Welcome to Common Ground Speaks. A collaborative consortium of parent associations from independent schools across Central and Northern New Jersey, we have spent more than two decades bringing respected national and local voices together to explore the most pressing issues in parenting, child development, and education. Through our speaker series and community engagement, we foster thoughtful dialogue and strengthen connections among families and educators. Join us as we learn, connect, and grow together.

UPCOMING SPEAKER SERIES EVENTS

Fall 2026

Max Stossel at The Wardlaw + Hartridge School

DATE: November 10, 2026

TIME: 6pm Reception, 7pm Presentation & Discussion

Max Stossel from Social Awakening will illustrate some of the specific ways technology is designed to be addictive & distracting, highlight how that’s impacting our kids’ minds, and give recommendations on how to address some of the challenges you and your family are facing. This presentation concludes with open space to discuss what’s working and not working in our households.

Max Stossel is an award-winning artist, and the founder of Social Awakening: an organization dedicated to helping young people survive and thrive in the modern world.

Before working in this field, Max was a media strategist with an extensive background in social media. He ran social media for big brands, and later worked for a social media company.

He has spent the past 10 years speaking with over a million students, parents, and educators around the world about social media's impact on our lives, and creating resources to help manage that impact.

Spring 2027

Dr. Sarah Bennison at Montclair Kimberley Academy

Dr. Sarah Bennison has spent three decades in classrooms, on campuses, and inside the institutions that shape them — as a teacher, a leader, and a builder of programs that ask more of schools than academic performance alone.

Her work sits at the intersection of academic rigor, social impact, purpose, and wellbeing. Across K–12 and higher education, she has led institutional and cultural change, with particular depth in service learning curriculum and programming — work grounded not in theory alone, but in years spent in the classroom and in the rooms where institutional decisions get made.

Dr. Bennison is a faculty member at New York University, where she was nominated for the 2024–2025 Steinhardt Teaching Excellence Award. She speaks and consults with schools and universities across the United States, helping faculty, staff, students, and families become agents of change in their own communities — fostering wellbeing, connection, and shared purpose along the way.

At the center of it all is a simple conviction: that schools are not just places where people prepare for the world, but places where they begin to shape it. Her work is dedicated to helping every school community find purpose and meaning, and to building communities that honor the dignity and humanity of every individual.

Further details and registration links will be announced as events are finalized.