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SLS & Hotchkiss Co-Host 2025 Open Discourse Conference for Educators
SLS (St. Luke’s School) and The Hotchkiss School held the third annual Open Discourse Conference, a three-day gathering for independent school leaders and teachers eager to navigate challenging conversations in classrooms and communities.
Held on the Hotchkiss campus in June and co-designed by SLS Assistant Head of School for Academics Liz Perry, the conference combined research-based frameworks, hands-on practice, and school-based planning time to help educators foster respectful, inclusive discourse on complex issues.
Dr. Judy Pace, author of Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues, opened the conference with a framework for “contained risk-taking” in teaching. Participants then worked through Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) exercises—research-based protocols that allow students to explore unsettled questions from multiple perspectives.
On the second day, Dr. Kelley Nicholson-Flynn—a scientist and Head of School at Princeton Day School—led participants through an exploration of bioethics as an interdisciplinary field. Her session focused both on how to teach the use of scientific evidence in discourse and how to distinguish between open and settled empirical and policy questions.
By the final morning, each school team presented an implementation plan—practical next steps to introduce or elevate open discourse strategies at their schools.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 40 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Leading with Humanity curriculum builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
