Parent Roundtable

Wednesday evening will bring the first of our monthly parent discussions we call "roundtables."  These gatherings are meant to bring us together to find out what is on the minds of our "home faculty."  It is always something I look forward to even though it can sometimes be contentious.  Parents have strong feelings about the schools of their choice and, frankly, I find that exciting and noble.   The real tragedy would be a weighty indifference.  Perhaps it is because I was not called to be a parent that makes me so empathetic when concerns are brought to the table.  My understanding, however, is not what they seek at these meetings.  When that happens, we all have to remind ourselves that the dimensions of an academic community sometimes don't reach as far as we had hoped they would.  Our expectation, our vision, our hope for the school must be tempered with a recogntion that each school is a tapestry of such things, woven together over many years and representing an approximation of excellence.  We take the best information that current educational theory provides, the resources at hand, the talent in our hallways and stich them all together to make our unique SJP pattern.  We are always confident and hopefull that the final product will be a picture of beauty but it won't come without flaws, imperfections and loose threads.  These roundtable discussions are one of the tools by which we do and redo this work of art we call "Prep."