Tim Joseph

2-18-2019
Patrick Green& Susan Haarman
EXPL 291-Section #013

Organizational Action Research Paper

1. Brief History of Chicago Friends School

In 2009, local Quakers in the Edgewater area wanted to have a Quaker school in Chicago,

and made a plan in order to make that happen. They were able to open up in 2010 in a storefront

on Belmont Avenue in a school house that had one room for kids ages 3 to 11. In order to ensure

that there would be enough room for a growing school, the school community decided that it was

time to move to another location that would fit its needs. With a year off on reflecting on the first

year, Chicago Friends School decided to reopen in 2012 on Thorndale Avenue where it currently

resides. There were 6 students making up a K-1 class in 2012. The plan was to grow year by year

until the school was at K-8. At the moment, the school serves K-6 in 4 classrooms with 4

homeroom teachers. There are also 6 part-time special-subject instructors, part-time workers for

before and after school care. There are also several volunteers and parents who also help out.

2. Mission Statement

The core values of the Quaker community are what the school is founded upon. These

core values are peace, equality, simplicity, integrity, community, and service. These values are

reflected in the education of the students that are evolving, supportive, and diverse, which helps

lead in academic and spiritual growth. Peace, both as a community and as an individual, is living

without fear of violence. Everyone can help contribute to peace. Equality looks at how everyone

can find the truth, and everyone deserves a chance to grow. Each person deserves to be heard and

taken into consideration. Simplicity is based on using resources efficiently and not wasting them.

Integrity helps build trusting relationships and finding essential truths. Community is everyone in
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the school showing unity. Service is what demonstrates these values within the school and to the

larger community. All of these values help bring Chicago Friends School closer to the divine,

and help students lead purposeful lives.

3. Vision Statement

The students of Chicago Friends School will have the skills, experiences, and confidence

to make the world a better place when they graduate. Students are part of a diverse group that

supports them to their fullest potential, helps build them as people, and learn how to love

themselves. Students, graduates, and community member will show what it means to live with

the Quaker values when they interact within the community and the world.

4. Strategic Plan of the Organization

The current strategic plan was accepted upon by the full board of staff members, parents

and external stakeholders in the summer of 2018. The plan is expected to be met over the next

three school years (2018/19-2020/21). Responsible growth is the focus of this plan. The program

will still be one of a kind as it is improving the community, resources, and their part in the

community. By growing, the school is able to become more diverse as it is able to reach more

students as it encompasses more of the community. By growing, the school is able to get more

resources in order to house more students, enhance the overall experience, and being more well

known in the community. There are 3 goals that encompass the 7 main areas of growth needed

for the school to succeed. Experience for the students and their families is the first goal. One area

that lies under this goal is building upon the program. Some plans are to add more variety and
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teach more frequently of the arts, science, and foreign-language offerings, hire people who are

specialized to instruct on the arts, language, and science, let there be electives for students to

choose from by 2020-21, help students transition to succeed in high school by using technology

more, having standardized test, and specialized instructors, have more after school programs, and

have unique programs set for each grade. Another area of growth is diversity that reflects that of

the area of Edgewater and the city of Chicago as a whole. The plans that would help achieve this

are forming relationships with diverse community organizations that would help the school how

to care for a more diverse group, a program that would bring in groups of low income students of

color of the same grade into the school, and understanding the community’s internal assumptions

and practices. The last area of growth is facilities which is where the experience happens. Some

things that are planned on being done are having modern and more appealing learning areas,

having classrooms dedicated for certain subjects, improved technology infrastructure for school

operations and learning, and finding a plan that fits the need of a growing school.

The second goal is to increase the school’s financial and human capacity. Some goals for

human capacity are adding an expert support staff in marketing and admissions, improve

volunteer culture and re-organize to maximize time and talent, increase the board to increase the

number of connections and fundraising capacity, and have increased compensation for full-time

staff. In terms of financial capacity, the goal is to create a plan to be debt free by 2020 and start

building reserves by the start of 2021, change tuition that keeps it affordable, but allows for high-

quality programs, work with financial professionals, create a stronger internal culture of

philanthropy, and have a more direct fundraising program.

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2-18-2019
Patrick Green& Susan Haarman
EXPL 291-Section #013

The last goal is visibility and reputation. Visibility is how people who are looking for a

school like Chicago Friends School are able to find them. Some ways that help achieve this are

having a marketing plan that targets students and family engagement, make the Chicago Friends

School’s brand stands and show how it is unique, and build relationships with pre-schools or

schools that could have potential students. Some goals for reputation are to have a higher level of

recognition from the Illinois State Board of Education and gaining accreditation from

Independent Schools Association of the Central States.

5. Population that Chicago Friends School Serve

Being that school is located in the Edgewater area of Chicago that is who Chicago

Friends School serves. According to Edgewater Chamber of Commerce, as of 2017, Edgewater’s

top four racial and ethnic groups are white (60.8% of the community), Hispanic (18.5% of the

community), Asian (14.6% of the community) , and black ( 12.7% of the community).

According to Trulia, about 33% of the population is married, 59% are college educated, and the

median income is around $39,858. Being that the school is rooted in the Quakers values, which

include service and community, Chicago Friends School allows students to connect with the

community that is outside of the school through service projects. In a blog on the school’s

website, Alex Randhava wrote on visiting the Quaker senior community at the Admiral at the

Lake. He wrote about how the students recognized many landmarks on their 40-minute walk to

the community. Also, he wrote about the interactions between students and the elders who talked

about a time when they were growing up. Another blog that Alex Randhava wrote was the trip

that the students took a trip on the red line to the Daley Plaza on International Peace Day to
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advocate and show their support for peace from countries all over the world. Some service

projects include supporting refugee services by working with Heartland Alliance to support

Syrian refugee families, nurturing intergenerational friendships (as mentioned above),

6. Public Policy Areas that Chicago Friends Schools Could Affect

Since the plan of this school is to gain a higher level of recognition on the Illinois State

Board of Education and gain accreditation from Independent Schools Association of the Central

States, Chicago Friends School can affect policy areas in education. Particularly, how does a new

school in this decade is able to grow. Also, how does a private school grow and become more

diverse. Another public policy is social and economic policy due to the fact the school is trying

to be affordable yet get enough funding to evolve, and the school is trying to reflect the

Edgewater’s diversity, which is plans on achieving by bringing in groups of students of color

together of the same age.

7. Organizational Structure of Chicago Friends School

There are 4 classroom teachers. There are 2 classroom teachers for K-2 students, a 3-4

classroom teacher, and a 5-6 classroom teacher. There is also the head of school, also known as

the principle which oversees projects, helps develop curriculum, and takes care of the school as a

whole. There is a marketing and Community Engagement Lead, which helps lead to goal of

visibility and recognition of the school. There is an art, music, Spanish, and yoga instructors,

which are specialize in teaching those fields to students.

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2-18-2019
Patrick Green& Susan Haarman
EXPL 291-Section #013

8. The Roles of Volunteers

Volunteers are Chicago Friends School help out in a variety of ways whether it is

everyday classroom activities, special events, helping out in the community garden, or helping

students out with school work. Some are part of the guiding committee of the school. A

volunteer can be anyone from a family or part of the Edgewater community.

9. Asset-Mapping using ABCD Model

The school said that one family is dealing with homelessness. Chicago Coalition for the

Homeless would be a good organization to look into to find ways to help that family out. They

do not take government funding. They have a been around since 1980, so they should have the

experience to help. One of the main goals of this school is help grow in diversity of the

community. One strategy that was discussed was the idea of bringing in cohorts of colored

students of the same age into the school in order to increase diversity. Another topic that was

brought up was that there was a student struggling with a mental health. Research psychiatry

from the College of Medicine of UIC has a program called, “Community Based Children and

Family Mental Health Services Research Program” that could be able to help. They are all in

with helping those who need help and could be of a great service here. To increase diversity, The

Chicago Community Trust would be a good organization to work with. They look for diversity in

all humans and how to incorporate different people. They have an understanding the city’s

diversity which would be good for the school.

 Tim Joseph
2-18-2019
Patrick Green& Susan Haarman
EXPL 291-Section #013

Bibliography

About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.chicagohomeless.org/about/

Chicago Friends School: 2018-2021 Strategic Plan. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sakai.luc.edu/access/content/group/EXPL_291_01E_6593_1192/CFS

Resources/2018StratPlanWriteUP_web.pdf

Community Based Children and Family Mental Health Services Research Program. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.psych.uic.edu/research/community-based-children-and-family-mental-health-services-research-program

Demographics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.edgewater.org/edgewater/demographics/

Demographics for Edgewater. (n.d.). Truly. Retrieved from https://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Edgewater-Chicago/2903/community-info/

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Randhava, A. (2018, September 18). International Peace Day: The View from Daley Plaza [Web log post]. Retrieved from

http://chicagofriendsschool.org/blog/international-peace-day-the-view-from-daley-plaza/

Randhava, A. (2018, November 1). Visiting the Admiral [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://chicagofriendsschool.org/blog/visiting-the-admiral/

Service and Stewardship. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sakai.luc.edu/access/content/group/EXPL_291_01E_6593_1192/CFS

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Staff. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://chicagofriendsschool.org/about/staff/

Statement of Quaker Values in Education, Chicago Friends School. (2016, September 18). Retrieved from

https://sakai.luc.edu/access/content/group/EXPL_291_01E_6593_1192/CFS Resources/Statement of Quaker Values in Education.pdf

Volunteer. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://chicagofriendsschool.org/get-involved/volunteer/