Hello Parents!
We are counting the hours! Amid the excitement, eager anticipation, and rush to prepare, I want to share with you what will become our mantra over the course of the school year: “Grace & Space!”
Space: Our need to give each other space, to respect each other’s space, and to find the best ways to share our campus spaces will be something we need to learn together. Fostering our close-knit community from six feet apart and online will challenge our creativity, our ingenuity, and our resilience. A famous adage: No plan survives its first contact with reality. Tomorrow, months of planning will meet reality. We are sure to see the need for modifications, changes, and improvements as we move forward together.
Grace: The essential ingredient, the spirit that will sustain us and unite us in all the best ways. Webster’s defines it as, “Courteous goodwill… simple elegance or refinement of movement.” To treat each other with courteous goodwill while we refine our movements and improve our systems… Grace will help us as we cope with and adapt to new needs for space. Grace will help us find new ways to foster a tightly knit community.
(I know Webster’s also refers to simple elegance as an element of grace. I cannot promise Morning Car Line will bring new meaning to the words ‘simple elegance,’ but, with courteous goodwill we will get there!)
What to expect:
- Classrooms and outdoor teaching spaces that are set up to safely welcome our students. Because of backordered items and supply chain issues, not all the new technology will be installed and ready to go – like many other schools, we have been waiting weeks for certain items. Thank you for your grace and understanding. And thank you, teachers, for your creativity and adaptability finding ways to do great work with what we do have in place.
- Teachers who are 100% ready to joyfully welcome our students and help them end the social and emotional drought we have all been suffering for months.
- Teachers who are 100% ready to create the safe, positive, productive learning environments that help all children reach their full potential.
The greatest thing we will do together in the days and weeks to come: Make sure every Woodlawn student feels known and valued and absolutely believes, “No matter where I sit – six feet apart from teachers and classmates or online – at Woodlawn, teachers believe in me, they help me bring forth my best, and my friends love and understand me.”
From there, all great learning will come.
Over the next few days, look for a series of short, to-the-point “QuickStart” emails to help you navigate all that is new.
I look forward to these opening days, and to our partnership – modeled on Grace & Space – as together we build a great new year for our students.
Very kind regards,
Paul Zanowski
Head of School
Head of School
