From the Desk of the Deans:

From the Desk of the Deans: Considerations for an ever-changing landscape

Ara Carlos BrownUpper School Dean of Boys Cranbrook Schoolsabrown@cranbrook.edu Nola-rae CronanDean of Students, Girls Middle School Cranbrook Schoolsncronan@cranbrook.edu James J. GreenwoodAssociate Dean of Multicultural Education Northfield Mount Hermon Schooljgreenwood@nmhschool.org Erika HansingerAcademic Dean, Grades 9 and 10Cranbrook Schools ehansinger@cranbrook.edu Kimberly ZernEveltiAssociate Academic Dean The Williston Northhampton Schoolkevelti@williston.com

Password – envelope 1 • Join a team of 5 • Groups play password in pairs, 5th person judges • When you reach 5, other pair tries • If you are stuck on a word - pass • Play 3 rounds • Team with most words guessed wins

Case Studies From envelope 2, choose your position Analyze the 1st case study from your position based on the prompts Repeat with each of the case studies

Scenario #1 - http://www.williston.com/NAIS1 Caroline is 9th grade student at Cranston Mountain School, a picturesque school in an affluent area of the country. She started at the school in 6th grade. Caroline is a good student who loves school, but has trouble with her executive functioning. Her tutor helps her organize her materials each night after her club soccer practice. She also has dysgraphia. In 6th grade, her school developed a 504 plan for her which included the use of assistive technology in the classroom and lecture notes from the teacher. As a 9th grader, Caroline asked the school to refer to her as Carl. Several teachers made note of it and updated their attendance sheets. She noted that it was an opportunity to reinvent herself. As an avid soccer player, she tried out for the boys’ JV team, but was denied a spot. Since she couldn’t play for the school, she continued to play on her competitive travel team. Caroline’s close friend is Seong “Sue” Kim. Seong is an exchange student from South Korea. Seong spent her 7th and 8th grade year in Canada with a host family where she studied English. Like her older sibling, Seong’s parents wanted her to attend a prestigious independent school in the United States with the hopes of attending an Ivy League university. While Seong does well in school, she prefers to spend her time experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes. Seong received her first set of grades and her parents were disappointed with the results. They are especially disappointed with her English grade since she spent two years in Canada. They threaten to pull her from the school if she doesn’t do better. Seong felt hopeless and turned to Caroline for solace. Caroline was unsure how to stop her friend from crying and offered to provide Seong with the answers to the next English test. Caroline’s teacher, who has a son that also has a 504 plan, often allows Caroline to take her tests in a separate room before anyone else if she wants. Caroline took pictures of the next test with her cell phone and sent them to Seong. The two were caught because, although their answers weren’t necessarily identical, Seong’s answers matched a test that was only given to Caroline.

Scenario #1 - http://www.williston.com/NAIS1 • When thinking about your position, do you feel as if you have a role in this scenario? What do you see as an issue of concern? • How would you address the issue(s)? • Who would you involve in your approach to this situation? Why? • What preventive measures could have been taken and what can be done for the future? • Consider: Top 3 issues your team will identify

Scenario #2 - http://www.williston.com/NAIS2 Caroline and Seong continued to grow inseparable. Although they only share the same History and Health classes, Caroline can often be found waiting for Seong between classes. Seong would attend as many of Caroline’s club soccer games as possible. Seong always brought cupcakes for the entire team. They frequently rotated houses to sleep over each weekend. Caroline continued to give Seong her English homework despite the fact that they were previously caught cheating because Seong was still doing poorly in school. Seong’s teachers report that she doesn’t try hard enough and tends to zone out in class. Although she gave great oral reports in class, her written reports were often filled with spelling errors. Her math teacher has made remarks about how he was surprised that Seong wasn’t doing better based on the performance of the other South Korean students from her same hometown. The one class where she found success was in her fine arts course.

Scenario #3 - http://www.williston.com/NAIS3 Seong felt as if Caroline is her one true American friend and often felt sad when Caroline wasn’t around. To thank her, Seong bought Caroline several extravagant gifts. Caroline felt closer to Seong and would often write about their relationship in her journal. Caroline then attempted to kiss Seong during one of their sleepovers. Instead of acknowledging what was happening during the kiss, Seong pretended to be asleep. However, Seong later posted the following on one of her social networking sites: “No Gay, No Way.” Although it wasn’t posted to the public, many people from the school were able to see and repost the comment. Caroline felt as if the comment was directed towards her and posted a scathing reply about intolerance in the school community during class the following day. One of Caroline’s teachers picked up on the social unrest within the student body and allowed students to journal about it in their class blog for the first 20 minutes of class, but didn’t refer back to them or their content for the remainder of the lesson.

Closing Activity – envelope 3 http://www.williston.com/NAIS4

From the Desk of the Deans: