Kaitlin Kan ’18: Daily parental involvement in school for most students is limited to dropping off, picking up, and perhaps coming by to drop off a phone left in the car. However, there are a few EA parents who are very involved in the EA community: faculty members.
Photo courtesy of Sammi Ciardi ’15
Despite the myriad of misconceptions about a faculty parent-and-child dynamic, there are many advantages of having a parent as an EA faculty member. Holly Johnston, IV Form Dean, shared her perspective as mother to Betty Johnston ’25. “For me, not being from this area, this is our community. For the Johnston clan, this is it, and we’re really lucky. I love working here, but I also know that ninety-percent of the faculty know the names of my children. That’s valuable to know as a mother…that your kids are part of a community that is invested in them as much as we are invested in here.” Johnston continued “They are totally in awe of mommy’s big kids…I get to take them to plays, to sporting events. They look up to all of you guys [the students], and that’s something that I value more than anything. They get 128 really fantastic role models they get to see in different capacities.”
For Kris Aldridge, Upper School History teacher, “I do feel, as a teacher here, I can help my children sometimes navigate a little bit better. That, from the outside, I have a good understanding of what the expectations are; I have a good sense of how to go about studying, what’s important, what’s not as important, so I think that it might be a little bit of an advantage that I have with the knowledge that I possess.” Her son, Hank Aldridge ‘18, also spoke of the benefits of having his mother as a faculty member. “If I ever need to get into the school on a weekend or late, she’s got the keys, and also, it’s just nice seeing her…around the school day.”
While there are advantages, there are also disadvantages to this particular parent-child dynamic. “I think, more for Hank, that it’s probably harder for him to have his mother here than it is for the mother to have the son,” said Aldridge. She noted, “I think a lot of times the expectation, when people don’t know him, is that he’s going to be just like I am, which of course is silly because he’s a person; I’m a person; we’re different people.” From Hank’s perspective, “One disadvantage that has been there ever since pre-K is that somehow, all of her students know me.”
In a faculty-parent and student relationship, it is evident that family and school life affect each other mutually. Hank Aldridge added, “I think that family bonds make a stronger influence on what I can do, and how well I try to be a member of the EA community, and I think just trying to make her [Kris Aldridge] proud kind of pushes that.” Johnston explained that her girls get to know several friends and families. Mrs. McLauchlan is ‘Bubba Cheryl’ to my girls; she’s like a grandmother to my children.” For Johnston, “I do admittedly love to see them across campus. I don’t stalk them, but it is a treat to get to see them during the day, and I believe so much in this school that I feel lucky that I get to be a part of it.”