Brooks School

July 21, 2015

 

Dear Parents,

 

While a good deal of the summer still lies ahead, I am finding it hard to believe that we are already into the second half of July. I hope all of you are enjoying some time at a slower speed than we all move at during the school year, and that a lot of fun is in store between now and Labor Day. Here at school, the campus is bustling with summer programs, and we are busy getting ready to launch a great school year -- a school year that will be upon us before we know it!

 

Before going further, I would like to begin by taking this opportunity to welcome all of our new parents to Brooks. I trust you have received a range of messages from the school regarding courses, books, and other registration needs of one kind or another, and that the excitement about getting underway is growing. As you will come to know, I make a habit of writing to parents once or twice a month through the school year. My hope with these letters is to be in touch on a routine basis with all that is going on at Brooks in such a way that invites you to share your thoughts and questions. So, please feel free to do so as we move along.

 

One year ago at this time we were engaged in what was probably the most ambitious summer construction schedule the school has ever experienced. The combination of a complete expansion and renovation of the Ashburn Chapel and the installation of our turf field added up to a lot of work -- on top of all the summer programs that occupy the campus in June, July, and August. While we are not as busy with projects of that sort this summer, we are working on both the physical plant and program in ways that will improve the school by September.

 

Of particular note this summer is the keycard system we will be introducing to the dormitories in an effort to improve our security measures regarding dormitory access. While we have not yet finalized this plan, and we will inevitably experience some growing pains with this transition, we are excited about the many possibilities this type of entry system provides. 

 

We will also begin the coming year with a new daily academic schedule. As some of you know, the schedule will make a range of major course offerings in the arts more accessible to students, and will increase the likelihood of students and teachers finding common meeting points outside of class during the school day. After thinking about this schedule for a full year, we are looking forward to experiencing it in the fall.

 

I mentioned in June that some work on a five-year interim report required of us by our accrediting body, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEAS&C) was about to get underway. We are into that work at this stage and held a second committee meeting reviewing the expectations yesterday. Along with a few others, I will be drafting answers to the questions posed of us ahead of submitting a final draft in mid-September. Our first pass at this work tells us that we have made substantial progress since our last accreditation five years ago, and that there is plenty to work on over the five years ahead. I will look forward to sharing our findings and thoughts with all of you as the year begins.

 

By now, I trust that your sons and daughters are well into their summer reading, or are at least mindful of what they have to read between now and early September. In particular, I hope they have a copy of Enrique's Journey nearby, as this is the book we all will be reading ahead of author Sonia Nazario's visit to campus on Thursday, October 1. She will be speaking to the school that evening and plans are afoot to make good use of this compelling story in and outside the curriculum. I hope you are enjoying it -- or will enjoy it, if you haven't started your reading yet.

 

I have been doing some traveling this summer within New England and have more trips scheduled before the summer wraps up. Among the stops was a day-long session spent at Pomfret School in Connecticut with a group of heads of school exploring mindfulness training. I am certain that a number of you practice mindfulness on your own, at your place of work, or are familiar with it through experiences your daughters and sons have had at other schools. We have inched in this direction over the past couple of years, and will be working this coming year on building a minor course curriculum that will include a mindfulness component. For those unfamiliar with the practice, I have come to think of this work as one way to help all of us improve our ability to be present and attentive in the midst of full and busy lives. There are both tangible and intangible benefits to be found with a more intentional approach, and it will be fun to share some of this thinking as it evolves.

 

Ahead of wrapping up, I do want to thank all of you who supported this past year's Brooks Fund. Our June push was extremely well received, and we were successful in surpassing our goal of $2.1 million for fiscal year 2015. A successful Brooks Fund increases our capacity to improve the school year-over-year in ways that make an enormous difference in the experience students and faculty members have together at school. As I have noted before, our Learning Center, Writing Center, and College Counseling Office were made possible, in part, by strong Brooks Fund performance. Many thanks!

 

In closing, please do let us know if we can be helpful with forms and such that have found their way to you through the spring and summer. While this is important work that we need to have completed, we appreciate that the volume can be heavy at times. Our goal is to make sure we get this work out of the way in order to allow your son or daughter to get off to a great start.

 

I will be in touch again as the second half of August takes hold and the reality of school beginning looms larger on the horizon. Until then, enjoy all that summer holds in store for you and your family.

  
Best,

 

John R. Packard

Head of School