The Creative Tension Between Beauty, Love, Responsibility and Concern in an Independent School

I have seen no more beautiful thing than my orange grove by night, lighted by the
fatwood fires. It is doubly beautiful for the danger and the struggle, like a beloved
friend for whose life one battles, drinking in the well known features that may be taken
away forever. The fires make a geometric pattern, spaced as regularly as the squares
of trees. The pine burns with a bright orange flame and the effect is countless bivouac
fires across a low-wooded plain. The sky is sapphire blue, spangled with stars. The
smoke lifts from the fires grey-white, melting into gray-blue, drifting like the veils of a
dancer under the open skies. Each orange tree is outlined with light. The green leaves
shine like jade. The round oranges are lit with a secret inner candle. My heart bursts
with the loveliness of the grove and of the night. If only, I think, I could watch such
beauty unencumbered by my fears, and that all good things do not come too easily and
must be perpetually fought for. Our test is in our recognition of our love and our
willingness to do battle for it.

                                                                 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953)
                                                                 Cross Creek

While recently reading Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ Cross Creek, the above quote
impressed me with how aptly it describes my experience as Gaston Day head of school.
One of our greatest writers, Rawlings as an adult moved from Washington, D.C., to a
remote part of Florida where she immersed herself in rural life and bought an orange
grove to support herself. The image above depicts the fight to save the orange grove
during an unusually severe cold spell in Florida. Rawlings and her grove workers built
and tended fires all night long to warm the orange trees and save the fruit from freezing.
What struck me most about her description was the creative tension between the beauty
of the firelit orange grove, the danger of the destructive freeze, and the battle to protect
the fruit. In particular, the last two lines of the passage seemed to be an especially
accurate summary of what it means to be an independent school leader.

If only, I think, I could watch such beauty unencumbered by my fears, and that all
good things do not come too easily and must be perpetually fought for. Our test is in
our recognition of our love and our willingness to do battle for it.

I might have forgotten about the Rawlings’ quote if it had not snowed this week. For me,
nothing more than snow highlights the tension between beauty, concern, responsibility,
and the safety of our school. The snow is beautiful, and I want so badly to enjoy it. But I
must concern myself with whether or not to close school, and all the tasks associated
with re-opening school. At times the responsibility is truly burdensome. On the one
hand, safety is paramount. On the other hand, every day that school is closed is learning
time lost. Are sidewalks cleared and salted? Has the power been knocked out? Are the
servers down? Are there any leaks from ice dams on the roof? (Just as there was this
time in Mrs. Harbin’s Kindergarten Room. Is there anything more hideous or messier
than sodden, broken ceiling tiles littering a classroom?) How can I appreciate the beauty
of the snow and the joy our students must be experiencing on their weather holiday
when I must keep them safe and prepare to re-open school?

If only, I think, I could watch such beauty unencumbered by my fears, and that all
good things do not come too easily and must be perpetually fought for. Our test is in
our recognition of our love and our willingness to do battle for it.

The anxiety and responsibility of snow days are really just a particularly intense version
of what it means to be a leader or a teacher in an independent school. Every day we
juggle so many concerns about student safety, vital learning, middle school social
drama, college acceptances and a thousand other responsibilities and challenges. Why
do we do it?

Our test is in our recognition of our love and our willingness to do battle for it.

The beauty of our students surrounds us. Sometimes when they recite a poem, paint a
watercolor, ace an exam, or give a stirring speech, they almost blind us with the
splendor of their accomplishments!

I know what Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings felt when she beheld her endangered orange
grove, beautifully ablaze with the fires that she hoped would save it. It is the creative
tension between beauty, care and responsibility. It is why we commit ourselves to the
things we love. It is why we are independent school educators.

Service and Generosity as a Gaston Day School Community Value

Part of what defines Gaston Day School is a group of community values that our Board of Trustees has determined. Here they are: Integrity, Compassion, Excellence, Curiosity and Creativity, Service and Generosity, Responsibility and Self-Discipline, Confidence and Courage, and Respect for Self and Others. These are the core values that we live by here, and that direct our behavior and actions.

For the last two weekly administrative team meetings (every Tuesday at 8:30 am), we have discussed ways in which specific community values inform our daily work. Today we talked about "Service and Generosity," and each administrator spoke about ways in which they see these values expressed at Gaston Day. I thought some of the remarks at this morning's meeting were so relevant, practical and encouraging that I decided to share them in this blog.

Lindsie Chapman, Director of Instructional Technology, observed that one of her best opportunities to be generous and service-minded is in her daily interactions with her customers/students/faculty. She tries to deal with their concerns and needs in a cheerful, helpful and understanding manner. The rest of the administrative team agreed that this is especially important when dealing with people who are upset or angry. We hope that our generosity and commitment to service not only helps fix problems, but also reassures and calms down people who are having a hard time. Generosity and good service build relationships of trust and kindness.

Kristin Paxton-Shaw, Director of Marketing and Communications, noted that she sees generosity and service whenever individual administrators pitch in and help each other to pull off a big event or complete a major project. Without ever being asked, often one administrator will recognize that another colleague is working under a time crunch, and generously drop whatever he or she is doing to help out. "A friend in need really is a friend indeed." Gaston Day administrators are a team, and we are at our best when we help each other, especially when someone is in a jam.

Another way in which our faculty and staff are generous is the way they attend extracurricular events and support their students in endeavors outside the classroom. So often I see one of our teachers at a game or play, and I ask them why they are there. They tell me that one of their students is a participant, and they want to support them. They choose to be there, even though they are not required to do so.

Pat Rudisill, Director of Development, pointed out how incredibly generous our donors are to the school. These donors include parents, grandparents, faculty and friends. Without the generous support from all our donors, we could not afford the outstanding facilities and faculty that we have. Thank you, donors, for your amazing generosity!!

Rebekah Bing, School Secretary, marveled at all the ways that our students are involved in community service. For example, one Gaston Day grandparent recently complimented our 5th and 6th graders after they had visited a local retirement community to sing for the residents. This Gaston Day grandparent was struck by the poise and compassion that our students displayed in their interactions with the community residents.

Do you know of other ways in which members of our school community act generously? I encourage you to share examples with me, and I hope to pass them along to others. Just talking about Generosity and Service inspires us to celebrate those qualities and become even better at exemplifying them.
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My Most Recent Trip to China

This trip to China as a guest of our partner agency, New Oasis International Education, was different from any of my three previous ones. I was invited to be a key-note speaker at New Oasis' Tenth Anniversary Celebration in Beijing on October 10, 2018. Everything else on my trip was built around the anniversary. Because of that, I think, the rest of my travel was much more spontaneous and spur-of-the moment, but, if anything, more informative and exciting. I flew from Charlotte to Newark on Tuesday, October 8, and arrived early morning. Kathy Freeman, New Oasis Director of Partnership Development and an old friend who hosted my two previous trips, met me there, and we flew
together to Shanghai. Three in-flight meals, three movies, lots of naps, and fourteen hours later we landed. Yes, it is a very long flight.

The next day in Shanghai we visited one of China's top universities, specializing in foreign language and international affairs, and also an affiliated high school where New Oasis has created a program called "Pathways" to prepare selected students to come to an American independent school for their high school education. There I interviewed students in hopes that they might attend Gaston Day. Unlike my three previous trips, we did not have any time for sightseeing. For those of you who have been to Shanghai, you know it is one of the greatest, most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

On Wednesday night we flew to Beijing, arriving late. The next day was the 10th Anniversary Celebration, and I was busy making some last minute adjustments to my remarks on the future of international education. New Oasis has about 200 partner schools in the United States, and I was honored to be chosen as one of two American heads of school to speak at the 10th Anniversary Celebration.

With complete candor, I can tell you that I have never seen anything quite like the 10th Anniversary Celebration in terms of pageantry and programming. The event lasted four hours, and I felt like I was at the Academy Awards. There were  hostesses in evening gowns to welcome and assist all the guests. Complex light displays and special effects happened throughout the event. There were drawings for expensive prizes between speakers. Wow!! They really know how to put on a show!! I was so happy for Sean Chen, CEO of New Oasis, who I have come to trust and like through our partnership at Gaston Day. He has worked so hard to make New Oasis into a great company, and the celebration was a source of great pride in his accomplishments.

The next day was my only chance to be a tourist. I was taken to the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace complex. While I had been to both places before, both are remarkable, and any visit is a rare opportunity. Particularly in the case of the Summer Palace, the grounds encompass several hundred acres, and I saw parts that I had never seen before. Both the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace are world heritage sites. I am grateful to Gaston Day for taking me to such exotic locales. Sarah Park and I laugh about my trips to China because I am a homebody. We joke that a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, is a big adventure for me. But Gaston Day has sent me to China now four times.

My last day in Beijing I interviewed students at a fair--all of them knew about Gaston Day, in part because they had prepared for their interviews. As hard as this may be to believe, however, families all across China who are thinking about sending their children to the United States for high school know and respect Gaston Day. It really is hard to believe, but, at least in China, Gaston Day School has a strong international reputation.

From Beijing, Sean, Kathy and I flew to Chongqing in central China to visit schools there. Chongqing is on the Yangtze River and arguably has more population than any city in the world: estimated at 40 million. Compared to Beijing and Shanghai, however, Chongqing is more provincial. To me, Chongqing reminds me of how China used to be when I first visited the country fifteen years ago. The pace of change and progress is so fast in China that places seems noticeably more modern each time I am there. Chongqing will not remain provincial long.

The flight back on October 16 was made easier by the prospect of coming home. There will probably be more trips to China in my future. Through our partnership with New Oasis and all the wonderful Chinese students who attend Gaston Day, I am linked to China, and my life is so much richer because of the connection. Never in my life would I have anticipated this marvelous, unexpected dimension to my educational career.

How Well Does Gaston Day Prepare Its Graduates for College?

Perhaps the most important questions that any parent or student should be asking is "how well does Gaston Day prepare my child/me for college?" That really is the big question. And the answer has great consequences not just for college, but for life. 

About this time every year, several of our recent graduates--now freshmen in college--communicate to tell us just how well things are going and how well GDS prepared them. This year is no different. One of these communications came in the form of an email from Katie Elder's parents to Dean Josh Lutkus. With their permission, I want to share the whole letter because I believe it accurately portrays just how well prepared our graduates really are.
Here goes:

Dear Josh,

I returned today from my first visit with Katie at Tulane. She is thriving and so happy! I wanted to send a quick email which I hope properly reflects the gratitude her Dad and I feel for the education and life experiences Katie received while a student at Gaston Day, and for the support you gave her throughout the years.

I am happy to report Katie feels well prepared for the rigor of her classes, and her professors are pleased and impressed with her work. In her Creative Writing class she was the only student who had been exposed to a writers’ workshop method of learning. (Thank you Mrs. Foster!) Her poems and short stories have been used frequently for reviews by the professor to demonstrate an example of the higher level of writing they are all to aspire to in college.   

In her History and Political Science classes she is able to contribute significantly, even as a Freshman, in classes filled with upper level students. (The Honors college is small so she is frequently one of just a few freshman in the honors classes.)

We know she is positioned really well to take advantage of all the great things Tulane has to offer because she is so confident in her preparedness for college; thanks to Gaston Day. She is also taking a few risks--such as switching from Spanish to Russian for her foreign language. This has led to a great opportunity to spend the summer in Russia doing a language immersion program sponsored by the State Department. I know for a fact one of the main reasons she has little fear of trying new things such as this is because Holly Mason required her to do a live audition for Mary Poppins as a Sophomore. She did not give her a “pass”, even though she probably knew Katie could handle the role.  At that time, Katie had a terrible fear of singing publicly. (Hello!!!!- meet her senior year alter ego Fiona!)

I love how each child is pushed just enough at Gaston Day to get them past their level of comfort. Without these experiences and the hundreds of other opportunities she had to speak publicly, debate a highly skilled teacher, represent her class, advocate for herself and others, and experiment with different ways to solve problems and think critically, I don’t think she would be having the college experience she is having. And it’s not only the wonderful experiences that helped to prepare her, it was the tough ones too. Like having to decide how to manage her time with a tough class load and many extracurriculars, coming back stronger after doing poorly on a quiz or a test, and persevering in AP Chemistry with the support of her teacher, even though “science is not her thing.” 

So we wanted to say thank you and ask you to please pass on to the faculty how much we appreciate all of them and you. Katie loved her time at Gaston Day, and she is grateful as well to the educators who helped us to shape her into the young adult she has become. 

Wishing you all the very best and. 

Kind Regards,

Chris and Herb Elder

Congratulations to Katie on such an auspicious start to her college career. We hope you find this unsolicited, parent endorsement encouraging. This is what you can expect to accomplish with your Gaston Day degree. The proverbial sky is the limit. 

A New Strategic Plan

Every five years in preparation for our re-accreditation by the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), Gaston Day School develops a new strategic plan to guide our next five years. The Board of Trustees oversees and directs the formulation of the strategic plan. In this case, they appointed an ad hoc committee to complete the new plan and present it to the Board for approval. From the Board, Alan Mark chaired the effort and Tom Grimm, Phil Dee, Nicole Esch, and Heather Wright were also committee members. From the administration, Davidson Hobson, Kim Perlman, Vann Noblett and I served. Andrea Stevenson with Stevenson Wallace Consultants acted as our facilitator.

After soliciting input from various constituents, the Strategic Planning Committee determined that there were four core principles that influenced student achievement and life so much and, therefore, should be guiding principles for the strategic plan. They were as follows: 1) Culture and Community; 2) Financial Strength and Stability; 3) Attracting and Retaining Talent; and 4) Academic Investments and Innovations.

Within each of these areas or goals, the Strategic Planning Committee identified the following strategies. Here they are.

Goal 1: Culture and Community
* Align the diversity of GDS students, faculty, staff and board with the broader community we serve
* Increase social engagement of middle school students
* Assess GDS traditions, rituals and ceremonies to determine which are essential to the GDS culture
* Design and launch technology usage education programs for students, parents and faculty
* Sharpen internal communications to focus on the "why" and explain how activities align with GDS vision and goals
* Clarify and market the GDS brand more widely

Goal 2: Financial Strength and Sustainability
* Expand and diversify Gaston Day School's donors.
* Create a culture that rewards operational efficiency and creative ideas for cost savings and revenue generation
* Research and recommend new methods of revenue generation from untapped audiences
* Develop and implement peer-focused retention strategies
* Conduct risk management scenario planning for financial, leadership and reputational risk
* Create five-year budget projections to enable long-term operational and capital planning
* Increase contributed revenue from diverse sources

Goal 3: Attracting and Retaining Talent
* Increase transparency and clarity of communications from administration to faculty/staff
* Expand benefits and perks for faculty and staff through creative partnerships
* Create clear faculty job descriptions to serve as foundations of performance reviews
* Ensure all faculty have individual growth profiles that include career management planning a skill-based training plans

Goal 4: Academic Investments and Innovation
* Develop a campus master plan to ensure state of the art learning environments
* Create and claim academic Centers of Excellence within GDS
* Strengthen and integrate STEM curriculum offerings
* Implement new 'soft skills' curriculum that nurtures collaborative community leadership skills
* Ensure a cutting-edge technology environment for students, faculty and staff
* Conduct ROI assessments and eliminate academic programs without sufficient student impact or strategic alignment

Over the next few months, the administration will be developing tactics and schedules for the completion of all our new strategies. These plans will guide much of our work at Gaston Day for the next five years. The GDS Administration is excited to have such a comprehensive strategic plan and looks forward to realizing this new vision for the future.

Welcome Back

Welcome back to the 2018-2019 school year at Gaston Day!

The 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign has  accomplished so much here this summer, and I want to share all of the good news! Let’s start, though, with projects that were completed last summer but are just as important.

• Last summer we painted throughout all of our buildings, replaced ceiling tiles, purchased a new integrated software operating system, and bought two new buses, thanks to the generosity of our very earliest capital campaign donors. Thank you!

• This summer, the pace and scale of renovations and improvements has zoomed.  The first thing you will notice are the beautiful new windows throughout the school.  They really do make the William S. Henry Family Academic Center look much newer and more modern, and we expect a big improvement in the comfort of our classrooms (not to mention the cost savings!)

• Thanks to the Kimbrell Family Foundation, we have a new lower school playground and small soccer field which will be completed soon. The playground will be named in honor of Mrs. W. Duke “Dot” Kimbrell, mother of two Gaston Day graduates, grandmother of two Gaston Day graduates, and one of the first presidents of the Parents Association.

• The W. Duke Kimbrell Classroom Building (5th and 6th Grade Classroom Building) has benefited from renovated restrooms and cosmetic upgrades this summer.  The renovations also included a major improvement in drainage to prevent any future flooding in that building.

• The final renovation, and one of the most exciting, is the creation of the new biology, chemistry and science prep labs and a new Idea Lab. These state-of-the- art labs will elevate our science and technology programs, and the Idea Lab will promote all kinds of creative, hands-on learning. We are so grateful to the following donors who have made these new science facilities possible: the William Hall and Sandra Rivas-Hall family, the Carstarphen Family Foundation, the Doug Meyer-Cuno family, and Jason Brown and family in memory of Dr. Tannis Brown.

What an exciting time this is at Gaston Day! I can’t wait for everything to be complete and for our students to begin reaping the benefits of all these improvements!

Please join me in thanking Gaston Day School parents, Brendan Horgan and Lewis Efird, for providing such strong leadership as chairs of the 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign, and thank you to all of the donors whose giving made our projects possible!

I look forward to seeing all of you in a few short weeks!