February 18, 2021
Dear LREI Community,
I hope you are well on this wintery day. More on the winter weather below, as well as a few thoughts on a number of other topics.
As we approach the anniversary of our now all-to-normalized pandemic world, I share a few observations. Just about a year ago, a week or so after I told LREI’s Board of Trustees that we were not yet concerned with the flu-like illness being reported in the international news, we began to realize that what we now call Covid-19 would indeed impact life at LREI. Our first conversations concerning this impact centered on our eighth grade trips to Europe. We spent hours debating the wisdom of sending our eighth grade students to Spain and France, ultimately deciding to postpone the trip until later in the spring. Little did we know what the spring would eventually bring.
For schools, last March brought with it a steep learning curve and the need to create new ways of teaching and learning. At LREI, we have continued to learn and adapt each day for almost a year now. As I wandered around the lower school yesterday (the middle school and high school students are home on Wednesdays), I was so impressed with the students’ focus, by their energy, and their accomplishments. While distractions and obstacles abound, I saw smiling children (at least I think they were smiling) engaged with each other and with their teachers. The deep learning, the engagement and the joy that our students find when they are in school, are the result of their natural curiosity and inclination to learn, their teachers expertise, and the power of progressive education – a connection between the world, its many wonders, and the students growing ability to navigate their role in it. Thank you to all of the students, in person and remote, and to all of the teachers for their resilience and sticktoitiveness.
Updates
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Search for the Director of Equity and Community – It has been quite a while since I have updated the community on our search for this essential senior administrative position. Our 10 member search committee, led by Tammy Dunn (Kindergarten teacher and lower school DEI facilitator), has been working steadily since the fall with our partners at Strategenius, a search form supporting our efforts. At this point we are hours away from selecting four finalist candidates and scheduling their virtual visits to campus. Our goal is to finalize this search before Spring Break. Stay tuned and be in touch.
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LREI@home – Thank you for your understanding regarding our remote day today. As I said in yesterday’s email, the combination of a very cold day, open windows, and the likelihood that a number of students and teachers would be unable to travel safely to/from campus, meant that the better academic day would be online. All that we have learned about remote schooling makes these days less regrettable.
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Yesterday evening, at roughly 6:20p.m. we employed the school’s robocall system to make sure that all received the word about the remote day today. If you did not receive this call, please adjust your profile on LREI Connect, making sure that you have designated a phone number as your “home” number. If you need assistance, please email help@lrei.org.
- The calendar for the 2021-2022 school year can be found at this link. Take a look and please let me know if you have any questions. Please understand that this calendar was created with a typical school year in mind and opening/closing dates and dismissal times, days in school, etc. may change as we better understand what the fall will bring.
Today’s Events
- Feeling stuck out home? Want to get out…out of this world that is? The new NASA Mars Rover, The Perseverance, is landing today at 2:15p.m. EST. You can watch the live landing online here, and I imagine there will be a recording later in the day.
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TONIGHT – “I FEEL OVERWHELMED AND I HAVE A QUESTION” “I WAS OVERWHELMED AND I HAVE A SOLUTION” – Thursday, February 18th from 6:30-7:30 pm. We have spent almost a year of major changes to the way we live and work, waves of upheaval and unrest in our communities and country, and worry about our families, students, community, and country. We can mobilize ourselves to face a momentary crisis. How can we thrive when our emotional reserves are stretched thin? MS/HS Counselor Chelsea Rissner and LS Psychologist Judy Lambek will be hosting a talk for parents on coping through the long pandemic as well as the social/political upheaval. Find more information and the Zoom link here.
Be well,
Phil