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Library

Margaret Funkhouser

Location:

Natick, Massachusetts

Recorded by

Annelise Finney

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Summary:

This interview was conducted with Margaret Funkhouser on February 9, 2022 via Zoom while she was in her home in Natick, Massachusetts and the interviewer was in her own home in Oakland, California. Margaret is the Director of Writing, Film & Media Arts at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, a private high school for the arts. In this interview, Margaret talks about the recent changes at her school. In particular, she talks about leading the school's first ever "January Term," a three-week period in January, where students left their normal schedules to work collaboratively on group project around the theme of arts and activism. Margaret describes the school as being in a period of lots of newness and talks about how students and facility are responding to changes in programing like the January term. She reflects on the increased mental health challenges of students and a persistent feeling among students and faculty that they are not being seen or heard by the school administration, despite the administrations best efforts to respond. Towards the close of the interview she discusses the challenges of being a teacher where her son now goes to school.

Themes:
Leadership
,
Problem solving
,
Isolation
,
Politics
,
Mental health
,
Interviewer Bio:

Annelise Finney is a European American cis-woman, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently works as a radio journalist covering reparations in California and breaking news in the Bay Area. Previously she worked as defense investigator for public defenders offices in New York City and San Francisco. She is an alum of the 2016 Oral History Summer School. She is also an avid sewist, hiker and cook. 

Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
Audio quality:
Medium

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