Outgoing Clerk Barbara Rose Caldwell Reflects on Nearly Three Decades of Service and Commitment to MFS

What inspires a person to dedicate time and energy to an institution over many years? As I end my service as Clerk of the Moorestown Friends School Committee, I am reflecting on that question. My involvement with the school dates to 1993 and includes teaching, administrative work, and seven years as a trustee including the last four as Clerk. I will continue my service as Assistant Clerk. I live in Media, PA, so this commitment has required hours of driving and innumerable crossings of the Betsy Ross Bridge! There are two keys that have sustained this long commitment.

First, I have had the privilege to work with inspired and inspiring school leaders, exceptional teachers, dedicated support workers, and, of course, my fellow trustees. To list them all would exceed my assigned word count but I will single out a few. I have worked with three heads of school: Alan Craig, Larry Van Meter, and Julia de la Torre. The school’s on-going success as an institution that educates students imbued with a sense of what it means to live purposeful, compassionate, and ethical lives is rooted in their leadership. I have been fortunate to work with all three and to participate in the hiring of Julia de la Torre. The clerks who preceded me, Bill Guthe, Naoji Moriuchi, and Nick Smith, left me a legacy of competent and empathetic leadership. Finally, Ruth Chen and Steve Zakroff provided me as Clerk with the kind of support leaders dream of, especially during this last ZOOMcentric year.

Second, moral clarity: Moorestown Friends School lives its mission. As a result, people like me are more than willing to spend our time and energy espousing and supporting that mission. I have worked on three strategic plans, each a reflection of the time when it was written but each dedicated to enhancing and extending the school’s commitment to educating the whole child/student. That commitment means that students’ experience at MFS is full of in-depth learning, service to others, and meaningful engagement with what it means, in Socrates’ words, to live “an examined life.” Our newest strategic plan focuses on three areas: environmental stewardship, global connections, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. These strategic directions exemplify how deeply the school takes its responsibility to make visible Quaker principles and beliefs and to put those values and beliefs into action. I am leaving this role in the competent hands of Ivy Brown, whose connections to MFS precede mine. Ivy, who is the first non-Quaker clerk of the School Committee, is an example of the universality of Quakerism. (In 2011, the School Committee amended its bylaws to provide that either the Clerk or the Assistant Clerk must be a member of the Religious Society of Friends; previously the Clerk was required to be a Quaker.) You don’t have to be a member of the Society of Friends to resonate with the foundational Quaker premises of the Inner Light and continuing revelation. Available to all who are open to them, these principles teach us that every person can seek guidance within and can be open to new ideas and leadings. Ivy will ensure that MFS remains dedicated to its Quaker roots.

I am grateful to this wonderful community and look forward to my continuing involvement on the School Committee.

Barbara Rose Caldwell

Alumni News