Community Conversations

February 2021: The challenge of knowing what’s true and what’s not, and building a society with a shared sense of truth, was the topic of our December conversation. This challenge is complicated by the growing prevalence of efforts to deceive and manipulate us, often through the channels of social media. The internet is full of valuable information, and even more full of things that are intentionally or unintentionally misleading, or designed to get us to do or believe things that are not in our interest. What should our kids know about how to navigate this disinformation ecosystem?

December 2021: Discussion surrounding “Foundations for Constructive Conversations About School.”

• How the Montessori philosophy guides our school.
• Working together to have constructive conversations.
• Agreeing on a framework for understanding what is true.

November 2021: We held the first of what we hope will be many monthly Bay Farm Conversations with the board. The response and engagement in that initial conversation deeply moved us. In speaking for more than an hour with 37 participants, we learned in what ways we are not all of the same minds, that we have among us those who are hopeful, those who are fearful, those who are hurt, those who are eager to help, those who want to learn and grow (which I think is all of us) – and likely a majority for whom all of these emotions sometimes mix together.

Learning about the range of perspectives and experiences within our community, through honest expressions of mind and heart from people we know and love, was a big step in bringing us together to grow as parents and educators. We all come to these topics from different places and with different perspectives. It’s going to take time to unravel them, and our discussions will always be a safe space for our community to ask questions, offer ideas and opinions, and grow together, all of which can only benefit our children. Bay Farm is about learning and growing, for children and for parents. I think of these conversations as an example we want to set for our children in how to constructively deal with difficult topics.

We asked two questions that will always guide our conversations: In order to best serve your family, we want to know:

• What do you want for your child to get out of the Bay Farm experience on these topics?
• What can we do to support you as parents for these topics?