2012-2013 Quaker Works 4:2 - Friends' Central School

On Their Honor
Friends’ Central Students Spearhead Writing of Friends’ Central Honor Statement
By Taylor Lee and Lisa D’Orazio
Students and faculty who collaborated on writing Friends’ Central’s first honor statement were Blake Bortnick ’13, Upper School Co-Principal
and Dean of Faculty Laurie Novo, Oliver Goodman ’13, Suzy Bernstein ’13, Upper School history teacher Jim Rosengarten, Quaker Coordinator
Robyn Richmond, Grant Schiller ’14, Upper School English Teacher Tom MacFarlane, and (not pictured) Matt Strahan ’14.
After months of discussion,
meetings with faculty
and students, and a series
of drafts, last winter, Friends’
Central’s Upper School saw its first
Honor Statement.
Spearheaded by Upper School students Suzy Bernstein
’13, Oliver Goodman ’13, Blake Bortnick ’13, Grant
Schiller ’14, and Matt Strahan ’14 and teachers Robyn
Richmond, Tom MacFarlane, and Jim Rosengarten, the
Upper School was presented with an Honor Statement,
followed by queries framed by the Quaker testimonies to
help us reflect on the implications of our decisions. When
students and teachers came back to school after winter
break, the statement was printed and hung in every
Upper School classroom.
Upper School Co-Principal Laurie Novo was thrilled
to report to parents back in December that the honor
statement had been finalized and would be posted in each
Upper School classroom. Regarding the thought process
behind having an honor statement, although at a Quaker
school where integrity is one of the seven testimonies,
Novo said, “We have all struggled at times with the
‘messiness’ of decision-making in a Quaker school, but
when our objective is truly shared, as this one is, the
collaborative process of the whole community, guided by
a steering committee of students and teachers, is a very
productive experience. Nestling our honor statement in
the familiar context of the Testimonies and practice of
queries feels ‘right’ to us, and the queries were shaped and
strengthened by discussion in advisories and at Student
Council and faculty meetings.”
The honor statement serves as a gentle reminder for
students, as well as teachers, to be honest and open when
making decisions. One of the most powerful topics raised
and discussed by students and teachers was the stress and
damage to valued relationships that is caused by cheating.
Grant Schiller ’14 and Matt Strahan ’14 both agree that
“having the honor statement allows for more discussion
between students and teachers” about cheating and one’s
integrity in general. QW
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