Click here for Google Translate
March 12, 2021
Dear Families,
I hope you were able to have your Parent Teacher Conference this week. During these times where we are all trying to find connections, a 10 minute phone call is especially precious. David and I have so many memories of Parent Teacher Conferences with our 3 daughters, starting from daycare through high school. I remember being charmed, enraged, confused, proud, and grateful. We have hilarious stories of me being a nightmare parent to one teacher, spending an entire conference catching up on personal gossip with another teacher, laughing so hard we covered nothing one year, but mostly walking away amazed by the blessing of these adults working so hard on behalf of my children. 10 minutes is not enough time, we know that, so be a strong advocate for your child and make sure you get any additional questions answered by a simple (polite) email - and start a conversation with your child’s Advisor.
Last week, Renee Blake and Kenneth Saunders led a remarkable conversation with parents, “I Am Not a Racist…”. We received such positive feedback that that we are planning to host another Part 1 conversation for those of you who missed it. This will be followed by a Part 2 in May.
One of our parents, and former staff member, Leona Casella, kindly agreed to write her reaction to this experience:
Dear 75 Morton PTA,
Thank you so much for bringing Dr. Renee Blake and Dr. Ken Saunders into our community. I didn’t know what to expect last night other than that I’d learn something about Racism. Within the first two minutes of the meeting, a safe and open conversation ensued, moving and disheartening while also hopeful and empowering. My greatest take-away was the opportunity to practice how we can change our actions/reactions to racist events. Being able to practice ways to enact change helped me reflect on possibilities that I almost forgot were possible. Dr. Blake and Dr. Saunders created a safe space, acknowledging, without shame, that our past actions can inform our future actions/reactions. There was no pressure to speak, and they were supportive of any participation, even if we were only observing and listening. I hope more families join for the next conversation, as the more we share, the more we can be open, honest, and vulnerable, growing and actively changing racist policies and systems to empower everyone.
Please give yourself the gift of joining Renee and Ken when they have another evening talk. We will send dates soon.
Finally, the Grace Period is ending for those of you who have children in Blended Learning, but who are choosing to go away and/or have missed assigned days in school. We will be sending notifications to those families before the break and those students will be in 100% Remote Learning starting April 5 when we return from the break (March 29-April 2). We will then reallocate our Chromebooks to those students who are maintaining their Blended Learning schedules.
I also want to add a huge thanks to the PTA for hosting so many fun, community driven, child centered events for our school!!! Next up is a virtual cooking class on March 24. Visit tinyurl.com/75mortoncookingclass to sign up.
With Respect,
Jacqui