Every Tuesday, when students enter the dining hall, they can see Mr. Hirschfeld sitting at one of the tables on the light side. Since Mr. Hirschfeld has become the Head of School, he has offered Open Table: a chance for students to have lunch with Mr. Hirschfeld and share their thoughts with him. “The original purpose of Open Table is just to give students access to me and for me to get to know them better,” Mr. Hirschfeld explained. “It has been really successful, and I can count on Tuesday lunch as being a highlight of my week.”
Open Table is a great opportunity for Mr. Hirschfeld to understand student lives at Kent and what everyone is experiencing in school. “I learned hundreds of things about individual students through the Open Table, and it is definitely an easy way to capture information about each of them,” Mr. Hirschfeld said. Last year, Mr. Hirschfeld gathered a lot of valuable feedback from students on the schedule, the intersection of schedule and academic pressure, and a bunch of random things such as the condition of the Field Dorm. As a result, Mr. Hirschfeld found that lots of feedback matched with the school plan of changing the schedule and renovating the Field Dorm. “It’s been fun for me to know students in this environment and these conversations with them greatly influenced decisions around the school,” Mr. Hirschfeld said. Every Tuesday, there is a core group of students coming to his table and spend their lunch blocks with him. He said proudly: “I’ve never, even on a slow day, not had students coming.”
However, there are times when Open Table hasn’t been that popular, and Mr. Hirschfeld totally understands the reason behind it: lunch is one of the times when students have free time to hang out with each other, and having even only a part of lunchtime with the Head of School may not be a fun idea. Sometimes Mr. Hirschfeld has to sit alone, awkwardly. “But these periods are short, and I have a pretty high tolerance for alone time,” Mr. Hirschfeld said. “I know some kids join open tables because they feel sorry for me, but I am also sure that if kids have an issue or things they want to talk about, they will come find me.” Right now, Mr. Hirschfeld believes an open table once per week is the perfect frequency, but he is totally open to having another opportunity if necessary.
Finally, Mr. Hirschfeld encouraged students to come to his open table by pointing out that students don’t have to stay for the entire time. “It’s fine for kids to stay for only five minutes and leave. If they have anything on their minds, no matter positive or negative, and they want me to know about, they should come,” Mr. Hirschfeld stated. “If they have something personal to share with me, they can come to my office. Kids are always welcomed, and my door is always open.”A
