School Life

Every year there are reports of high school students taking their own lives. Suicide casts a terrible pall over any school community. It just seems so pointless, so senseless. Yet, had members of the community acted on the signals the young person was most likely sending, that suicide could have been prevented.

The academic work in boarding school is heavy. The pressures to succeed, get into the best college, and not let parents and others down, combined with the reality of adolescent uncertainties, can create a climate for depression. Depression can lead to suicide. However, suicide is preventable.

Suicide is preventable.

Suicide is the 3rd largest killer of young adults between the ages of 15-24. But teen suicide is preventable. Know the warning signs.

Ideally, a private school education is a partnership. The school, parents, and student comprise this partnership. What makes this partnership unique is that all partners must work together for the best interests of a young person. In addition, each partner has a specific role to play and items to take care of. So, let's examine the three partners and their roles and obligations implicit in this arrangement, which makes a private school education a good value.

This video discusses effective parent-teacher communication.

School

Motivation Obviously, the school wants the partnership to work for several reasons. First, successes enhance the school's reputation. The academic marketplace is always competitive unless, of course, the school happens to be located ten miles from the James Bay. Word of mouth within a community spreads word of both successes and failures. I realize that some will interpret word of

The pandemic has forced many students to reconsider their plans for going off to college. That's because of concerns about safety and COVID protocols on college campuses. The other factor is whether learning will be in person or online. After all, a college education is costly. So, spending a fortune on online classes does not sit well with most parents who usually pay those hefty college fees.

But I am already at a residential school. Isn't it the same as being at college? Since you are attending a boarding school, you understand the need for strict safety protocols. Vaccinations, temperature taking, hand washing, masking, and social distancing are norms you have become accustomed to while at school. Furthermore, everybody in the school community abides by those protocols or risks being asked to leave. However, your school is tiny compared with most colleges. Now, that's only one factor that makes attending college riskier than being at your small boarding school. 

The other consideration is that most college campuses tend to be open and insecure. Anybody can gain access whether or not they are authorized. Contrast that with your school's campus with

2020-2021 have been unusual, depressing years as we all coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, notwithstanding all the gloom and doom, there was some good news in 2021. Several announcements of major gifts to private schools have lifted our spirits and given us, and the recipients, hope.

In October 2021, Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, announced that an alumnus had left a bequest to endow three faculty chairs. Also in October, the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Connecticut, reported that a current trustee and his wife had endowed a faculty chair. The munificence of these donors supports the stated mission of these schools. 

2020 was a most unusual year. The coronavirus pandemic has turned everything upside down and inside out. Nothing is normal. All of this has impacted boarding schools in ways they never expected. While most private school boards of trustees are smart enough to have a resumption of business plans in place and adequate insurance coverage for the school plant and the usual liability issues, very few school trustees ever expected to be dealing with so many challenges converging at the same time. Against that backdrop, I thought it would be helpful to conduct a fictional interview with a head of school. After all, her concerns are probably yours as well.

Rob: What challenges at school in the fall of the next academic year keep you awake at night?

Head of school: Oh, Rob! Where do I begin? There are so many things demanding my attention. My workday starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. if I'm lucky. And I work every day to keep my head above water.