Why Closed Weekends?

This evening I received an email from my cadet's RFO... I thought it was extremely well written and very suscinctly explained the importance of closed weekends.   With his permission I am sending his letter to all of you in a hope to better understand and be supportive of closed weekends.  Please let me know if you have questions by emailing me at parentsclub@sjnma.org.
Deborah Flaherty
President
SJNMA Parents Club

Dear Parent and Guardians, 

This email is to provide information regarding the upcoming "Closed Weekends" (1-2 Mar, 8-9 Mar, 15-16 Mar).  I've had several parents email and call asking if their son would be able to take Weekend Leave on any or all of these weekends.  I felt it was necessary to clarify our position on these weekends.

Per the SJNMA Parent's Handbook regarding the Leave Policies, "in our experience, the best results occur when we have cooperation among the cadet, parents, and the Academy."  Both the Academy Administration and I realize that parents and family members value the chance to spend time with their sons.  We are fully supportive of this and make every effort to maximize the amount of time that you are able to spend as a family during the school year.  In fact, with the Commandant's permission and trust in my judgment, I do everything possible to allow cadets to go beyond the authorized "seven" weekend leaves per school year.  Your son's behavior or failure to follow rules is the only thing that will ever effect his ability to take leave while under my care.  However, just as much as the Academy and I try to provide as much opportunity for you to spend quality time with your son, we ask that you understand and support the Closed Weekends when we ask that your son remain on campus.

As stated in the SJNMA Parent's Handbook, "throughout the year, certain weekends have been designated as Closed Weekends for organizational purposes."  These organizational purposes encompass many things to include:  cadet training, Corps organizational activities, team building, and other mandatory Corps events.  We strongly feel that your son will not only gain useful knowledge and a sense of teamwork from his time here on these Closed Weekends, but he will also gain a better understanding of responsibility and accountability.  That being said, the Resident Life Staff here at SJNMA will always examine the objectives and overall goals that we are trying to achieve as each Closed Weekend approaches.  On rare occasions, the Commandant, with the President Albert's approval, will grant the RFOs the ability to release cadets on a few Closed Weekends.  However, we will make this known to your sons only when it is feasible and right to do so.  We will never "keep a secret" of any weekend that is being opened to leave, but we ask that you trust us to pass it on at the appropriate.

As it stands now, the next 3 weekends will be Closed as has been indicated on the SJNMA School Calendar that was published prior to the start of the school year.  These 3 weekends will have events that require the participation of your son or have events in which he can build camaraderie with his fellow cadets.  They include:  a Parents Club sponsored team building event and dinner on Saturday March 1st, the Mid-Winter Ball on March 8th and the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Chicago on March 15th.

Please understand that even though your cadet may not be planning on "attending" the Mid-Winter Ball, we still need the entire Corps to participate in order to have the event be successful.  There are many jobs, tasks, and duties that will require cadets to step up and responsibly work as a complete Corps.  As previously stated, this is an event that will help build a sense of team cooperation and teach responsibility.

I sincerely appreciate your cooperation and understanding when it comes to the execution of these Closed Weekends.  As I've said before, I will always make every effort possible to allow for you to spend as much time as possible with your son.  I truly understand how it can be difficult to be apart from him during his boarding school experience, but I ask that you realize that he will gain so much more from the experience if you support our efforts and plans.