Pictured above: Learning Strategist, Chris Keegan, sitting down in Lindsay's 3-4 classroom.
Chris Keegan is FSP’s Learning Strategist. This school year marks Chris’s seventh year at Friends.
She often lends a helping hand at an all-school event, participates in the monthly Racial Justice Accountability Group conversations, or sits down with a family to puzzle through supports that might be needed for a student. Even so, you might not yet have had the pleasure of meeting Chris.
Here’s a little bit more about Chris in her own words.
What it was like to transition to your role at Friends School of Portland?:
It was scary because I was leaving a community that I loved. I had already decided to retire from my administrative position when a teacher told me about the opening at Friends School. The job description for FSP’s Learning Strategist position sounded like just the right fit for me because it included an intentional culture of inquiry and collaboration and the opportunity to support students, families and teachers within a smaller, more intimate setting. I was excited to be part of a community with such a clearly defined culture and a commitment to Quaker values.
When my own kids were in elementary school I took a job as an ed tech at Jack Elementary School on Munjoy Hill and then moved to Reiche Elementary School on the other side of town. At Reiche, I was a special education teacher for Kindergarten - Grade 5. In the public school setting principals turn over on average every five years and we believed that a teacher-led school would be a more stable environment for students and staff. It was an arduous process involving the union, the school department, and the legislature but in 2011, Reiche moved from having a traditional principal to being a teacher-led school and I shifted into a Lead Teacher role.
What is it like to work now at Friends School in your seventh year?:
Honestly? It's awesome! This is a kind, respectful, and intentional community. It’s a safe space whether you are a student, a teacher, or a parent. It’s OK if you don’t have all the answers because there are others willing to help you figure out the puzzle, whatever that puzzle might be.
I appreciate that staff and parents make time to have real conversations with one another and with students. The conversations that take place in classrooms about things that are important to students, from the selection of after school snacks to a friend’s feelings to foxes to Wabanaki history or what’s happening in the Middle East, are astounding. Teachers are very intentional about modeling civil discourse and grounding the classroom culture in the SPICES.
When not at Friends School, what are you up to?
I like to be outside – on the water or in the woods. I love having free time and I like to savor the season. Last summer I took a train trip across Canada, from Toronto to Vancouver, and then down to Los Angeles. I grew up outside of Philadelphia riding the train to and from school and I always wanted to do a longer train trip. I was set on getting to the Vancouver Museum of Anthropology and then finishing at the Zen Center of Los Angeles to visit one of my sisters.