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News from Lisa

On Neighborliness

October is a great month. There is a subtle change in the light filtering through the trees, the leaves are changing color (in Texas, that is also rather subtle), and there are different smells (mostly good, unless someone forgot to put the cover on a courtyard trash can). School is fully underway with all of the messiness that encompasses—which to me means bringing together a diverse group of people, who share some values but certainly not all, and helping them try to find common ground—rules we can live by.

As you have heard by now, our Conditional Use Permit for the unified campus (that includes the property on Windsor) has been approved by the city, and now we will begin the process of requesting and reviewing bids for construction. Once we have some hard numbers, we can better determine what we can afford to do—or, more to the point, how we will pay for it. One possibility is that construction might be phased over the next two or three summers, and that we will try to "pay as we go." My husband and I used that approach when we built our first house together, and it meant that we lived with plywood floors and a sink mounted on 2x4s for several years until we could get to work on the final floor and kitchen cabinets (which we built ourselves). There is something to be said for "pay as you go" in that the debt, if there is any, is much more manageable, but it isn't always pretty.

On the way to receiving our Conditional Use Permit, we've had lots of conversations about what it means to be a neighbor and about being a school embedded in a larger community. And we've had lots of conversations with actual neighbors, some of whom like having a school in the neighborhood and some of whom do not. The challenge of living in a community is finding a balance between individual rights and wants, and the rights and desires of the community.

This means remembering that there is a community beyond the fence. Ours is a small campus, and most of our families drive to school—although we have many walkers, bikers, and carpoolers. Even with a new parking lot, it will never be possible for the entire GSA community to park on campus. In addition, we have no indoor community space. On the other hand, our central location allows for easy access to the many wonderful indoor and outdoor spaces in Tarrytown and throughout Austin.

Being good neighbors is also a part of the not-so-hidden curriculum at The Girls' School. "Hidden curriculum" is a term first used by Theodore and Nancy Sizer (The Students are Watching: Schools and The Moral Contract) to refer to the important part of the "curriculum" in a school that is either not intended or planned for, but that might be just as important as that which is. For example, if you drive carefully through the neighborhood, showing respect for neighbors and saying things that are positive and friendly, your children come to value neighborliness. If you speed through the neighborhood, block a driveway, and cut in front of a car because you want to be next in line in the loop, your child notices all of these things and the message is powerful. So, while you had not perhaps thought of it, your neighborhood driving habits are an extension of our curriculum. I hope that you are earning good grades!

Likewise on campus, neighborliness is more explicitly part of the curriculum, and it comes down to helping students understand that part of being in a community means that you don't always get to do what you want to do, or maybe not at that particular time—or, conversely, that the community needs for you to do some things in just a certain way in order for the school to run smoothly. It also means that you don't say what's on the tip of your tongue, as tempting as it might be to express your opinion about a particular assignment (this seems to be a common theme in middle school classes).

All of this living in community is difficult but important work. So, here's to another year of wonderfully messy community living. Oh, and would you please put the lid on the trash can?

Lisa K. Schmitt
Head of School
(10/09)