Dear LREI Families,
Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope that your family’s Winter Break was enjoyable and relaxing, whether at home or on the road. The Kassen clan had a relaxing break, learned to navigate having one of our number return from college for a couple of weeks, found some fun in NYC, some outside of the City, and enjoyed a few memorable family meals. All in all, a very nice respite.
Thank you to Middle School Principal Ana Chaney for sharing this list of Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s resolutions, found in Lists of Note. Woody, an LREI dad, wrote this list of “New Years Rulin’s,” as he called them, on the eve of 1942. It’s a long list, some simple items, some less so, mostly admirable.
In some years past, I have shared a specific list of institutional and personal resolutions. And while I have many thoughts about what I hope to accomplish in the coming 12 months, our institutional goals for the year are quite closely tied to our progressive educational mission. These include:
- Offering your children the very best academic and intellectual experience, guided by our progressive ideals, creating lasting and deeply meaningful learning;
- Continuing to move our community ever closer to the ideal of having all members feel fully and equally welcome, and in which we each are dedicated to and share responsibility for this growth;
- Connecting our academic program and our community to the larger world, developing a fuller understanding of our place in it and our responsibility to it.
Again, as with Woody’s, some simple, some less so, admirable, and achievable. I look forward to our work together in achieving these broad goals and many smaller ones. Two specific goals, one with respect to our relationship (you and me) and one more personal but dealing with a topic about which I have concerns for our children.
First, I will continue to look for ways to improve LREI’s communication with our families—better and more thorough, not simply more. This includes my communication with you, the principals’ and teachers’ communication with students and families, and the institution’s communication and transparency, in general. Thoughts or suggestions on how to achieve this are much appreciated.
Second, as you know I teach a seventh and eighth grade class called “Adolescent Issues.” I spent some time before the break speaking with my seventh graders regarding their non-academic screen time. (We are, in addition, talking about the time the students spend on schoolwork using screens. Worth knowing.) Some of the seventh grade screen-time totals were significant, though likely not atypical. The students and I will come back to our conversation in the coming months in order to think about what they are gaining and what they might be missing during these hours. In the meantime, I share that I am trying to be more conscious of my own screen use and what the ease of screens has distracted me from, and this article from January 1’s NY Times.
As we move squarely into the New Year, allow me to wish you a happy, healthy, and fulfilling 2019.
All best,
Upcoming Events / Announcements:
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Re-enrollment contracts will be emailed to all LREI families this year. Be on the lookout early next week for this important communication from the school.
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Middle School Adolescent Issues Evening, Wednesday, January 9th, 6:30p.m. Sixth Ave.
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Alumni College Panel, for 4th-10th grade families, Thursday, January 10th, 6:30p.m. Charlton St.
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Tour of Middle School for Fourth Grade Families, Tuesday, January 15th, 8:45a.m. Sixth Ave.
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Day of Service, Monday, January 21, Sixth Ave.
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LREI Budget Review with Phil and Josh Marks, CFO. Tuesday, January 22, 8:45a.m., Sixth Ave.
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There are many LREI Athletics events in the coming weeks. Check out the Athletics page of LREI.org if you want to attend a home game. Go Knights!