Proctor is several things at the same time. We are a place that--despite constant upgrades--is still just a place. We're also a set of curricula and policies that we know and execute year after year with minor modifications. But we also define ourselves as a human community, and it is this definition that I'd like to consider now, because we just convened for the 2012-13 school year with 130 new students. Considered as a human community, Proctor is truly new each year.

At today's opening assembly, Assistant Head of School Anne Swayze walked us through the challenges, opportunities, strategies and goals for a successful year. She emphasized the human connection, and having fun. To attain our mission, we'd better have fun along the way!




In 1994, Doug Heath published a book that changed the landscape for liberal educational reform in the United States entitled Schools of Hope; Developing Mind and Character in Today's Youth. The book cited four schools whose vision, innovation and honesty positioned them for leadership in shaping the future of American education. Proctor was one of the four. Heath wrote, "No school of which I am aware has so honestly and courageously explored itself so thoroughly. No question was turned away; no resource was withheld; no faculty member undermines our collaborative effort to understand the school."



Heath noted that Proctor is a distinctly human school, a community-based school. This brings me to Swayz's comments in today's assembly. She balanced a call for challenge, hard work and working outside the comfort zone with the need to embrace mistakes, taking care of health, and simply having fun.





To the extent that Proctor is more defined by its human-ness than by its buildings, land and programs, we are new every year. Thirty-six percent of the student population is new, today. Their acculturation to the community is well underway and is an education in itself.