A CARING COMMUNITY

 UNA COMUNIDAD SOLIDARIA

One of Benjamin Franklin’s defining characteristics is its sense of community—interdependent, inclusive, and diverse. This was confirmed to me during my first months here between the New Family Orientation and the Halloween celebration. Of the many goals I have set for myself as director, is to seek ways to deepen and broaden this connectedness.

What does it mean to be a part of a community? What does that affiliation look like and require?

Community is built upon a social contract, which binds people together in solidarity and through shared interests. Such a contract forms the foundation for mutuality and collective expectations. Membership is based on a commitment to living responsibly.

The caliber of community life at BFIS is determined by a range of indicators from how we communicate with one another, to the ways we interact with the campus’ buildings and grounds. The quality of these relations is what can define a caring community. As director, I am committed to examining our efficacy as a community as well as to identifying ways that will enable us to become even more vital and resilient.

Towards this end, we have begun the following initiatives:

The first is the creation of a Community Engagement Task Force comprised of parents, teachers and administrators. They will soon to be implementing the following:

• Public service announcements of 20-30 second videos, created by middle and high school students, which will be broadcasted on our web site. Subjects will range from environmental awareness to the use of non-violence when dealing with conflict.

• A campus clean-up crew called the Green Council, which will do a weekly sweep of the campus to ensure that we are litter-free. To-date there are over 70 elementary students signed up.

• Flower and herb beds that will be planted behind the elementary school and cared for by grades 1-5. The experience of growing things and learning the uses of plants will contribute to a greater awareness about the fragility of our natural habitats. There are also connections to history, geography, biology, nutrition, art, mathematics, and literature to be made.

• Compost boxes that will mulch leftover organic wastes such as coffee grounds, eggshells, fruit, and vegetable peelings.

• A partnership with the community center Joan Salvador Gavina, whom we plan to host in the spring for a day of story telling, art activities, and recreation.

The second initiative is the creation of Teaching and Learning Dialogues. One of the ways we can measure the health of a community is the range of communication that takes place. To this end the dialogues are part news conference, part town meeting, where the instructional leaders of the three sections meet to listen to and discuss parents’ questions and concerns. To-date we have had four. Each was well attended with lively and informative exchanges that have focused on the academic program as well as the social and emotional dimensions of children’s lives.

Thirdly, in an effort to bring together various constituencies, I have formed a standing committee called the Director’s Council. On a monthly basis, teachers, students, and administrators meet to help define and strategize the essential academic, social, and cultural issues of our school. A new mission statement, which is truer to who we are and what we want to become, has been recently drafted.

The greening of BFIS, an active commitment to making our school as environmentally friendly and beautiful as possible, opening our doors to other communities for mutual-enrichment, creating venues for information and ideas to flow-- these are some of the ways that we are building a caring community. Martin Heidegger, the German philosopher, described care as the very Being of human life. I am committed to guiding Benjamin Franklin into a center of care-- a place where children are cared for and encouraged to care deeply themselves. I want us to become a school that teaches children how to learn and also helps them learn to care: for ideas, people, objects, and all living things. Based on the state of the world at the end of 2007, using education to bring more light and life into the world is more urgent than ever.