna • CLEARY VAUGHAN-LEE, current parent • CECILY STOCK, Head of School • KALI BAIRD, Director of DEI • SHELLEY FLINT, Director of

Sustainability • MIRZA KHAN, Director of Philosophy,

Ethics, and World Religions • LEAANNE PARLETTE, Director of

Lower and Middle School • KIMBERLY PINKSON, Director of

Strategic Initiatives • KATE REESER, Assistant Head of

School for Academics; Director of

Upper School • CARRIE ROBLEY, Assistant Head of

School for Student Life