International educator, David Gray from Lebanon, will present a zoom talk at 9:45 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 23 to the Newtown Friends Meeting adult class on “Quaker Education in Lebanon: a Legacy 150-year Brummana High School and Its Vision for the Future.”
During his U.S. Speaking Tour, David Gray, Principal of Brummana High School, will share “a story of hope, of poverty which can be avoided, of dignity which can be conferred, of democratic processes which can be taught.”
It is a story of a school, the only Quaker institution in Lebanon, standing strong like its 250 year old mother tree in all weathers, oblivious to the turmoil swirling around it. It is a story of a land with a conflict-torn past, a calamitous and uncertain present, and the possibility of a more prosperous, peaceful, happier future. It is a story of Lebanon, the land of the cedars, and at its center, a lone Quaker institution “which must survive as a shining light in the darkness.”
Principal Gray is inviting all he meets to be in relationship with the school and to consider how they might help support the students and faculty during the unfolding economic crisis in Lebanon.
Born in Inverness, Scotland, David Gray graduated from the University of Bristol, continued his career in Education in Athens, Greece, became Headmaster of Pocklington School in Yorkshire, England, and then became Principal of the Erskine Stewart’s Melville Schools (ESMS) in Edinburgh (the largest group of independent schools in the European Union) from 2000 until 2018.
Gray became Principal of Brummana High School in Lebanon in January 2019 and led it for nearly 4 years through the worst economic crisis Lebanon has endured in living memory. He is a member of The Society of Heads. With 30 years of experience as Headmaster and Principal of leading independent schools in the UK, David Gray is an international educational leader who has developed a deep awareness of what constitutes first class education. He has a reputation of instilling high standards throughout a school and inspiring the ambitions of the next generation of leaders and managers.
Newtown Friends Meeting co-founded by “Peaceable Kingdom” painter and Quaker minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, is open to all who wish to attend. Regular First Day Education classes (Sunday School) for all ages begin at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship begins at 11 a.m. Childcare is available.