This year, as students trade in their beach bags for backpacks, and return to the Fieldston campus, they will be faced with several noteworthy changes. Many of these changes have been implemented in order to make every day procedures at Fieldston more efficient. For instance, this year all students will be receiving a new school email address, which will be the only address to which teachers send them emails. According to Principal Danforth, this system is implemented at almost all universities. “What we had before was really archaic,” she said. “This is much more professional. It is streamlining communication.”
On a related note, the Fieldston phone system is also being reformed this year. Previously, all calls to the main school number would reach a receptionist from the Upper School office, who would then transfer the caller to one of the four school divisions. This year, all callers will hear a recording welcoming them to Fieldston and advising them to press a certain number depending on which division they wish to be transferred to. Immediately after the caller identifies which division they are interested in, he/she can speak with a divisional receptionist.
Upperclassmen who dread waiting until their 1:20 lunch period should know that they will not be going hungry by midmorning and early afternoon. Principal Danforth says that after she “really listened to feedback from everyone in the community,” she decided to continue offering a free continental breakfast to every student. Hot breakfast, such as omelets and bacon egg and cheeses, will be available at an extra cost. Additionally, the juice machines will be available to use at breakfast, so that students no longer need to waste plastic and glass bottles. As occurred last spring, fresh fruit will be offered in the Student Commons up until lunch time.
Photo by Jacob Cader.
Further concerns and requests regarding meals and snacks will be addressed by a student Food Task Force that Principal Danforth plans to organize in the 2013-2014 school year. The Food Task Force is just one of many new groups this year aiming at increasing student involvement in administrative decisions. Principal Danforth explained that she also wants organize two or three “town meetings” per year, “where students can come and bring their concerns and recommendations for change.” She also plans on “creating a student advisory board that [she] will meet with once a month to hear complaints and suggestions; like a mini town hall.”
In the upcoming school year, the Academic Integrity Task Force will continue to meet and discuss how academic integrity can be fully obtained and maintained at Fieldston. This task force will carefully look at the procedure that a student faces when accused of academic dishonesty, and possibly reform it. One idea is to have students be more involved in the disciplinary process. “There is a desire amongst some students to have a peer honor board,” said Principal Danforth. The Academic Integrity Task Force will address this possibility as well as many other possible changes.
Principal Danforth also plans to “put together a task force to look at our academic schedule.” As Rachel Ehrlich often says, “Our schedule is our moral document.” Principal Danforth plans to embrace this view and push the task force to investigate “what our schedule says about our morals and who we are as an institution.” Though extreme schedule changes will probably not be implemented this year, Principal Danforth hopes that the task force will “look outside the box” when brainstorming future schedule alterations. “We need to focus on what we are doing to properly prepare our students for what lies ahead of them,” she explained.
Finally, this year ECFS faculty and staff will be taking even more precautions to make the Fieldston campus a safe environment. According to Principal Danforth, the school has hired a new head of security who differs from the previous one in that he will be a direct employee of Fieldston and not of Fieldston’s security company. Faculty will continue to be trained, so that they know how to act in potentially dangerous situations, and there may even be an evacuation drill. “That’s one thing that will not change this year,” said Principal Danforth. “Student safety will continue to be my number one priority.”
