It is fitting that this [the Board of Directors'] retreat, a time, literally, to “draw back” or “call again and call anew,” falls on the near-eve of the anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Children’s Rights. In 1959, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and, in 1989, adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has since been ratified by every country except the United States—a note in itself worthy of reflection and deeper inquiry—making it the single most widely ratified human rights treaty in history*. I’d just like to pause and take that in: ratified by every country (there are currently 193 Member States) except the United States.

While the United States has signed the treaty, signifying its “obligation to refrain, in good faith, from acts that would defeat the object and the purpose of the treaty,” it has not enacted the legislation to ratify it. Our own country has not made a commitment to enact domestic legislation to support the Convention on the Rights of the Child, unlike all of the other 192 countries who are Member States of the UN.

The anniversary and celebration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is of obvious relevance to parents and educators, and to anyone with an interest in human rights, or the future of democracy, or world peace, or global harmony, or equality. But it is of particular relevance to the Sabot family who is, at this very moment, at the threshold of important change—new leadership, a new building, yes, but also a changed country, one more polarized and more violent than ever, one where loneliness, anxiety, disconnect, and depression are tragically pervasive and on the rise, and all against the backdrop of a withering pandemic that turned new attention to the importance of community, to the role and relevance of the educational institution, the future of school as a place of education, the need for reform.

In reflecting on the United States’ position on ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is evident that the path of reform - a school where Respect for the Child” is at the heart of everything we do - is made even more difficult because it is counter-cultural to the American education system and to our nation’s foundation, one built on systemic white supremacy. 

How then, do we forge Sabot’s path forward? There’s no going back, really. 

And there is no better time than now to remember that the whole point of our project here–our human project, our Sabot project, our education revolution–is an ongoing, daily, determined, continual attempt to honor the rights of the child. Period. 

In the spirit of true ‘retreat,’ may World Children’s Day remind us of the responsibilities we each have and the entry we make each day into the life of children and into the larger story of educational purpose. May we remember that our work here is the work of advocacy, promotion and celebration and that, above all else, the time and energy and money we put toward that work should keep as its beacon always that hopeful spark that led us here in the beginning. 

In the words of Steve Seidel, a collaborator with Project Zero and Reggio Schools, in his forward to Lessons from Reggio:

“Some days, I wonder if the path we’re on is leading somewhere, or nowhere…is just difficult and long, or truly impossible. I would probably be far more confused - and despondent - if the Reggio experience didn’t remind me of another possibility.”