Once again, I am writing a blog post about our school’s response to a national tragedy. I learned this evening that this tragedy has been compounded by a local hate crime. A vandal tied a Confederate flag to the door of the Museum of Jewish Heritage across the street from our school. This was done in sight of the train car that carried innocent people to Auschwitz to be brutally treated and killed.

I am sickened. I am grief stricken. I am angry.

At the same time, our kids and teachers give me hope.

On Thursday, all of our students began to process this news in developmentally appropriate ways. For example, our kindergarteners listened to Dave Eggers’ book, What Can A Citizen Do? and talked about ways that community members work towards peace and safety through kind actions. Our fourth graders started their conversations by reflecting on the norms they have for being part of a community. Our eighth graders started by reflecting on their beliefs:

Each of these approaches is grounded in listening to children and reflecting on the values that they are developing. We made sure to listen to the information that they have, correcting misconceptions and answering questions, and giving them choices of ways to participate (or not) in these conversations.

These initial conversations are just part of the work that we all need to do as we live through this historic time. As educators, it is our professional obligation to help young people process information, engage as citizens, and critically evaluate news and information.

Over the coming weeks, we will continue this work as part of our commitment to teaching Civics and the democratic ideals of justice and equity. And we know that giving people the opportunity to engage in some form of action is empowering and alleviates anxiety. We will be offering all community members the opportunity to participate in a COVID safe and winterized version of Sidewalk Chalk for Peace over the next week. More information will be sent home next week.

I worry for our nation and our society. We live in very challenging times. But, as Mary noted at a meeting on Thursday, the values our students express and their commitment to making the world a better place are evidence that my hope is not misplaced.

One of my many new year’s goals is to communicate more about what is happening at school and in life. Here is my start to that goal. Each week, I send an email to staff with updates and reminders. These emails always begin with a short framing of and reflections on our work as educators. This is from an email I shared with teachers before break…

On and off, I pretend that I am fluent in Twitter.  I don’t often remember to check it and when I do, the disorganization overwhelms me.  However, this thread showed up in my feed that is inspirational. My riff on it is…

I have learned in the face of this pandemic that 276 staff have the ability to…

• make me laugh each day with their sense of humor and joy in children;
• create a sense of community through a screen, and building virtual and in-person traditions; 
• remind me of the power of collaboration and teamwork as you help out on Fridays, plan together, support each other with technology, etc.; 
• teach me what it is like to be an educator who cares deeply about children and justice and equity during multiple pandemics;
• give me grace and forgiveness for momentary panic attacks, poorly phrased “wokeness,” and awkward efforts to invite people in to difficult conversations;
• provide me with a sense of community and connectedness through these lonely months of isolation and responding to the larger bureaucracy in which we work
• offer me opportunities to learn about the world through their interests in travel, reading, politics, art, creating, music, and athletics;
• And allow me to learn to be a better me. 

I appreciate each and every one of our staff members and want to publicly thank them for everything they do for our community every day.