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.