Education - An Overview

Recent News

Notes of Gratitude for Friends Education Fund
PYM NEWS: Recently parents of Friends school students receiving PYM tuition assistance were asked about its value. The result was a landslide of heartfelt gratitude.

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on May 13, 08 | 8:38 pm

Educators Explore “Restorative Practices”
PYM NEWS: On April 5, thirty-two educators gathered at Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia to learn more about “restorative practices,” a conceptual approach to building peaceful school communities and classrooms, and for responding to conflict and misbehavior in school settings.

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on May 13, 08 | 8:32 pm

PYM Committees Need Parents
PYM NEWS: Let us welcome Quaker parents to become involved in Yearly Meeting committees!

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on Mar 15, 08 | 8:59 pm

Student Mentors Make a Difference
PYM NEWS: At Delaware Valley Friends School in Paoli PA, high school students mentor area third and fourth graders as part of the Project Eye-to-Eye Program.

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on Mar 15, 08 | 8:53 pm

Friends School's Student Leaders Use Quaker Process
PYM NEWS: At Greene Street Friends School, walking into a room full of students being led by their peers in a Quaker Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business is one of the most gratifying experiences I’ve had in my ten years as a Quaker educator.

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on Jan 18, 08 | 11:45 am

Quaker Parenting Project to Train Program Leaders
PYM NEWS: The Quaker Parenting Project of PYM is moving into a new phase, developing a training course for people interested in working with parents within the Yearly Meeting.

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on Jan 18, 08 | 11:39 am

Farm Camp Strives to Transform Society
PYM NEWS: “Zero waste” and 15 hugs a day may not be historic Quaker testimonies, but they are practically gospel to children at Journey’s End Farm Camp in Sterling, Pennsylvania. Loving community, simplicity and living with nature are an irresistible way of life for the camp’s 35 boys and girls between 7 and 12 years old.

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on Nov 10, 07 | 2:44 pm

Quaker School Opens New Building
PYM NEWS: The Quaker School at Horsham (PA) opened its new school building in September. The school was founded in 1982 to serve bright children who have language-based learning differences such as dyslexia as well as attention deficit disorder.

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on Nov 10, 07 | 2:39 pm

Friends at PYM Discuss Quaker Education
PYM NEWS: “Our Children, Our Schools – Where Do They Fit?” – that was the question posed at an interest group sponsored by the Education Standing Committee during the July 2007 Residential Yearly Meeting.

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on Nov 10, 07 | 2:32 pm

Quaker Parenting Website Updated
PYM NEWS: The Quaker Parenting Project’s updated website is now online at www.quakerparenting.org

Posted by: Mario Cavallini on Sep 15, 07 | 10:28 pm

NEXT page

Online Documents:

· PYM Covenant on Education, July 24, 1999
· Friends and Education (formerly Great Ideas in Friends Education newsletter)
· Religious Education Newsletter
· Curriculum Capsules

Education Granting Group oversees the allocation and disbursement of those funds under the care of the Education Standing Committee. These include K-12 Tuition Aid, post-secondary loans and grants, Teachers' Retirement Fund, Drug & Alcohol Education Fund and small grants to Friends schools and teachers in non-Friends schools. The Granting Group consists of nine members, with three terms of three years each. It meets at least four times yearly, pursuant to the Yearly Meeting budget cycle and the timetables for the funds under its care.
Clerk: William Wilson · bwilson@uplandcds.org
Staff: Tom Hoopes · tomh@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7224

Religious Education Concerns Group meets monthly to coordinate the activities of the Young Friends Working Group, Middle School Friends Working Group, 0-13 Year Olds and Their Parents Working Group, the Curriculum Working Group and other religious education concerns. The group includes both working group members and staff seeking to nurture the many Religious Education programs that serve the Yearly Meeting. Meetings are the third Fourth day of every month at 6pm at 4th and Arch. The group publishes a newsletter.
Clerkship: alternates - contact Ricki Gordon · rickirg@juno.com
Staff: Gretchen Castle (Interim Director) · gretchenc@pym.org · 1-800-200-PYM ext. 1-7008

Middle School Friends Working Group meets once every other month at Friends Center. There are about a dozen members, who are joined by Middle School Friends from time to time. The group evaluate gatherings, consider policies, brainstorm plans and help nurture the community at the gatherings.
Clerk: no clerk at this time
Staff: Elizabeth Walmsley · elizabethw@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7171

Young Friends Working Group has 6-8 meetings a year at Friends Center. Numbers vary between 6 and 20 members attending. Members discuss gathering planning and evaluation. We also recruit Friendly Adult Presences (chaperones) for the gatherings.
Co-clerks: Nancy Diaz-Svalgard · diazsval@redrose.net and Cliff Smoot · theamazingcliff@hotmail.com
Staff: Cookie Caldwell · cookiec@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 7222

Curriculum Working Group meets 6-8 times a year at Providence Monthly Meeting. Members brainstorm ideas, do research and write up activities and lessons for Religious Education curricula. They then, with the help of the Religious Education Executive Secretary, prepare them for publication. Their catalog is Curriculum Capsules.
Clerk: Yolanda Covarrubias · yolanda_covarrubias@yahoo.com
Staff: Gretchen Castle (Interim Director) · gretchenc@pym.org · 1-800-200-PYM ext. 1-7008

0-13 Year Olds and Their Parents Working Group has been inactive during this transition time. However, the clerk of the committee plans to call a meeting in the near future. There continues to be concern about the issues families with children are raising regarding what guidance Quaker Faith and Practice has for parents. We hope to address this with more precision in the near future.
Contact: Harriet Heath

Nonviolence and Childrens Working Group helps the adult nurturers of children to create environments that nurture nonviolence. We work with meetings, Friends schools and public schools to develop peacemaking skills and attitudes in children. The NVC group meets once per month for business, usually at Plymouth Meeting Friends School. Three to four times per year the group holds a Working Session to fully investigate a topic of interest.
Clerk: no clerk at this time
Staff: Betsy Berger · betsyberger@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7233

Friends Schools Support Working Group is the body of seasoned Friends with experience in Friends education which carries on the role of advice and counsel of the former Committee on Education. The Group coordinates care and support of Friends education within PYM, and provides consultation and coordination of the Granting Group and the Working Groups. The Group meets on the second Fifth day (Thursday) of each month, from 5 to 9pm.
Clerk: Sandy Heath · heathsandy@aol.com
Staff: Tom Hoopes · tomh@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7224

Public Education Working Group provides support to projects and activities of the several hundred Friends in PYM whom teach and work in non-Friends schools. This support takes the form of: administering a small grants program for projects in the public schools that support Friends testimonies (in an advisory role to the Granting Group); providing curriculum resources and other information of interest to Quaker educators; and connecting these educators with one another and the broader PYM community. See also PYM Covenant on Education, July 24, 1999.
Clerk: Andy Jickling · ajickling@worldnet.att.net
Staff: Tom Hoopes · tomh@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7224

Education Newsletter Working Group produces Friends and Education (formerly called Great Ideas in Friends Education), a newsletter for K-8 teachers in Friends Schools to provide concrete ideas for curricular and extra-curricular activities that support Friends testimonies, as well as for the many Quakers teaching in the public schools and the work they do that extends from their Quaker beliefs, including non-violent conflict resolution, stewardship of the earth, social justice and support of diversity. The newsletter appears several times during the school year. Input comes from members of the working group, as well as from teachers in the schools. The working group meets on an ad hoc basis, as necessary to produce the newsletter.
Clerk: Penny Colgan-Davis · pencoldav@aol.com
Staff: Betsy Berger · betsyberger@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7233
Tom Hoopes · tomh@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7224

Children and Young People at Yearly Meeting (CYPYM) Group meets 6-8 times a year and plans the packet that goes out to monthly meetings prior to either the Arch Street sessions or Residential Yearly Meeting. They have between 6-9 members. They support the coordinator in finding volunteer teachers and plan the special events for the children's program at Yearly Meeting. This group is currently under the care of the Standing Committee on General Services but has support of the Standing Committee on Education in its goal to provide programs for children and youth at Yearly Meeting Sessions.
Clerk: Claire Wilson · clairew@libraryvideo.com
Staff: Gretchen Castle (Interim Director) · gretchenc@pym.org · 1-800-200-PYM ext. 1-7008

Friends' Children in Friends Schools Project Group will explore this issue. These Friends seek to make sure no children of PYM families are denied an education in a PYM Friends School for monetary reasons. See also PYM Covenant on Education, July 24, 1999.
Clerk: Ed Marshall · emarshall@gsfs.pvt.k12.pa.us
Staff: Tom Hoopes · tomh@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7224

Quaker College Fair Project Group has held its first annual event for high schoolers interested in attending Quaker colleges.
Clerk: Chris Mahon
Staff: Tom Hoopes · tomh@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7224

Quaker Educational Pilgrimage Project Group is planning this biannual trip to England to visit Friends historical sites and Meetings. Scheduled for June 2000, this trip will help the travelers gain an appreciation of our Quaker history.
Clerk: Carol and Richard Bernard
Staff: Tom Hoopes · tomh@pym.org · 1-800-2200-PYM ext. 1-7224