绿帽社

REMARKS FROM HEAD OF SCHOOL, FEBRUARY 2025

Good morning and welcome on this brisk day to Parent Visiting Day. We are delighted to welcome you to parents visiting day.  An opportunity to:

• See your child in action at school 
• Experience a day in the life of your child
• Get to know teachers and their curriculum just a bit better 
• Support your child by 鈥渟howing up and being interested and invested鈥�
• And supporting your children鈥檚 teachers, they love having visitors in their classrooms 

We have been so very pleased with the intersection of the new Miller Student Commons and our away-for-the-day smartphone policy. We have seen a marked increase in engagement, connectedness, and cohesion鈥攚e are together in ways that we have not been in a very long time.

Uniform compliance is also better鈥攖hank you all for the role you play in ensuring that when your child leaves your home or gets out of the car, they are in uniform. We believe that our uniform is an important element of what it means to be a 绿帽社 student.  And our uniform reduces distractions that often come with the 鈥渁rms race鈥� of clothing.

You may remember in early October receiving an electronic version of our newly adopted strategic plan. Evolutionary in nature, we are working to move each of our ten goals forward.

Our efforts are focused on: 

• Program and Curriculum 
  • Developing signature liberal arts experiences at each grade level 
  • Better articulating and practicing distinctive liberal arts pedagogy that deepens the impact of our mission    
• Teacher Recruitment,  Retention and growth
  • How do we continue to attract, retain and grow the best teaching talent in the country?
    • Our goal is a ready and excited pool of 10-15 prospective teachers in every grade level and teaching discipline that are just waiting for a call from 绿帽社  
• The Student Experience
  • How do we help students develop increasing resilience to lean into the challenge of our program  
• We are also exploring Institutional AI Atrategy 
  • How do we teach your children to use this ever-evolving tool wisely?
  • How do we utilize AI as a tool for teaching and other school operational functions? 
• You may be aware that we adopted a statement of Institutional Objectivity earlier this fall
  • To ensure that we invite, value, and teach our students to contribute to and appreciate a range of perspectives in our classrooms 
• We are also strengthening our Fiscal Health 
  • By building a more robust operating reserve 
  • Growing our endowment 
  • Revisiting our master plan 
  • And exploring partnerships that support our financial and mission objectives 

Again, we are building upon unprecedented institutional health, working over the ten years of the plan鈥檚 horizon, to be the best liberal arts learning environment in the country. You can find the plan on our website and I will provide an update on our progress in the spring.

Last week, I had lunch with a few of your children. As I think maybe you are aware, I am not always the preferred lunchtime companion for students. I asked a few questions about what they appreciate about you and they also offered ideas about how you might continue to support them in their journey here at 绿帽社. And as always, they offered advice.

I started with Lower School:

• 鈥淢y parents help me to keep up with my homework. You know there is a lot of homework Mr. Menke!鈥� [I will come back to this]
• 鈥淢y parents come to so many things at school鈥�
• 鈥淢y parents help me with projects 鈥� all of our special days AND they volunteer here at school鈥�
• 鈥淢ath is really hard for me, and my parents help me with math鈥攁ctually, mostly my mom!鈥�
• A very practical response 鈥� 鈥淚 appreciate that my parents pay tuition so that I can come here鈥�
• 鈥淢y parents donate to 绿帽社鈥� 鈥� HOORAY!
• 鈥淢y parents make time for me 鈥� homework, rides to activities; soccer, ballet, the play鈥� 
• 鈥淭his school is amazing and my parents make it possible for me to be here鈥� 

I asked the magic wand question 鈥� 鈥渋f you could change one thing鈥︹��
There was a 鈥�crowdsource鈥� effect around uniform:

• 鈥淟et’s get a light blue shirt option鈥�
• 鈥淗ow about more colorful shoes!?鈥�
• 鈥淎nd how about elastic in the skirts, Mr. Menke鈥攖he zippers are annoying!鈥�

They also talked about how much they loved the Commons, and how much they loved their teachers, friends and our campus.

Middle School students appreciate:

• That you drive them all over, back and forth 鈥� and support so many of the extras, beyond the day-to-day here at 绿帽社 
• 鈥淚 love that my parents look at my grades and assignments and help me to keep track of things鈥�
• 鈥淢y parents show up all the time, I am lucky!鈥�
• 鈥淚鈥檓 provided with so much 鈥榚nrichmen鈥� here鈥� 鈥攜es, one of your middle school children used the word 鈥渆nrichment!鈥�
• 鈥淢y parents understand that 绿帽社 is hard and asks a lot 鈥� they are very supportive鈥� 
• 鈥淢y parents are great at giving me space for homework鈥攍ots of homework, Mr. Menke!鈥� 
• 鈥淢y parents don鈥檛 compare me to my brother, who is very different, and I鈥檓 so glad.  They let me be me.鈥�

And a little advice: 

• 鈥淒on鈥檛 panic when you see something in Veracross like a low grade! Understand the pace and the challenge here, all will be OK. We are working hard, we know you love us and care.鈥�
• 鈥淢y parents are quiet when they watch my basketball and lacrosse games 鈥� they cheer positively. I see other students whose parents yell and coach them from the sidelines and stands, this is not helpful. Let your kids鈥� 鈥渦s鈥濃�� succeed and fail, we learn more that way.鈥� 鈥� YES, a middle school student said this to me!
• 鈥淪omeone got a 90% on a test, but this friend told me that their parents said that it wasn’t good enough. Students here put lots of pressure on themselves, parents help us to manage the pressure and stress鈥�

And Upper School Students:

This group, likely not a surprise, started with advice 鈥� and you likely have heard many of these ideas:

• 鈥淕ive us space on grades 鈥� one bad grade will not change the trajectory of our lives鈥� 
• 鈥淯nderstand the expectations 鈥� the volume of homework and breadth of the program. Sometimes my parents push hard on extracurriculars鈥� 
• 鈥淪ometimes it seems that there is an arms race between parents for the most activities for their children鈥�
• 鈥淟ay off the college stuff, the college counselors are great and they鈥檝e got this!鈥�
• 鈥淲ould love a bit more autonomy when picking classes.鈥�
• 鈥淏e careful not to compare your high school experience to ours.鈥�

And your children love and appreciate you:

• 鈥淢y parents provide so much to me and to all of us鈥�
• 鈥淢y parents give me autonomy, they trust me.鈥�
• 鈥淚 know my parents care, they come to everything.鈥� 
• 鈥淢y parents have allowed me, and supported me in my exploration of everything here at 绿帽社 and this support has helped me to grow in amazing ways.鈥�
• 鈥淢y parents are never too busy for me.鈥�
• 鈥淢y parents say all the time 鈥榳hatever you choose, work hard at it鈥� 鈥� I appreciate that!鈥�

So, themes:

• Obviously and clearly, your children truly love and appreciate you
• They understand, even at a young age, the commitment it takes and the sacrifice you make to provide this experience. 
• Make TIME 鈥� your time for them in their lives matters!  
• Moderation and balance in all things 鈥� without fixation on grades, canvas, college, extra-curriculars. They know you care, they need and want you to pay attention and support them, and time, space and room to stumble a bit is helpful to their learning and growth.  
• Perspective is impossible to have until we are down the path of life a bit, often the things we think are most important now seem less so over time.
• Love your children (as I know you do!), make time (YOU ARE HERE 鈥� THANK YOU) for them and you will see them continue to blossom into amazing, healthy, and happy people/human beings.

Thank you for being here today, for sharing your talented children with us, and for all of your support. I wish you a great day!