November News

As of November 5, 2009, Karl Welsh has stepped down as head of Oak Lane Day School after serving the school community in this capacity since July 1999. A hallmark of Karl's tenure has been his care of the physical plant, with significant improvements in the Perch Hankin Building and the Barn, and with special care of the grounds.

Karl led the Tribute Campaign that raised funds to build our beautiful Cutler Gymnasium. Under his leadership, the academic program was strengthened: the Learning Skills program was added, progress reports were standardized, and teachers implemented Reading and Writing Workshops and the Everyday Math program. The decision to close the school at the end of this year has been difficult for all of us, none more so than Karl and his wife Karen Cavallo, who have given enormous time and effort to make Oak Lane the very special place it is. Karl and Karen will continue to be part of the Oak Lane community as parents.

Martha Platt will serve as Head of School for the remainder of the 2009-10 school year. Martha is a member of Oak Lane's Board of Trustees and, for the past twelve years, has been both a part of the faculty and the Director of Oak Lane's summer camp program.

Besides providing a full academic year for our students, we are working hard at the appropriate placement on behalf of our students as they seek to continue their journey of learning following this school year.

Oak Lane In Its Final Year

The Board of Trustees recently made the decision to close the school at the end of June 2010. The past several years of declining enrollment and the current economic climate forced the school to sell the land on which it stands in the spring of 2009. In the months that followed, Board members, faculty and staff worked diligently to secure a new location and explore the possibility of Oak Lane continuing elsewhere. When it became clear that this was not financially feasible, the Board determined that it was in the best interest of the school to cease operations.

Founded in 1916 in Cheltenham Township, Oak Lane Country Day School, as it was then known, was rooted in progressive education and became one of six schools in the country used by the U.S. State Department as a model school for visiting dignitaries. Until 1960, Oak Lane was connected with Temple University as a lab and demonstration school. After that connection ended, the school ultimately moved to its current location in Whitpain Township.

The hallmark of an Oak Lane education has always been a focus on the preservation of childhood and an emphasis on “learning how to learn.” Graduates of Oak Lane leave the school as strong independent learners who have gone on to excel in the fields of arts and entertainment, sciences, entrepreneurship, literature and writing, athletics, social concerns and other endeavors.

While it has been frequently said that Oak Lane’s existence at the corner of Butler and Stenton Avenues in Blue Bell was a “well-kept secret,” the many families who experienced an Oak Lane education made no secret of their love for the school. The graduation speeches of outgoing students resonate with appreciation for the beautiful campus, the arts program and the many opportunities for performance across all the grades. Sixth graders talk passionately about the benefits of being “sons and daughters” of Oak Lane, of being known and appreciated by all faculty members. Also referenced are beloved traditions like the Woodland Walk, catching frogs, sledding on the meadow, tractor rides, the all-school theme of Winterlude, drama club, community service with “buddy” classes and learning to play recorder. A rich and recurring motif in the speeches is the students’ sense of themselves as valued members of a diverse community, who leave the school knowing that their voices have been heard.

In one sense, every current student at the school will graduate in June 2010. Between now and then, the children will continue to mine the deep vein of an Oak Lane education and experience the community’s respect for childhood. The mood will be celebratory and the broader Oak Lane community, past and present, will be invited to join in the gatherings planned for this year.

On Being an Oak Lane Parent and Teacher

My first experience of Oak Lane was as a parent, when my son Jhamir entered Allen Garner's class last year as a third grader. For the first time, Jhamir actually loved going to school.

He couldn't wait to get there each morning and was crestfallen every afternoon when we collected him at the extended day program. One typically imagines a child's first year at a new school as a source of parental anxiety, but for us the only negative emotion we might have had in thinking of Jhamir at Oak Lane during the day was envy.

What a pleasure it was to bring him each day to a place that looks more like an inviting park than a school, and to know that the fields and the pond would be part of his classroom, as well as places for tag and hide-and-go-seek. Soon, our living room was transformed into a gallery of monumental sculptures from Mr. Mednick's amazing art classes, and our house filled with songs learned from Marlis. Jhamir brought home math games, told us about the Battle of Germantown, and pointed out the trees and birds in our neighborhood he had learned about with Dottie. Jhamir also began asking thoughtful questions about everything, his curiosity and imagination having been sparked by an approach to teaching that values wonder.

The Oak Lane staff quickly won our complete trust. It was evident that they had taken the time to really understand our son, and because of this, their expectations for him as a student and as a classmate truly fit him. We've actually learned quite a bit about him ourselves from these caring and perceptive teachers.

From my first visits to Oak Lane, when my son was a prospective student, I thought it would be a great place to be a teacher. So I felt very lucky when I joined the Oak Lane staff this year as the kindergarten teacher. With every passing week, my respect grows for the experience, intelligence, commitment, and hard work that goes into creating this remarkable learning environment.

In the pre-primary division, Fairlight and Judy are relentless advocates for young children. At times I am awed by their knowledge of young children and their mastery of every aspect of working with this age group. Everything that takes place in their rooms has such an impressive clarity and coherence of intention.

This coherence and clarity of educational approach is evident in everything taking place at the school. In other parts of the building, I see the teachers in the primary and intermediate divisions discussing curriculum, visiting one another's rooms, planning activities together, and evaluating each other's work. The specials teachers routinely ask me about my curriculum and plan learning experiences to complement and extend what we are doing in the kindergarten classroom. In staff meeting, teachers think as a group about children and about our mission as a school.

I feel very fortunate to work at Oak Lane and that my son attends a school that cares so deeply for its children.

-- Rochelle Krauss, Kindergarten --

A Hands-On Lesson Using An Alternative Energy Source

IMAGINE THIS - powering your hair dryer or radio while riding a bicycle! Farfetched? Not really, as the 4th-6th grade students at Oak Lane Day School recently discovered in science class. As explained by science teacher Dottie Baumgarten, "the science curriculum this fall, which is focusing on sustainability, is geared towards having the students choose something that impacts their environment in a positive way."

Mrs. Baumgarten is using material from Earth Force, an organization that supports teachers as they teach children about the environment, and it involves a stepwise progression through the curriculum. The students began by inventorying the environmental topics that are currently impacting the community, such as tree planting, composting, native plants, reducing trash, recycling, etc., and they learned about each issue by surveying teachers, staff and students within Oak Lane Day School, as well as interviewing experts in the larger community, such as Susan Curry, who is head of the Environmental Advisory Committee of Ambler, and works with Pennypack Farm. She also helped set up Oak Lane's sustainable garden. Through this process, the Oak Lane students ultimately chose energy as the topic on which to focus.

The students' initial investigations taught them that the way we traditionally use energy hurts our environment, and that using alternative sources of energy is more earth friendly and responsible. To help demonstrate to her students how energy can be produced without any negative byproducts, Mrs. Baumgarten brought a generator into the science class, in which the energy of motion was turned into electricity. The design was a frame that held a bicycle, with the bicycle wheel connected to a generator which in turn was hooked up by wires to a board. On the board were three incandescent light bulbs and three fluorescent light bulbs controlled by an on/off switch. In addition, a hairdryer, fan and radio could also be plugged in and powered from the board. The 4th, 5th and 6th grade students learned several things from their interactions with the bicycle/generator. First, they discovered that they were actually making electricity that could be used to run a hairdryer or power electric lights. They also determined that fluorescent bulbs require less energy than incandescent bulbs. Mrs. Baumgarten led them to this conclusion by turning on the fluorescent bulbs one by one, until all three were lit, while a student pedaled the bicycle. Then she turned the three lights off and immediately turned on all three incandescent light bulbs, at which time the biker felt as if he or she had suddenly hit a wall! Finally, the students compared the energy requirements of the fan versus the hairdryer, which got them thinking about energy usage in their own lives, and ways they could help conserve energy, such as towel drying their hair, or using fans in the summer instead of air conditioners when feasible. They also wanted to know if the school used florescent lights, so they went to Oak Lane Head of School, Karl Welsh, who informed them that most of the school's lights were fluorescent and any that weren't, were replaced as they burned out.

This activity, in which the children learn through experimentation and investigation, question, form theories, and come to conclusions that result in new understanding, is the cornerstone of the way teaching and learning occurs at Oak Lane Day School. As is our philosophy, "children see relevance in their learning, develop a deeper sense of understanding, and truly possess their own knowledge." In addition, as stated by science teacher Dottie Baumgarten, "The exciting thing is that the bicycle/generator and the Earth Force curriculum is not standing alone, but is part of a larger, community wide sustainability effort." Here at Oak Lane, we all, from the youngest to the oldest, have endorsed and embraced this effort as a way of life, and are each doing our part, large or small, to help be responsible stewards of our environment.