January 24, 2023
Dear LREI Families,
I hope that this note finds you well.
I write with an update regarding LREI’s strategic arrangement with Blue School. As the enrollment deadline for Blue School families has passed we have a fairly good idea of the numbers of Blue School students who will be joining LREI and we are barreling down on the days when we will know which applicants in all grades, from many schools, will also join LREI in the fall. And as you know, we are a few days away from the re-enrollment deadline for current LREI families. These three sources will tell us what our actual enrollment will be for the ‘23-’24 school year.
To be more specific regarding Blue School students. In the preK-8th grades, we have enrolled 125 Blue School students. These students are spread across the lower school and middle school. Additionally, we will have eight Blue School graduates join the ninth grade. As we suggested at the outset, the seventh and eighth grades will each have an additional homeroom, though our plans are for teaching class size to remain similar to this year. The only lower school grade where we will add an additional classroom is the second grade as our one-classroom first grade grows to become two classes. Under-enrolled grades will gain students. Great news all around.
Our planning has ramped up. The school’s administrative leadership team and a number of other members of the school’s staff from all divisions and offices met yesterday to map out the process through which we will make decisions regarding class size, space use, staffing levels, welcome events, orientation events, and ways in which we can meet each other and share LREI’s culture with families joining us from Blue School, in addition to the ways we typically welcome new students and families. It was a terrifically productive meeting. Today I met with lower school and middle school teachers to continue this work. This decision making and implementation is well underway with conversations about the day-to-day specifics in the lower school and middle school being led by principals Heather McCay and Nathan Sokol-Margolis. I want to publicly thank the school’s administrators and the members of the admissions office, all of whom have represented the best of LREI throughout this endeavor.
My brief conversations and email exchanges with Blue School families who will be joining LREI in the fall have been upbeat and filled with gratitude. One family wrote, “we are just OVER THE MOON to join LREI,” while another shared, “We’re really excited to be a part of the community and to discover all of the magic that Little Red has in store for our daughter and for our family.”
Again, more information as I have it, with the speed with which we have answers picking up from here on. Thank you for your thoughtful participation thus far and I look forward to calling on you to join me in welcoming our new colleagues in the coming months.
Best,
