September 30, 2010

Dear Families,

We have had another wonderful week, the second full week of classes, believe it or not, and we are hitting the grove of fall.

In student news, Arvid Logan ’12, was just accepted into the prestigious Cooper Union School of Art’s Fall Pre-College Program.   This program, which Arvid applied for with the help of our incredible arts department, is an eight week program for “serious students who intend to pursue an advanced degree in art.”  If accepted to this program, students do not have to pay to participate and are given all materials.  Arvid’s classes include Photography, Drawing and Contemporary Art Issues, which is a writing class.  I can tell you, since seeing Arvid’s progress from ninth grade, this honor comes as no surprise as he is truly a gifted artist, but it is an honor just the same.  We are very proud of his accomplishment!

Next Tuesday, we will welcome ninth grade families to their first potluck event at 6:00 PM in the high school cafeteria.  The potluck will run until 6:45, 7:00, and then we will host a “wellness” portion of the event.  At that time, School Psychologist Andrew Weiss will talk about family transition to high school life, Class Dean Margaret Magee will speak to the transition to high school academic work for students, School Nurse Sue Gower will speak about health and wellness issues that can come up in high school, Life Issues teacher Peggy Peloquin P’11, will be there to speak about the life issues program, and I will be there to talk about school policy and the handbook.  In preparation for this event, I ask that all ninth grade families and all high school families read this letter from Director of School Phil Kassen regarding the school’ policy on drugs and alcohol use by underage students.  Please read this letter with your high school student(s) so that your family can be on the same page as their high school.  If we can be of assistance and support in this matter, do not hesitate to contact me, the school nurse, the school psychologist, your class dean, child’s advisor, or director of school.

For further important information, please refer to the 2010-2011 High School Student Handbook.

Finally, please take a look at the Trimester II signups for 11th and 12th graders.  As you may remember, we did not sign students up past Trimester I because Micah was on paternity leave in the spring.  Signup sheets are due to Micah by next Wednesday, October 6.  If a student is in our academic support program, that student needs to go over the options with a member of the support staff before turning in their sheet.  Trimester II begins December 13, 2010.  See the blog post, “2010-2011 Electives” for course descriptions.

All the best, Ruth

Updates and Announcements:

*Don’t forget to turn in your health forms and trip cards to the school nurse!  We need your child/ren’s forms on file for them to attend school.

*If you have yet to check out “Podium,” our new student information database for class schedules, faculty and staff information, grades and comments and more, please do so by checking out this instructional video.  Please change your password immediately!

*We always have a need for your extra graphing calculators!  If you have a TI-83 or 84 calculator that is not needed, feel free to loan it to the school.  While our students are certainly well-equiped, by December some calculators end up misplaced so we like to keep extras on hand.

*The 2009-2010 Annual Report is hot off the press—and green on the Internet!  Check it out here and keep an eye on your mailbox for the hard copy.  We want to extend a special thanks to everyone who supported LREI this year. Tuition alone doesn’t cover the cost of our unique, progressive program. We count on donations from the entire community. Every single gift helps us grow. Thank you for your generosity!

1.  “Please click here to read about the Parent Associations LREI Exchange.”

2.  From Stacy Dillon, Lower School Librarian and member of the 2012 Newberry Awards Committee- Chances are you don’t think too much about book banning in your everyday lives. Even with the recent press about the burning of religious texts, book banning seems like something out of another time. Unfortunately, this is not the case. According to the American Libraries Association, over 1000 books have been reported as “challenged” in this country since 1982, and many (if not most) of these are children’s and young adult books. From Maurice Sendak to Judy Blume, books are still being restricted, challenged and banned outright. To find out more about Banned Book Week, visit http://www.bannedbooksweek.org or talk to Jesse, Stacy, Jen or Karyn in the libraries.