We must constantly examine and reexamine our traditions. When these measures are met, traditions allow us to pass on what we know and what we care about. At Center School we have built our traditions around creating and sustaining a sense of community and meeting the most vital needs of that community. But we must remember that schools are, like all human communities, dynamic organisms. The community whose needs we are meeting doesn't get defined once and tidily stay that way.
Every school is different, but every school can benefit from becoming a community.
The ideas in Familiar Ground might open new avenues to community at your school. The authors express that wish. We invite you to borrow and adapt any that appeal to you, just as we have borrowed and adapted from many sources over our almost twenty years as a school. The specifics don't so much matter. What does matter is the commitment to make time and space for the hard work and great rewards of an all-school community life.