We wish to address the Concerned Sewickley Parents who authored the petition advertisement on page 7 in the Sewickley Herald’s March 31 edition.

In your petition, you demand that several actions be taken by Sewickley Academy’s Board of Trustees and Head of School. We studied your demands. In doing so, we recognize the passion and beliefs driving your insistence that the school make these radical changes. Our overriding reaction, however, is to urge you to reconsider.

Consider first: Sewickley Academy has a long and successful record of preparing youth to contribute not only to Sewickley, but to the larger community. We have witnessed so much of this over the years, beginning with our four children who completed 43 student-years at the academy – all flourished thereafter, each in their own way. We point this out not to boast, but to give considerable credit to the faculty and administration of Sewickley Academy. Their education model works.

Secondly, please consider the credibility of your demands. Whether we agree or disagree is not the point. Rather, we are unaware of any private school successfully launching such a dramatic change in its educational focus. To turn the academy upside down without drawing from a comparable school’s practices will, in our view, risk undercutting your children’s education while gaining little in return.

For these reasons, pause to consider your demands.

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Bud and Carolyn Smith

Sewickley

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