Dear LREI Community,
This is likely the last push page communication of the 2016-2017 school year. It is hard to believe that we are just days away from the end of the term, with students in the Fours-sixth grade ending on Tuesday, June 13, and seventh – eleventh graders heading off for the summer on Wednesday, June 14. Of course, the twelfth graders end on Wednesday, as well, but who could forget that! Commencement is such a thrilling moment in the lives of the seniors, their families, and the school community. I so look forward to congratulating the class of 2017 (Now, if only I can finish my speech!)
Four items this week:
- Is that a piano in Little Red Square? It sure is! “Our” piano was placed there, as were the 51 other pianos in 51 other parks, thanks to an organization called Sing for Hope which was founded by LREI mom Camille Zamora. As singforhope.org shares:
“Sing for Hope Pianos places artist-designed pianos throughout NYC’s parks and public spaces for anyone and everyone to play. For three weeks this June, the pianos will bring individuals and communities together in an open festival of art for all. After their time on the streets, Sing for Hope will transport the instruments in NYC public schools, where they will become hubs for Sing for Hope’s ongoing creative programs and enrich students’ lives for years to come.”
The window of my Sixth Avenue office opens onto the square and I listen to every chord of every current and former piano student playing “Heart and Soul” and every note of every citizen virtuoso sharing their talent with the neighborhood. And then there are rare moments of sheer talent and joy, such as one afternoon last year when a young man started playing a medley Broadway favs and a group of LREI students started singing along and were still going strong an hour later. So, please, enjoy the piano, play the piano, and say “Thank you” to Sing for Hope.
- On Monday, June 19th, LREI will roll out a new version of LREI.org. We are excited to share our improved digital home with you and believe that the look and feel of the site better capture the vibrant community and program at LREI. We will be fine-tuning this website upgrade over the course of the summer. While this upgrade is focused on the website, we do hope to roll out some enhancements to LREI Connect in the fall. As you visit the site, please send any feedback or suggestions you have to Peter Martin, Director of Communications, at pmartin@lrei.org.
- It’s official, LREI has been re-accredited by NYSAIS, the New York State Association of Independent Schools. In a letter to Board Chair Amy Zimmerman and to me, Mark Lauria, executive director of NYSAIS, wrote:
“The Visiting Committee members were impressed with the creativity of the self-study, which incorporated student voices and multimedia to capture the qualities and character of LREI. The mission, “the guiding star” of the school, was realized in the classrooms and in the commitment of the whole community to inclusivity and social justice. Additionally, high praise was given to the students who were described as “academically well prepared” and “great citizens and global thinkers.”
Now comes the hard work. Starting over the summer and continuing into the fall, the administration, faculty, and staff will review the recommendations we made in our self-study, the responses to the parent survey, and the recommendations from the visiting committee’s report in order to plan for future growth. I look forward to reporting to the parent body on this work.
Thank you to all who helped make this process such a success.
- Receiving the NYSAIS re-accreditation report on the eve the school year’s end might be seen as being too late to be productive this school year. Or, if you take the long view, we will plan over the summer and get to work in the fall. At some point in the medium range future, we will do this again, and again, and again—planning, revising, working, and repeat. This is the process we have engaged with with the school’s strategic plan, addressing each bullet point, bit by bit, creating growth, retooling, reprioritizing, moving ahead.
This is, roughly, the same process that your children experience. They enter a new grade each fall, arriving with areas of strength and areas where they know that they will find greater challenge and as the students, led and supported by their teachers move into a new year with age-appropriate expectations, they learn and grow and succeed. They falter and reconfigure and chip away at the hurdles they face. And then the school year ends—a million miles an hour and then a screeching halt. Few students end the school year with a check next to each area of challenge, next to each item they are passionate about. Most, when reflecting on the school year, have mastered skills and content knowledge and should be proud. Most, also, end the year with some goals unmet, with ongoing challenges. If there was hard work in service to these goals and growth towards them, the students should be quite proud of these accomplishments, as well, with the confidence that in 10ish weeks they will resume their hard work and growth. It is these unmet goals, miles yet to travel, that will fuel the students’ continued development.
For individuals, as it is for institutions such as ours, learning and growth are ongoing processes — long, challenging, invigorating, and fruitful.
“The gap between vision and current reality is also a source of energy. If there were no gap, there would be no need for any action to move towards the vision. We call this gap creative tension.”
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline