Dear LREI Community,
Happy New Year and welcome back to school. I trust that you found restful moments over the break and that you were able to recharge and to enjoy time with those you cherish. For us, many planned forays, favorite and new, went by the wayside, supplanted by a desire to stay warm. So hunker down we did – lots of reading, cooking, eating, and laughing with the occasional movie or some such thrown in. All in all, just what the doctor ordered.
Looking ahead, to 2018, there is much to look forward to in the coming half of the school year. A few immediate reminders follow. For now, on the first day back, a thought or two on areas of focus. These are aspirational, as all resolutions are (still hoping to get up early enough each morning to workout before heading off to the office) but, again as all resolutions should be, they are important.
Often our institutional resolutions have to do with hewing ever more closely to the 21st Century versions of LREI’s founding principles. I could not write this note without affirming our commitment to our historic and current missions. However, this is our everyday work, is always top of mind, and is at the center of our work each day and, therefore, not necessarily “resolution-worthy.” As I head into the coming months, I ask myself what seems mission-critical and worthy of a New Year’s affirmation? While I could come up with a long list, here are a few to start the conversation.
- Connections-This is a topic that is essential to our historic mission and is just as important today as it was in 1921. How do we best foster connections between our students and the world around them? After November’s terrorist attack I heard a radio interview with a middle school principal from a state at least a day’s drive from NYC. He had decided that NY was too dangerous a location for his eighth grade’s annual trip and the school had decided to look for a new destination for this long standing tradition. While I can understand this decision, it makes me sad. Sad mostly because these eighth graders are missing out on an opportunity to visit a world very different from their own. Children need opportunities to make more connections, to expand their understanding through experiences with others, and in our increasingly complex world, it seems we will have to work harder to expand our horizons, as one never knows what is just on the other side.
- In the category of resolutions that one makes each year and chips away at over time (for me, more sleep, more exercise, less TV)… we must find ways to increase the comfort level community members have in expressing their points-of-view, even if they assume their POV differs from those of the “majority.” Listen more. Be open to learning and understanding. More voices not fewer. So hard but so important.
- We will continue to work towards having all members of the community feel safe and supported and able to achieve unimpeded and will accomplish this through policy and practice.
- Finally, I think that we need to consider explicit conversations about truth and truthfulness. Not from any particular political vantage point, but to help the students to be better able to know what is true and what is not and how to discern which is so. Who do you listen to? Who can you believe?
I am sure that there are other essential conversations. Rest assured that among those goals that are always on the front burner are those that relate most specifically to life in the classroom. It is good to be back, so much to do, and the clock is ticking.
Here’s to 2018,
Phil