Berwick Academy Head of School

I don’t think everyone is aware that for this period between Thanksgiving and Winter break, grade levels within the Middle School temporarily re-organize themselves to offer interdisciplinary learning experiences to break up the regular routine of class. This year, I was asked to participate in the “Machine Pilot” aspect of the seventh grade effort to explore the concept of extra-terrestrial life (E.T.). Seventh graders are asked to consider who, out of anyone on the planet, they would choose to send into outer space to interact with alien life forms and why. Our students are told they can literally choose any person on the planet, and the focus need not necessarily be someone with experience in space travel. In fact, they are asked to envision a pre-programmed ship with one seat, leaving them to consider not just technical skills but who would we want to represent human kind in this first interaction. They research, create resumes, write persuasive cover letters and are ultimately as

Well, there is no denying that this week sent me into the world of meteorology mania for the first time this year. I suddenly found myself at 4:15 a.m., cross-eyed and staring at weather websites, trying to make sense of what would happen during the morning commute. While this was no blizzard, it was a perfect storm nonetheless – a true Berwick Academy nightmare: snow on campus, rain on the coast, not too much in Massachusetts, and mucho snow in Manchester. Local districts revealed no clear pattern of cancellation, delay, or opening at the regular time.  There was nowhere to hide – no moving with the herd on this particular day for sure. After a long bleary conversation with the decision makers, we went with a truly inspirational and intellectual decision: the riveting two-hour delay. By 10 a.m., I was at my window reminding the sky that it was supposed to be raining by now. I was questioned by an employee at lunch why we were even here. All day long I watched our maintenance staf

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to travel with a few people from Berwick to the NAIS People of Color conference. If you are not aware, it is a gathering of independent school educators from around the country who come together to think about the challenges and opportunities in work supporting inclusivity and diversity. I had not been for a few years, and I was drawn to a number of the speakers – most notably a keynote address from Ta-Nehisi Coates. Interestingly, this conference has now grown larger than the traditional national industry conference, with over 6,000 people in attendance, 1500 of which were students. For me, there is really no other professional forum that affords one a chance to learn by leaning into discomfort in quite the same way. Each time I sit in a session at this gathering, I am aware of my minority status in the room, as it is so different from my daily life. I am also struck by the ways in which employees of color need these kinds of opportunities to n

I have always believed that, whether schools like it or not, there are two structures that are the clearest expression of one’s mission: budget and schedule. How a school chooses to spend its limited resources ultimately reveals what it thinks is most important. Similarly, how the community chooses to spend its time with students expresses what we believe to be most important in promoting virtue and useful knowledge to the rising generations. This week on campus, consultants have visited us from ISM (Independent School Management), who will try to help us unlock new possibilities in our usage of time as we work to implement Curriculum 2020 more completely. I should start by saying considering schedule change within a community like ours can be highly emotional and quite scary. The layers of complexity are endless when one tries to consider the demands on a PK-12 schedule. We have cross-divisional employees, part-time employees, academics, athletics, arts, wellness – all couched wi