Dear LREI Community, 
Happy New Year and welcome back to LREI ‘22-’23. I hope that you and your family had relaxing and restorative Winter Breaks and that everyone is ready for the second half of the school year.
A few logistical notes to begin with and then a thought or two about the coming months.
Health and Wellness
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First, thank you for testing your children for Covid-19 before they returned this morning. A reminder to let nurses@lrei.org know if anyone in your household tests positive for Covid-19 and to keep your children home if they have any symptoms of cold, flu, Covid-19, or RSV.
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Thank you, adults, for masking when dropping off your children, visiting the school for a program, etc.
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We strongly encourage all to remain up to date with Covid boosters – they protect you and other members of the community.
Re-Enrollment
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Later this week you will receive a communication from Josh Marks, LREI’s CFO, regarding re-enrollment for the ‘23-’24 school year. Thank you for your attention to the deadlines outlined in the letter you will receive.
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As we do each year, Josh and I will host an explanation of, and conversation about, LREI’s finances. Please join us on Zoom on January 17 at 6:30 pm.
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Meeting ID: 857 998 9327 https://zoom.us/j/8579989327
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Upcoming Event
A reminder that you are invited to our annual LREI Alumni College Panel – Thursday, January 5, 2023 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Join us to listen to LREI graduates speak about their current college experience and how LREI prepared them for success. On Zoom (link available upon registration.) CLICK HERE TO REGISTER This event is geared toward parents of fourth – tenth graders.
Eleventh grade families, please plan on attending the College Process Kickoff on January 10 at 6:30 p.m., 40 Charlton Street.
Over the weekend I heard a brief radio news item focused on New Year’s resolutions and a report of a survey that shared our general sense of pessimism regarding the future. I was not surprised to hear this. The world is a complicated place. There are any number of really challenging issues confronting all of us. However, as I look ahead, and I am thinking farther than this school year, I can’t help but feel optimistic.
School, as you know, is a future focused endeavor. We hope that school offers an enriched experience to our students’ present selves. We talk about a good deal that what we learn in school today should be of use TODAY, and not solely in the future, on the next test, to prepare for the next unit or grade. We want this so that our children have safe, connected, and engaged experiences now, and that they can build upon these experiences, in school and facilitated by their schooling, out in the “real world.” We are also working with them to develop skills and habits that they will carry forever.
Progressive schools are, at their heart, optimistic. We offer opportunities for students to develop academic and intellectual skills through engagement in authentically rigorous experiences. These experiences challenge your children to think about real world issues – some fairly simple and many others quite complex and challenging – and to imagine and implement solutions and to envision a world about which we can all be optimistic. By learning and applying at all ages, students practice being involved and generative citizens. Rather than storing up their energy for another day, they build capacity and a desire to learn and be involved. This is definitely something about which we should all be optimistic and excited. I know I am.
Wishing you all the best in 2023 and looking forward to our work together,
