That’s a reasonable question we get often in the spring at NPES, as most of us grew up believing (correctly) that a school community is comprised of students, teachers, parents, administrators, and other essential staff members who partner to empower children to develop to their full potential intellectually and social-emotionally over the course of of a ten-month school year. As there is no student programming at the school through July and most of August (Shark Week, excepted), the question reflects a genuine curiosity about our staff and operations. 

Back in “The Day”

There was a time in the late 1900s (I’ve come to embrace that Gen Alpha phrase, “the late 1900s,” which makes me feel like I have achieved some sort of history-book status) that independent schools locked their doors sometime in June and returned to work in mid-August to finalize preparation for the year ahead. When I was teaching at The Harvard School in Kenwood in 1992, on the afternoon summer school concluded, faculty and staff walked the building together, turning off every light, pulling the shades down, unplugging pencil sharpeners, overhead projectors and televisions, securing every door, and ending at the front door to the school where the principal, Susan, was waiting. As we stood on the porch watching her literally padlock the front doors, Susan said, “Thanks everybody! Have a great summer. We’ll see you in six weeks.” And this was a time when even those with desktop computers and at-home Internet seldom had online access to what they needed to work, and the iPhone was still fifteen years away from its first release. Everyone just stopped working. For six weeks.

The Evolution of Independent Schools

But early in the 21st Century, independent schools evolved into more complex, responsive, robust, and professional twelve-month operations, fueled perhaps by the evolving needs of society, with unprecedented access to information and communication made possible by the Internet and wireless technology; major shifts in demographics (greater diversity, multiculturalism, and migration, with a widening economic gap beginning to divide Americans; a growing mistrust of government, media, faith-based organizations, and corporations, institutions that previously were relied upon to provide sense, stability, and predictability; deep concerns about fairness, equity, and social justice; and a suddenly-global world that seemed to be in a constant state of change and acceleration. Today’s thriving independent schools, like NPES, developed into stronger and more impactful educational institutions by considering how their mission and values could be useful to students and their families within this new societal context, and as a result, ceasing operations for a few months every summer was no longer viable, let alone helpful to their pursuit of their mission and purpose. 

The Unique Independent School Commitment to Meaningful Summer Work

I believe that this year-round commitment–and the aspirations to be impactful in the lives of children and their families it represents–continues today as a point of difference between independe

nt schools like NPES and other school options, public and private. Our year-round commitment to strengthening our programs and operations and responsiveness to the changing needs of students results in more thoughtful, meaningful, inclusive, and useful learning experiences for our students, one year after the next, until matriculation. The significant investment of time and bandwidth in planning for a new school year pays off at NPES in that it results in a process of continual and intentional self-assessment and improvement, reflecting a culture of reflection, responsiveness to emergent needs, mission-aligned nimbleness and change, and an expansion of learning opportunities for all children. Do we take breaks? Absolutely. Breaks are not only human, healthy, and restorative, they are critical to bringing our best selves to the important work we do. But the quality of a school year depends largely on the quality of our purposeful preparation, and that requires us to work together with an understanding of our interdependence, awareness of this global, unpredictable, and fluid world, and the best interests of our students top-of-mind twelve months a year.

So What Do We Actually Do?

All of this begs the question, though: What do we actually do over the summer? This year, after graduation for the Class of 2025 on June 3, the last day of school on June 4, and our final faculty/staff meetings of the year (concluding on Friday, June 6), Summer’s Cool opened the following Monday, and we enjoyed three wonderful weeks of camp–with record enrollment!-wrapping up on Friday, June 30. During and since Summer’s Cool, and continuing through the resumption of school on Tuesday, August 26, our faculty and staff enjoy a slower pace and vital restorative time away with family and friends., but as noted above, the summer weeks at NPES are rich in professional growth, collaboration, assessment, and preparation for a new school year.

1,000 Hours: Curriculum, Program Assessment, Evaluation & Professional Growth

This summer (and every summer) our faculty and staff engage in curriculum review, curriculum writing, training, and program development, as well as in educational workshops, conferences, and networking with NPES 

colleagues and those from other independent schools. All NPES employees reflect on their individual accomplishments and growth goals based on the evaluations completed last school year, and conduct and consider program assessments, upcoming strategic plan implementation priorities, and how they can help onboard new colleagues. Assistant Head of School Emily Friend, who manages professional development and works closely with all faculty on curriculum writing, evaluation, and pedagogy, reports that our faculty, managers, administrators, and other staff devote over 1,000 hours to this type of work every summer. And for those colleagues who are not eleven or twelve-month employees of the school (including our teachers and associate teachers), NPES compensates all for this summer work through tuition and charitable giving because we believe, first, that compensation for all work is just, and second, because we view their remarkable dedication to impactful summer work as essential for our students. When folks consider what makes up NPES’ so-called secret sauce, this collective commitment on the part of our faculty, staff, and administration to meaningful work every summer is an elemental but often overlooked ingredient. And it truly is a distinguishing feature of independent schools, this additional 1,000-hour investment in the student experience every school year.

Here’s a sampling (by no means all-inclusive) of the curriculum and professional development work taking place this summer:

• Our design-thinking faculty have completed the internationally-recognized Design Thinking Institute at The Nueva School in San Mateo, CA, a program offered in partnership with Stanford University’s dSchool 
• Development of new Primary and Third Grade Spanish units that utilize dynamic resources to strengthen language learning while also integrating social justice and DEIB themes into the curriculum
• Mapping 1st Grade Collaborative Classroom reading and writing units to better identify areas for effective and meaningful curricular integration
• Our grades four through eight math teachers completed a day-long planning session at NPES with noted expert on learning, the brain, and mathematics Rebecca Hendrickson
• Two admin colleagues were the first NPES staff members to attend the National Small Schools Conference in Philadelphia, PA, learning about distributive leadership, centering intrinsic motivation, the authenticity and positivity present in small schools, and what makes small-school leadership unique, rewarding, and challenging
• Update and document a shared list of social-emotional and school readiness goals for Preschool and Junior Kindergarten, consolidating the latest research and best practices in the same document to guide and integrate skill-development across the two classrooms that make up our Early Childhood program
• Design and publish consistent graphic organizers for use in Intermediate School to help strengthen student writing across the curriculum in 3rd through 5th grades
• Middle School faculty are working on customizing Language Arts slides and units from the new curriculum to align with NPES student needs; studying and ultimately selecting updated and more rigorous and engaging Science curricula; additional training in College Prep Mathematics (CPM) in preparation for the new 7th & 8th Grade math program; updating and documenting goals for Advisory and developing a school-year calendar for Advisory sessions next year
• Re-organizing the units and lesson sequencing in 2nd Grade Social Studies and Science to better align with the class’ literacy curriculum and service learning work
• All teachers evaluated formally this year (a two-year cycle) received their evaluation reports for reflection and conversation (and planning for next school year), and as Head of School I met 1:1 with all administrators to discuss their accomplishments and areas for growth (and review their survey data from colleagues). In addition, I complete my annual self-evaluation for the Board of Trustees early summer and later receive an evaluation report from the Executive Committee that includes input from all trustees before meeting with members of the EC to discuss my own strengths and areas for growth.
• We are busy planning for the final year of strategic plan implementation (2025-26), including launching our new choral, design-thinking, middle school math, service learning, SEED, and SRT programs, as well completing the process of identifying and publishing NPES’ Signature Experiences and more clearly defining the purpose of reporting and parent-teacher conferences

Capital Improvements and Maintenance

The summer is also when we engage in annual campus maintenance and capital improvements to our facilities, this year including new flooring, blinds, and tables in designated primary classrooms; an updated entryway to the main building (for security but also for functionality); the installation of a small bathroom in the main office to provide children who are feeling ill with ready access to a toilet and sink; the installation of a window (for safety, fresh air, and natural light) in the middle school science lab; the installation of additional early childhood play features on the playlot; and final preparation of the annex to serve as a new drama/choral classroom across all grade levels this fall (north end of the building) and a day-time conference room for faculty/staff and board room in the evening (the space on the south end, adjacent to our business and development offices). We’re also evaluating and re-organizing storage in the garage, and (as always) will devote about a week in mid-August to deep cleaning the campus before classes resume.

Is There More?

Well…yes. There are a number of additional critical responsibilities to be fulfilled annually during the summer that help keep an independent school like NPES healthy, effective in carrying out its mission, and ready for another successful year. A few of the responsibilities carried out by faculty, managers, administrators, and other colleagues each summer include:

• Updating all handbooks, schedules, and policies based on an internal needs-assessment, new laws in effect applicable to all schools in Illinois, and changes by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (our accrediting agency) or the Illinois State Board of Education in standards or requirements

• As our fiscal year ends on June 30, there is considerable Business Office work setting up payroll, benefits, and other human resource-related systems in the summer, as well as significant accounting work to be done to close the books on the just-ended fiscal year in order to report to the Board in July and August (and our independent auditor in August, too)...as well as work necessary to bill tuition for the school year ahead and maintain accounts payable as ordering ramps up for another year
• Shark Week 2025, the first full-week of August!
• Partnering with families and Chicago Public Schools on any 504 plans or IEPs
• Completing any remaining hiring for the year ahead (this year, a part-time Early Childhood Aide)
• Publishing the spring-summer edition of Currents, NPES’ educational journal
• Admissions, marketing, and financial aid are now year-round, rolling operations in most independent schools (including at NPES), and in development, planning for the campaigns ahead and for the myriad of events that also generate community and belonging at our school–as well as for our annual report and expressions of gratitude for all of the wonderful support we receive–require a great deal of attention right through July and August 
• Our annual leadership team retreat, including NPES' year-round managers and administrators, exploring leadership practices and interdependence in our community
• Onboarding, orienting, and welcoming our new colleagues in August
• Preparing the back-to-school communication packet for families, with required forms and final details for start-up
• Setting the agenda for opening faculty/staff meetings that begin one week before classes resume
• Finalizing plans for fall and early winter school events for students and families
• Finalizing the daily class schedule for all grade levels and areas school-wide
• Finalizing the detailed internal daily school calendar for the year ahead 
• Final check on all classrooms for the needed number of desks and supplies, as well as the ordering and distribution school-wide of all curriculum materials and school supplies

The Value of Small Spaces

None of this is to suggest that our employees do not slow down in the summer, nor recharge. We do. Eleven and twelve-month employees gain some flexibility in terms of where they work in July and early August, too (i.e. from home if their responsibilities allow it, or even while away, under certain circumstances). And we tend to work shorter hours most days in July, and many take paid time off then, or in August just before school starts. But what we accomplish as a staff from late June through late August at NPES is something I am incredibly proud of and grateful for. As I get a first-hand look at most of it, year after year, and witness just how committed, motivated, and talented our administrators, managers, teachers, and staff are…and how deeply they care about the well-being and success of every student, family, and one another…it reminds me of something this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, Ava Schlossberg, 2016, told me before she spoke at graduation:

NPES taught me the value of small spaces, how something special, something really unique, can be found anywhere people genuinely know and care about one another. 

So what do we do over the summer? 

We do that. More of that.