4 minute read
From the Head of School
Learning What We Are Made Of
By Clair Ward
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What a diference a year makes! My guess is that each of us could name the moments in the recent span that made us and those that broke us. Like many schools that maintained in-person learning, when we open school this fall it will be the third version of school that we have launched in a total of 17 months. In the spring of 2020, we opened fully remote learning with two weeks of preparation. In the fall of 2020, we opened in-person school while a global pandemic raged. This fall, we planned to open something closer to a normal version of school. Each time, we were inventing. There was no playbook, no course we could take; we simply had to keep safety and children as our focus and press on.
As you have heard me say before, Shore won last year. We did it by having absolutely every oar in the water, paddling madly: the families, the children, the employees, and the trustees. Yes, this was a diferent version of Shore. But we kept children in school and learning (even our standardized test scores looked as strong as they ever have). For this reason, by June, I found myself feeling elated and no longer tired; hopeful and no longer discouraged. And now, after spending months and months dreaming about normal, I am beginning to wonder if normal is good enough for Shore. We have learned what we are made of, and if we consider what is possible when we are no longer battling a pandemic, perhaps there is an opportunity to
take our children’s experience to new heights until we reach a new version of normal.
In Plato’s Republic, the philosopher explores the defnition of a just society. During one conversation, Socrates says, “Our need will be the real creator”—ironically a more just and inclusive way of saying that necessity is the mother of invention. Shore’s most recent strategic plan, Our Future in Focus, included aspirations that we were planning to achieve. In February 2020, we had begun to imagine the ways that we could accomplish our goals, but at the time, these actions were abstract. Educating children through a pandemic, a racial awakening, and a political storm left us with no choice but to roll up our sleeves and “do.” Our urgent needs forced us to create, and I would submit to you that the results were all the better. As we look back, there is no denying that an educational revolution happened on a timeline that was far more aggressive than if we had had more time to plan. Necessity was our creative force.
So where does this leave us? As humans we need a sense of normalcy, stability, and predictability. But the question that inspires me as a leader is how we can use what just happened not to return to our old normal, but to build a new normal that is more relevant, nimble, inclusive, and just. That was our aspiration when we envisioned Our Future in Focus. So let us imagine that while the value of a Shore education remains as high as ever, how we get there might need to evolve to be sure our children are prepared for their future. Let us challenge ourselves to use our recent lessons to build an experience for children that flls them with agency and an entrepreneurial spirit. Let us use our inventiveness to sustain a creative approach to how we build and rebuild a curriculum that is as relevant as possible. Perhaps this will be our new normal.
I am flled with excitement and hope for Shore’s future. While I would never have chosen the events of the last year, including the pain, loss, and fear that afected many in our community, it is my dream that we use our current momentum and the lessons we have learned to enhance our future outcomes. Shore and its children shine brightly. Notice the big and small moments of how that happened in the pages of this Bulletin. I look forward to partnering with all of you as we boldly move our school forward to realize the destiny that was only an aspiration a mere year and a half ago. Thank you for joining us for the journey!
