November 9, 2023
Dear Families,
On Tuesday, public schools were all closed for a day of staff work and learning. Our staff spent time revising the format of our progress reports for families. (I will share much more information about that within a few weeks.) We also worked again with the Gender and Family Project of the Ackerman Family Institute. I am inviting you again to do the same.
On November 16 at 6:00, the Gender and Family Project will lead an in-person workshop for CPE1 families. This workshop is to help our community know more about gender terminology and how gender impacts our kids.
Especially if this topic is not comfortable for you, please come to the workshop. We adults didn’t grow up talking about this. Today, sixth graders go online and teach each other much more than we learned. Grown-ups need to catch up to the information kids share with each other.
This actually isn’t new. Gender-expansive students and families have been part of our school for decades. But this may be the first time the whole community has been invited to learn more.
We will have childcare and pizza for kids on November 16. However, it’s a two-hour workshop, which means this could be a late night for younger children. Please arrive before 6:00 so we can start on time, and please arrange to stay until 8:00.
This should be a really valuable evening.
Laptops and Remote School
This year again, public schools will not have snow days. If snow or any other reason cancels school, the city expects we all will shift to remote learning. The city expects children to access school on a computer or tablet.
If your child needs a device for remote learning, please email Stephanie (stephanie@cpe1.nyc). We can request a New York City Public Schools Chromeboo laptop. This does not guarantee that all children will receive a Chromebook, but the city does have more to give away. CPE1 already has distributed each device the city has given us, so these requests can be helpful.
Families with more than one child probably need more than one device. The city’s Chromebook laptops have some limitations, such as being unable to add programs or search some websites. They are set up for learning remotely and little else.
By Monday, November 13, please email stephanie@cpe1.nyc if you have a need a Chromebook.
Older Students and Halloween
A year ago, I wrote about a petition I received from some older students in our school. They wanted CPE1 to allow older children to wear costumes in school. About three-quarters of our second, third, fourth, and fifth graders signed the petition.
CPE1 staff discussed the proposal across two faculty council meetings. (Each staff member gets a vote during our monthly faculty council meetings.) Eventually, the majority of staff voted to stay with our longstanding practice: we will continue to have a Halloween parade for pre-K and K-1 classes, but older children will not wear costumes in school.
There were a number of reasons staff decided to maintain this tradition, but maybe the most important was continuing to help children mark their growth. Here is how I explained that in a letter to the older students:
As you grow in our school, you have different experiences that tell you how you are changing. First graders do not eat in the cafeteria or camp in the woods, and you don’t have rest time or go apple picking. Different ages need and enjoy different things.
This idea mirrors what many children experience at home. You know you’re growing up when your bedtime gets later and you have to do more chores. You grow into new privileges and responsibilities.
We tell our students to advocate and use their voices, but our staff ultimately did not vote for this change. This is also important to learn about democracy: Your side doesn’t always win. I know personally, because I, too, have written proposals for faculty council… and I lost the vote. I felt frustrated when my ideas were voted down, and I still feel proud to be part of a school where the staff is free to debate and disagree.