Primary Thoughts
Head of School Blog
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Wonder
“Optimization is terrific if you want to get somewhere else in the future. But it’s terrible for being where you actually are right now. When goals overtake experience, you lose the freedom to encounter your life as it happens. And when you lose that ability, you are no longer living in full. We used to optimize work so we could do everything else. Now we optimize life as though living were another job. Too many of us seem to be maxxing our…
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Primary Day’s 10 Year Re-Accreditation Process
For those of you who were with us last school year, you may remember that I outlined some of the process that Primary Day follows to maintain its accreditation with the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS). The process began in the 2024-25 school year, when the faculty and administration examined our then…
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Dissent Over the Smartphone’s Role in the
Increase of Adolescent Mental Health Concerns “What if phones aren’t to blame for teen malaise after all?” was the provocative title of an opinion piece by Kara Bettis Carvalho in last weekend’s Boston Globe. Carvalho writes of Boston College professor Peter Gray’s work which notes that, despite steady declines in teen mental health measures, there…
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The Value of Small Schools
A recent NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) blog post included a piece written by an independent school parent, Kristen Edlund Gallagher, whose children just graduated from a small independent school in a suburban Chicago district where her family had “access to a very large, nationally recognized public high school.” When asked why she would…
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Summer Greetings
A number of years ago, I discovered the poems of Rebecca Kai Dotlich, and I especially love those that capture the joy of childhood. In “Summer Greetings” she writes, Today’s the dayfor climbing trees,for jumping rope,and skinning knees,for swinging highand skipping fast,and readingbooksoutsideat last. There is no telling the value that simple, unstructured, active, outdoor…
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Survey Comments
“I will never forget the first time I visited PDS. I walked through the school’s front doors and was greeted by bright natural light, friendly faces, and the sound of children’s laughter in the background. I knew immediately I wanted to send my children to PDS and haven’t regretted the decision since. As welcoming as…
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Survey Results I
As you know, we recently conducted a survey of our parents as part of our 10 year accreditation self-study with the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS). This piece will be the first of a series that will share survey results. For background, know that we had 83 survey respondents (this out of…
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Primary Day’s Revised Mission Statement
You may have noticed if you have been on our website that Primary Day has a new, revised mission statement. Every ten years, when starting its AIMS (Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools) self-study for reaccreditation, every school is asked to look at its mission statement and determine if it needs some updating. Thus,…
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New Year’s Gratitude
Each new year’s I like to make a list of the many things for which I feel grateful. The list is long, and I revisit it and add to it many times over the subsequent days and months. I also make a list of things that truly upset me, and I always find that list…
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A Merle-Smith Holiday
As our children put the finishing touches on this week’s Seasons of Light Beako, I was reminded of the light that was embodied by a formative figure in my career, Mike Merle-Smith, whom I met when I was a young teacher at Princeton Day School – my first PDS! Bright, patient, creative, and encouraging, he…