LREI@home

Dear LREI Community, 

Hello from the last days of Spring Break ‘20, with a few days to go before the beginning of LREI@home on Tuesday, March 31. (We added one day to spring break to give our faculty and staff time to meet together to prepare for the transition to our online selves.) You will receive more information about LREI@home from the principals on Friday and Monday. I send this note primarily to check in and to let you know that we, all of us at LREI, are thinking about you, students, families, and colleagues, keeping you in our thoughts and looking forward to a time in the future when we will see each other in person.

We sit here, each of us in our homes, trying to understand the world’s situation, grappling with our individual and collective concerns, checking in with family and friends, all from a distance. How strange this feels to be in a moment when our instincts tell us to rush towards each other, to cling together as a our communities, to be “there” for each other, that we have to be there by being apart, by being here. As we head towards LREI@home we may feel the same sense of otherworldliness, of our school-world being turned topsy-turvy, asking how can you do LREI at home?

I could not be prouder of the work that the faculty and administrative staff have done in the past few weeks. They have worked to translate their vibrant classrooms into LREI@home. Your children will begin to experience the product of this work early next week. In addition, early next week you will begin to learn of our plans for other community events, for adults and children, with new opportunities coming on line as we plan them. As I speak with and listen to educators from schools all over the country, one thing is clear, those students who are in schools with what we would call a more progressive, inclusive, active program seem to be having an easier time adapting to being online, to learning in a manner that is novel for them. This is not a surprise to us.

As we care for our community we think about those whose lives and livelihoods have been especially impacted by the pandemic. To support these community members we have created the LREI 360 Support Fund. The LREI 360 Support Fund is a designated fund intended to give the director of the school the means to provide immediate financial assistance to students, families, faculty, and staff who have lost part or all of their income and have essential living expenses that they cannot meet as a result of the pandemic. Over the next few months, this fund will support unanticipated, critical needs that require a timely and compassionate response. If you have a need for assistance please contact me or the member of the school’s administration with whom you are most comfortable speaking.

• The LREI 360 Support Fund is separate from the Fund for LREI, which supports financial aid and program.

• To contribute to the LREI 360 Support Fund, please visit LREI.org/giving. 

           (Click on “Give Now,” scroll down to “Gift Details” to find “LREI 360 Support Fund.”)

In addition, lower school dad John Samuels is offering his services as a healthcare advisor with significant experience in public health. If a member of the LREI community needs support in navigating the healthcare system and would benefit from this sort of advisory conversation, John is offering his services free of charge. You can contact John directly at john@betterhealthadvisors.com.

Tomorrow you will receive an email from Jim Harris, the chair of LREI’s Board of Trustees and on Friday and Monday you will receive updates and invitations from the divisional principals. In the coming days and weeks we will settle into a communications routine, more at first, a little less but steady thereafter. If you have questions that we have not answered, do not hesitate to be in touch with me, or any member of the school’s administrative team.

Wishing your family the very best in these uncertain times.

Peace and health,