Follow Up To The Event in CT

Dear Parents,

We are deeply saddened by the recent tragedy in Connecticut and have come together as faculty and staff to discuss how to help our students navigate this difficult time and to examine our existing emergency procedures.  While these topics are not pleasant to contemplate, they are necessary.  Honest discussion has helped us to simplify and strengthen our emergency protocols and identify areas where we need to seek professional help and advice.  In addition to practicing various drills with the staff, we will continue a regular review of our emergency guidelines.

While every family must make a personal decision about how and when to discuss the recent tragedy or answer questions at home, please be assured that we are here as a school community to provide support, resources, or simply a listening ear as you help your children work through this confusing time.

We want you to know that we are doing everything we can to ensure that your children are safe at Friends School.  While the tragedy has been discussed in some of the upper school classrooms, there has not been any discussion in the younger grades because children have not brought it up.  We won’t initiate conversation on the topic, but faculty and staff members will be available for individual conversations with any student.

The following short paper titled Helping Children Cope was published by the Association of School Psychologists and it contains many tips on how to approach and talk about this incident with children.  There are sections for adults, parents, and schools.  You may find this helpful to read.

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/deathgrief.pdf

Please know that our first priority is to ensure the safety, security and well-being of all of our students.  In addition to our continued review and attention to safety at school, we will continue to show our students that they are cared for and loved.  Therefore, the hugs will keep coming. 

 

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Holiday Gathering on Thursday.

Dan

HEADLINES……December 14, 2012

Today there was another school shooting.  This time in Connecticut.  Reports are still sketchy, but it appears that there were many victims, including many children.  We are all in a state of disbelief.  How can this happen?  What could possibly drive someone to commit this kind action? 

For us, the question of how we tell our children also emerges.  Our children are all at different places in their development so there is no right answer for our whole school. Our students will not be told about this news at school today.  We ask that parents, after the facts become clearer, use some time this weekend to talk with your children about this tragedy if that’s appropriate for your child.  We urge you to limit their screen time this weekend. TV and video images are especially powerful for kids, and they absorb the images and words that come at them electronically, often without having much time to process what they see and hear.

 What will be most important to our children is our reassurance that they are surrounded by adults who are committed to keeping them safe. Even as we grieve for the families in CT, try to keep your children’s weekend as normal as possible. (How you explain the thousands of extra hugs they’ll get is up to you.) We’ll join with you in the week ahead to let them know that they’re in a safe place, and that the adults at home and at school know how to keep it that way.

On Monday, our teachers will monitor things and discuss the situation with individual children if needed. It will be discussed in classrooms only in an age-appropriate manner.  The teachers of our younger grades may choose not to discuss this matter at all, although we will all be available to any child who needs reassurance.  I would also like to remind parents to use discretion when discussing this in the school.  Remember that many parents have different comfort levels of sharing with their children that should be respected.

Finally, I hope that you will join us in holding today’s victims and their families in the Light.

Dan Hendey

Announcements & Reminders:

Ordering Photos: An email will be sent later today with information about ordering school photos. Be sure to take a look; orders placed by this Sunday will receive free shipping for delivery to the school.

Holiday Gathering: Please join us on Thursday, December 20 at 1:45. We’ll gather in the Community Room for some singing and holiday cheer, followed by cookies and some visiting time before dismissal. (Please bring a plate of cookies or other tasty treat to share.) We’ll dismiss at our normal time of 3:20. Buses will operate as usual and our After School Program will be available for those who need it.

Winter Break: Friends School will be closed from December 21 through January 2. Classes will resume on Thursday, January 3.

Admissions & Next Year:  If your family has a younger sibling you hope to enroll next year, please be sure that Mary knows. Siblings receive priority in the admissions process, and it helps if we know they’re on the way.

Open Houses: We’ll be holding a preschool Open House at our Friends Schoolhouse facility at 611 E. Prospect Ave. on Saturday, January 5 from 9:30 – noon.

Our first K-8 Open House will be held on Friday, January 11 from 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (Mary will be looking for volunteer tour guides for this one. Let her know if you’d be willing.)

HEADLINES…………………………………..December 7, 2012

I once read a quote ---about fishing, oddly enough---that’s stuck with me for years. “The gods do not deduct from man’s allotted span the hours spent fishing.”  For those of us who don’t fish, I believe we can substitute activities of our own choosing while still keeping to the spirit of the quote. For instance, I don’t think I get charged for the time I spend reading, or for any time I spend on a beach. I don’t think time spent petting dogs is deducted, and I’m sure nobody deducts the time I spend in deep conversation with children. I’m also firmly convinced that we never, ever, get charged for 2-hour delays or snow days.

My fondness for delays and cancellations is just as strong today as it was when I was 8. Some of you know that I have a fascination with weather, and a special love for big snow storms. I don’t really enjoy winter overall. I find it to be long and gray and cold and tedious, so when something dramatic, like a blizzard, intervenes to disrupt the monochromatic monotony, I’m happy.  I follow weather developments assiduously, reading forecast discussions, meteorology web sites, and forums and message boards frequented by my fellow ‘weather people’.  I know about the possibility of storms long before they appear, and I follow their approach with excited anticipation.  It’s all I can do sometimes to contain myself, to bite my tongue when I want to tell my fellow 8-year-olds that I’m seeing the possibility of a snow day ahead.

In my imagination, delays and snow days come as beautifully wrapped gifts. They’re lovely presents chosen just for us by heaven or nature or the universe or whatever generous entity has us in its sights on a particular day.  They are gifts that come with a message telling us to slow down, to be kind to ourselves, to do something with this gift of time that we wouldn’t otherwise do. I got an extra half-hour of sleep this morning,  and then wrote a long, newsy email to a favorite friend. As children trickled into school after 10 this morning,  I asked what they’d done with their extra two hours.  Many of them slept a little longer on this dark morning. Others read, or played with pets or siblings. A few had big breakfasts with their families, while some others had done some Hanukah or Christmas preparations. There was a slow softness to the morning. I wondered if it had less to do with weather, and more to do with the extra time we’d all had to begin another busy day. A morning without the rush.

I’m aware that it’s easy for me to enjoy these departures from normal because my nest at home is empty, and I have an employer who not only understands weather delays, but imposes them.  It’s harder when the demands of work and children compete with the desire to make good use of these surprise gifts. Still, I urge you to try. I urge you to use the surprise delays or cancellations of the coming winter to indulge in things you’d never have time for otherwise. Build traditions with your children, things that involve hot chocolate and general coziness, good books and sleds or snowballs, writing letters to grandparents and special friends.  Children grow up quickly, you know, and given the warming of our planet, snow days may soon go the way of the dinosaurs.

Happy weekend---

 Mary Ziegler

Assistant Head of School

Headlines  -                                         November 16, 2012

Library Time

I was tired this week.  On Sunday I ran (?) a 5K and then went on to our SPICES Gala.  I had a great time and really enjoyed myself right to the end.  On Monday, however, I woke up tired.  For some reason, Monday night’s sleep was uneasy and on Tuesday I was still tired.  That afternoon, I felt the need to get out of the office to wake up.  Teacher Dorothy’s K/1 class was having library time and I decided to visit.  As it turned out, Dorothy was introducing the class to the non-fiction section of our library.  She and Teacher Joanne were animated and excited as they introduced the books on history, animals, art, science and famous people to their students.  The kids were jazzed when they were told that they were could pick books from this area to explore.

I sat at the table and was soon greeted by Avery.  He began to show me his book on Ancient Egypt.  I asked him what he knew about Egypt and he explained that they had mummies and then asked me if they used toilet paper to wrap them up.  I explained about strips of cloth, but I am not sure he believed me.  We were soon joined by his brother Griffin who could barely carry his copy of The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.  He was enamored with all the pictures and drawings.  I asked for a full report later.  Soon, most students were checking in at my table to show me their new books.  I had a wonderful time listening and looking at all the books with the kids.  They energized me and I felt much more awake.  Reading is cool at Friends School and this week, as I watch my sixth grader whip through a 500-page book, I know that these early library experiences are critical to enjoying a lifetime of reading. 

SPICES - Our SPICES Celebration this past Sunday was a huge success.  Besides having a large crowd and enjoying the company of the Friends School community, we were able to raise $12,000 for the school.  We want to extend our thanks to all the parents, volunteers, and donors who contributed their time, talent, and treasures for this event.  Special thanks to Pam Adams, Megan McDaniel, Glynn Hornberger, Anne Stevens, Marianne Stevens and Cami Wible for their help in pulling it all together.  Also thanks to everyone who joined us at the Atherton for this event in support of the school.  You can enjoy photos of the event online at www.scfriends.org.

Announcements

Thankful Tuesday:  We hope you’ll join us next Tuesday, November 20, for our annual Thankful Tuesday gathering. This pre-Thanksgiving event is a school favorite and one of our longest-running traditions. Here’s the schedule:

11:15 a.m.:  Families are invited to join children in classrooms for lunch. (Children should bring a regular lunch, and family members should bring their own as well.)

12 Noon:  All-school Gathering in the Community Room. The highlight will be brief presentations from each classroom group.

1:00 p.m.  Weather permitting; we’ll all go out for recess.

We will have school for students on Tuesday afternoon, and our After School Program will operate as usual. However, if you’d like to get a jump on your holiday travels, you’re welcome to take your children with you when you depart at the end of the Gathering. Just let us know so we don’t worry that they were eaten by annoyed and vengeful turkeys. 

Friends School will be closed November 21, 22, and 23.

Snow Days, Delayed Openings, and Early Dismissals – On days when snow, ice or other conditions might make for hazardous travel, parents should check local TV and radio stations for news of school closings or delays.  We try to make a determination by 6:30 AM and get the information to WPSU, WJAC-TV, most local radio stations, and on our answering machine (237-8386).  Since most of our children we ride the same buses, we will usually follow the lead of the State College Area School District.  In the case of early dismissal, the school will contact parents with a phone call or email.  Parents who drop off their students are then responsible for arranging transportation home. 

Blood Drive: Our November 9^th  Blood Drive was very successful! 25 people came to donate and the Red Cross was appreciative and very happy with the addition to the blood supply. Many thanks to those of you who donated, volunteered your time during the event, and baked cookies for the blood donors. Thanks to your participation, we hope to make this an annual school event.

Parent Lunch and Chat:  On Wednesday, November 28^th at noon, parents of students in 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade are invited to bring a lunch and participate in an informative presentation about the middle school years.  Learn about some of the challenges of early adolescence; the middle school’s “Origins” program; curriculum, field experiences, service opportunities in the middle school years; and the latest research on middle school options.  Presented by Dan Hendey, Head of School and other school staff, this brief program is open to all families although may be most relevant to families of children quickly approaching the  “tween” and early teen years. 

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe"
H. G. Wells

Dan Hendey
Head of School