As the afternoon sunshine filtered through the conference room windows, Head of the Upper School Justin Brandon sat in the Corinthian Council meeting. The monthly gathering is a group of faculty and staff members who come together to talk about what’s happening in the school. As Brandon looked around, he saw teachers and administrators from all across Parker. To his right sat first grade teacher Ms. Greenberg, and across the table English Department Chair and English teacher Mike Mahany leaned back in his chair. They were talking about grade inflation at Parker.

As the discussion went on, Brandon said, “Why don’t we have one of these for students?” Two weeks later, a Google Form popped up in the inboxes of students, faculty, and staff––an application for the new Upper School Council.

“It was modeled after the all school Corinthian Council,” Brandon said when talking about his inspiration. “I was just thinking about the year I had last year and wanting to find another way to connect with students and wanted more students to connect with me.”

In creating this new council, Brandon wanted a forum where students and faculty could share different perspectives on their experience at Parker. “I want this to be our Upper School — not my Upper School,” Brandon said. “This would be a way for students to sit at the table, for more transparency.” Discussion topics will be generated by the sitting members of the council.

To Brandon, one of the goals of the council is to encourage more genuine dialogue. “What’s going well, what can we improve,” Brandon said regarding what the dialogues included. “Once we know those, we can take those issues to the appropriate groups and areas of concern.”

This is the first council at Parker to open up its members to such a wide variety of members. Brandon wanted to be inclusive while choosing the council’s members, an array of teachers, students, staff, administrators. Every member had to apply. “I wanted to find a way to connect with everyone,” Brandon said. “Most of the adults care about what’s happening and what students are experiencing, and this is another way to connect them to all of the student body.”

The diversity of the Upper School Council was inspired by the Corinthian Council. Member and Upper School English Teacher Mike Mahany enjoys hearing from different parts of the school. “There’s a real benefit for having such a diverse group of people there,” Mahany said. “It’s nice to get a more global view of the school.”

The difference between the similar councils is the student representation included in the Upper School Council. Mahany said, “I like the fact that there’s student voice in it.”

An application was sent out on October 10 by Brandon for the Upper School Council. “It will have the opportunity to help shape the culture of the Upper School,” Brandon said about the role of the Council, “by discussing issues affecting the Upper School community.” This mission is a trend in various different facets of the schools.

Similar intramural institutions that have the same promise include: Senate, Student Government, Education Council, Board Meetings, Graderoom, and advisory.

Mahany recognizes the repeated purposes in different committees. “You have a lot of groups doing the same thing,” Mahany said. “It seems like you could take a few of those groups and meld them together, add student involvement and staff, and it wouldn’t be redundant.”

In the same sense, Mahany sees a unique value in the Upper School Council. “Student Government has been a forum where students could raise issues and only some of those issues get to Dr. Frank,” Mahany said. “It seems to me that this committee will provide a direct line to the administration.”

History Teacher and Student Government Faculty Advisor Jeanne Barr was curious about the new Council when she first heard about it. “I felt like we already had this Upper School Council,” Barr said. “It’s called Student Government. I was like, ‘What is this new thing?’”

After learning more about the Council, she’s interested in a relationship between the two entities. “There’s room for both,” Barr said. “They could complement each other very nicely. That’s what I would seek to facilitate.”

Student Government representation will be implemented in the Council. As of now, the Upper School Council will include a sitting member on Cabinet. Their chief purpose would be to serve as a representative of Student Government at the meeting to increase coordination and communication.

Barr sees the potential but also the risk in the Council. “I hope that it helps him and other people in his role gain greater sense of what matters to people,” Barr said regarding Brandon. “But there’s danger in the council too. What if people are inauthentic, tell him, or whomever, what they think he wants to hear, so the whole thing becomes a rubber stamp, an unproductive feedback loop?”

Barr believes the Upper School Council should be a two way street. “It shouldn’t be solely about serving the needs of administration,” she Barr said. “But should also be a place where students can amplify concerns and speak for constituencies with something to say.”

In the future, Barr will keep a watchful eye on the Council. “If it does start to encroach upon Student Government,” Barr said, “then we’ll have to have some serious introspection about how heritage institutions can be respected and revitalized and not replaced.”

The newly announced members of the council are eager to get to work. “I’m want to talk about inclusion in the high school,” said Senior and Upper School Council member Audrey May. “I’m excited to be apart of something that can change the things I want to change.”