New Church Life September/October 2015 | Page 90

new church life: september/october 2015 integration in all facets of our operations. She will be working closely with teachers and students to improve our technology engagement. After a great deal of research and consideration, Calebe Nobre was contracted to handle the majority of the network restructuring and hardware switchover. He has been dedicated, responsive, professional and a pleasure to work with. For the last five years a group of women – including current and retired Girls School faculty, plus ministers – have been meeting regularly to discuss how we can make the book Conjugial Love more relevant and meaningful to our girls. We realize many girls come to our school with baggage, and we want them to know that the Lord is there for them regardless of their past, and that they can live lives as valuable contributing members of society in spite of past issues. It has been an enormous undertaking. We have not only read Conjugial Love, but also various secular works by New Church women and several MARS theses, and there is more to do. We met with the General Church Board Education Committee in September to bring them up to speed on our very relevant and important work. This year the Boys School faculty is reading the Rev. Prescott Rogers’ new book, The Triune Word, and reviewing it during faculty meetings. The Academy Secondary Schools honor the unique and complementary nature of the sexes. For the past several years we have enjoyed our relationship with the Gurian Institute, which supports the concept that boys and girls are distinctly different and therefore have different needs as learners. In late August, we welcomed Michael Gurian back to our campus for his second visit. We have made great efforts to be a more effectively inclusive environment. Mr. Gurian gave a talk to teachers and guests about gender learning differences as they apply to students with educational challenges. Last year we invited John Halligan to visit the school and address parents and students in two separate programs about bullying. This year the school will be working closely with the Growth Opportunity Center to roll out a “valuesbased anti-bullying campaign” that we hope will have a positive impact on the student body. During the process the faculties will be articulating a vision of what character traits they want to support in the development of their students. This program will be implemented with our student body and parents through workshops, parent education and developing a parent-school partnership for protecting students from bullying. As we head into the new year, we thank you for your continued support and warmly encourage you to stay connected, get involved, and join us for our many popular events. Please visit our website (www.ancss.org) for news stories 522