Ecology: from the Greek oikos, or “house, dwelling places” and logia, or “the study of,” denoting the study of the relationship of living things to their environments. The study of the house of life.

Sabot’s “house of life” includes its newest building, of course, but it also involves the consistent, persistent, nurturing of its other spaces and relationships. The environment that is crucial to our mission is helped by its rooms, designs, and structures, but it is important to remember that

those things are scaffolding for the deeper work, the heart inside, the larger and fuller story of Sabot life.

Of course, Sabot’s ecology depends on more than furniture, functionality, and square footage, though those things matter a great deal. But for Sabot to create the environment that is central to its mission, one that supports co-construction, creativity, collaboration, the giving and receiving of feedback, the willingness to change one’s mind, self-confidence, self-correction, re-direction, it is important to appreciate the aspects of its larger “living house,” even beyond its newest building.

As we shared in January’s Learning Group message, there is always something bigger at stake in a school, something bigger at work than the structures on its campus. And while spaces are portals to learning and living in a community, not every school includes the importance of those spaces in its mission. Sabot should be celebrating its serious attention to the value of its environment, even the spaces that are not new, for they are all pointing us to our mission at work. In fact, those older, familiar spaces are already doing the important work of sustaining the ecological balance of things. They are houses of life already lived in.



To read the entirety of this presentation, as prepared for the Board of Directors, click here.