April 24, 2025

 Dear Families,                               

At 8:30 this Friday morning, we will have April’s community coffee.  For the second time this week, I have to be out of the building on a morning when families are gathering. 

I love community coffees, so at first tried to figure out a way to re-schedule April’s so that I could be there, too.  Then, I remembered that this is not supposed to be a ‘coffee with the principal,’ which some schools occasionally have.  We call these community coffees, because we emphasize families speaking directly with each other.  So, please plan to come to the library at 8:30 Friday morning.  Pour a cup of coffee and speak with others in your school community.

New Partnership for Mental Health

Next fall, CPE1 will have a new partnership to support mental health in our school.

The Northside Center for Child Development will establish an office in our building.  Northside will have private space in the basement, close to our cafeteria.  A Northside counselor will be in our building three days per week, serving up to twenty-one CPE1 students. 

Northside has a different model of counseling than what Tina, our on-staff counselor, offers.  Tina’s work is mostly focused on helping children with their in-school lives, such as building confidence or developing friendships in the classroom. 

Northside’s team helps children with broader mental health.  The Northside counselor working in our building will be backed up by Northside’s clinical staff.  If a family needs additional services, they already have a connection with Northside’s main clinic.

As a new mental health organization enters our building, another will exit.  For about twenty years, Harlem Family Institute has worked inside our building with CPE1 children and families.  HFI is a training institute in which volunteers being trained as analysts worked with children their families, often over several years.  Any all-volunteer institute runs on donations and passion.  HFI’s director, Michael Connolly, has been passionate about the institute’s mission, and served CPE1 for many years.  This year, a few children are working with HFI, and their families of them have the option of continuing that work at HFI’s outside offices.

We need to take care of children’s mental health.  Through Northside, our school will serve more children, with access to more services at Northside’s nearby clinic.  This fall, we should have the kind of mental health partnership every school needs.

Next Meetings about Children and Devices

On Thursday, May 1, we will have our next meetings for families about children and phones, tablets, and the internet.  Last time, we spoke about children in the upper grades.  This time, we will talk about devices for children in pre-K through first grade.

Last week, we had two great conversations about this topic.  A lot of families who attended said they found the discussion eye-opening and helpful.  

After May 1’s meetings, once we talk more about the experience of families with younger children, I will write to all families about this topic.

We will be meeting on May 1 at 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.  We will have childcare available for the evening meeting.  If you have children in the younger grades, please come to one of these conversations.