Message from Mirko Chardin: March 10, 2020

Hello Putnam Ave. Community,

As we head towards spring, back from February vacation, I hope that we all are refreshed and rejuvenated! I want to share my reflection about our journey thus far, and how thankful I am, we are as a school for you, our students, and families.

I am thankful that I have the privilege of membership in our wonderful school community. I count it an honor that I can proudly say that in the day and age that we live, the Putnam Avenue Upper School Community stands for social justice and equity. Although we are far from perfect—as no such place exists—we are committed to the pursuit of continuous improvement through reflection.

I am humbled by how diverse our staff, students, and families are. 
We, in a very authentic way, reflect the beautiful mosaic which can only exist when individuals--despite differences of race, class, gender, religion, ability, and sexual orientation--commit to working together, learning from each other, and walking in common unity with one another.

I am thankful that our core values of passion, pride, and ownership with balance and perseverance are lived daily:

  • We are committed to showing that our passion is for social justice and the pursuit of academic excellence.
  • We have pride in the richness of all of our identities and the positive impact that we know we will and are having on others.
  • We own our collective school community, love receiving feedback and will always be committed to reflecting on our potential, practice and performance.
  • We value balance and acknowledge that school is about academic development as well as the exploration of a variety of different interests, including the arts, music, athletics and community service.
  • We believe that perseverance is not only facing challenges, 
but overcoming them.


I am thankful for our commitment:

  • We are committed to ensuring that more value is placed on the impact of our work in and through the lives of our young scholars and each other than our intentions.
  • Our students and all members of our community can see themselves reflected in our school community through our intentionally striving to ensure that all are visible.
  • We are committed to wrestling with exploring ways to make the work or school experience as authentically relevant as possible to all members of our school community.

We began one of our school council meetings with an introspective review on White Supremacy Culture in schools. I am also pleased to have School Council meetings be a part of our efforts to reach our broader community by participating and attending Community Conversations. Our next meeting and event is on March 18th from 5:30 - 8PM.

I want to conclude by letting you know that the February 2020 issue of The Learning Professional is now available online and that it contains an awesome feature article about our school community and the powerful work that we do on supporting and uplifting student voice. The article is attached at the end of the newsletter and also available on our website. Feel free to share, and if you post on social media, please include the hashtag #LearnFwdTLP and tag @learningforward.

I am thankful to be a part of such an amazing, diverse and progressive community. Have a great week!

Sincerely,
 
Mirko Chardin, Founding Head of School

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