Zimplicity!

Our thanks to PTO and all the creative minds of the community as you take on the challenge of our UN Day format. It’s important to continue to value and share our diversity this year under extraordinary challenges. But, we know the parent community is up to this and look forward to your contributions. Thank you in advance for your participation.

We have some drama productions that will still try to get on stage despite our inability to provide the robust audiences we would normally invite. We are following some strict protocols to still give our thespians a platform for developing their skills for the future. It may be different, but they are rising to the challenge. Look for virtual links of these important ac

Finally, I would ask you to please head to the rolling parent survey that I have in each Daily Update. I need a more robust data set this time to give me a picture of how parents are feeling in the moment and in advance of the board meeting on Monday. Please take the time to fill out this survey – it’s only three questions and you are already familiar with it: https://forms.gle/gfzyE3BAonpvHuam8

Finally, we have a board meeting on Monday, November 16, and information on the board packet and details on virtually attending will come out on Friday, as usual.

I hope all had a nice break that has refreshed you for the weeks ahead. We are looking forward to the period between now and the holidays, always with some of our most significant work of the year.

I hope you all had powerful parent conferences. I heard many great things about our virtual structure and how it was an important time with teachers talking about your student. Remember that teachers are available to you at other times in addition to conferences. If you have concerns, please reach out for additional time to talk and know that we try to make ourselves available to address any issue with expediency. As I’ve said at many new parent orientation meetings: Don’t wait! We want to make sure our partnership serves the needs of your children throughout the year.

Big thank you to PTO for their work in being creative once again with our Halloween celebration. Decorations at our entrances really captured the spirit of the season! And the contest on FlipGrid was amazing! We have some great pumpkin artists out there.

We had some wonderful dialog the other day about silver linings and looking for the many things we have learned and better understood through adversity. I came upon a Marilyn Monroe quote that seemed to fit the moment: “Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together.” In the coming weeks, we may have to face some things falling apart in order to find the path to greater cohesion and capability. In that journey, we are all together and enriched by our daily accomplishments. Wishing you all the best and welcome back!

One of our core values that sits at the center of our aspirations is our understanding of resilience. We know it through the words of Bounce Back, but it has been the cornerstone of all of our work in recent months as we face the challenge of fear and crisis. There are many aspects to resilience, but often the most important is how we reach out to each other in important and special ways when things seem the darkest and most dismal. Even with six decades under my belt, I still don’t fully understand the equation that inspires us to climb from the depths and find new meaning and direction out of the ashes of disaster.

Some of you know that our new band teacher, Emily Cleghorn, suffered one of the most significant of losses on October 3. She was notified on October 4th that her younger brother Samuel had been killed in a fatal motor vehicle accident. She boarded an airplane hours later to rush home. His obituary is here:

https://www.foresthillspalmcityflorida.com/obituary/samuel-cleghorn

A newly commissioned ensign in the U.S. Navy, it was clear that Samuel was about to launch into an inspirational career. Emily was devastated. But, in the true spirit of resilience, she took charge of all the arrangements for her young brother, working through all the details that saw Samuel returned home to Palm City, Florida with military honors.

But, the sad turn in this tale is that the challenges of this have resulted in Emily deciding that it would be best for her and the family she must now care for to resign her position at ASW. Emily described it as one of the most difficult decisions of her life and she is heartbroken that she will not be returning to the classroom where she was just beginning to develop the bond we all hold dear as a new Warrior. There is much more to this story of loss that is private to the family, but after a long conversation with Emily, it was clear that her resilience in this instance requires that she follows a different path and I have accepted her resignation.

Bounce back does not always take the shape we expect. Sometimes resilience means we must follow a different path. I know that I’ll retain memories of Ms. Cleghorn’s energy and enthusiasm and, even though it was a short sojourn, we will still count her as a Warrior, now and always. Search for her replacement is underway and members of band will get additional information shortly.

A Special Treat

Speaking of things that help us through the most challenging of times, I received a special treat from the Haim Family today in the afternoon and I’m in Heaven! One of my favorites from my youth, Twizzlers, arrived for me just when I needed them most. I’m pictured here remembering my long lost love of that fruity flavor, rainbow style! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It was a welcome repast!

Aspiring Board Member Training

I’m about to send my message to those who signed up for our session tomorrow but wanted to give one last opportunity for others to still join us. Before 8:00a tomorrow, please.

If you would like to participate, you can sign up by clicking here: 

https://forms.gle/h9VnAN1f32wSRTvo6