 March/April 2000 (XXXVIII 2) |
- What are Friends' preferences and desires, with respect to the educational options available to their children?
- If more Quaker children were to attend our Friends schools, would the Quaker character of the schools be enhanced?
- Does affordability play a role in Friends' decisions not to enroll their children at Friends school? If yes, how much of a role?
- Given that approximately 33% of our school-aged children attend one of the 32 PYM Friends schools, what are the factors contributing to Quaker enrollment decisions?
- How shall our corporate support for Friends schools best proceed alongside our corporate support for public education, consistent with the spirit of the Covenant on Education?
These are some of the questions being considered by the Friends Children in Friends Schools Project Group of PYM. With a three-year grant from the Chace Fund of PYM — and on-going generosity from the Bequest Grants Group and the Friends Education Fund, Inc. — this Project Group has embarked on a comprehensive effort to answer these questions, and to discern which other questions should be asked.
Friends involved in this Project recognize that Quaker education is not the choice for all Friends' children. Supporting and participating in public education is an important and ongoing commitment throughout PYM. But for those Friends who seek to provide an educational experience at a Friends school for their children, the work of the Friends Children in Friends Schools Project Group aims to help make that option more accessible and affordable for our members.
This project consists of three basic components:
- Threshing and discerning within the Meetings and membership of PYM;
- Dialogue between PYM and the leadership of the 32 elementary and secondary schools in the PYM Friends school community;
- Engagement with the admissions staff of Friends schools and with the School and Family Scholarship Service of Princeton, New Jersey, which oversees and implements the "formula" that stipulates how much a family can afford to pay for tuition.
Part 1 of this project has already born fruit in the form of the Covenant on Education, which was embraced by numerous Meetings and Quarters prior to revision and approval at Yearly Meeting sessions at Allentown College in July 1999. The next phase of Part 1 should be arriving at your doorstep in the coming weeks, in the form of a survey intended to determine the educational preferences, desires and needs of PYM Friends. With the active support of the Chace Fund, PYM has retained the services of a professional survey firm with expertise and experience in working with other Friends' organizations. Please respond to this survey and return it promptly. This will ensure that your voice and your perspective are accurately represented in the resulting data and the ensuing recommendations.
Parts 2 and 3 of this project are actively moving forward, also. Already the Heads and Financial Aid Officers of most PYM Friends schools have been involved in meetings connected to this Project. You will have an opportunity to give your input on this work on Saturday morning, March 25, at the Yearly Meeting at Fourth and Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia. If you have input prior to then, or if you are interested in getting involved in this exciting project, please contact Ed Marshall, Clerk of the FCFS Project Group, at Greene Street Friends School, (215-438-7545), emarshall@gsfs.pvt.k12.pa.us, or contact Tom Hoopes, Coordinator of Education Programs at PYM, (215-241-7224), tomh@pym.org.
Susan R. Makler
Abington Meeting (PA)
Friends Children in Friends Schools Project Group
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM