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September 3, 2023
17 Elul, 5783
Dear LGA Community,
The new school year is about to begin! Everyone has their backpack, water bottle, and lunchbox ready, and I am writing to share a few thoughts about the start of the year, along with a half-dozen important reminders, which you’ll find toward the end of this email. In addition to the email, I am recording this message as a video for accessibility and convenience.
“Every book begins with an unanswerable question,” writes Maggie Smith in her gorgeous new memoir, “You Could Make This Place Beautiful.” I find this phrase so striking because, I think, it isn’t just the book—everything worthwhile begins with an unanswerable question. Just as, without such questions, there would be no need for books, so, too, there would be no need for a school. If anything, real, great schooling is all about learning to find, articulate and hold unanswerable questions. As the Egyptian-Jewish-French poet Edmond Jabes put it, “What will we get out of the questions? …The promise of a new question.” Such questions begin a book, an intellectual journey, a spiritual path, a friendship, and yes, a school year.
In this final stretch of days leading up to September 6th, some of our students may be feeling jitters of uncertainty. Am I going to make new friends? Will they really know me? Am I going to do well? Which floor do I go to? (Ok, that last question is answerable.) To be honest, I, too, am asking myself these questions since arriving to Massachusetts with my family a few short weeks ago.
Just last week, my daughter Ora (rising fourth grader at LGA) and I were graciously invited to join a game of soccer, right in the LGA backyard. I think we were both a little nervous. But as we began to play— what ended up being a game of a sizable swarm of kids against three middle-aged parents— our jitters disappeared. There was laughter, goals were blocked and scored, there were a few dad jokes and subsequent eyerolls, and there was light rain. Needless to say, the kids won, and it was not an entirely staged victory. A question we were holding, or a few, received a response—or at least a forward pass. An invitation to play is one of the sweetest and most generous ways to respond to each other and be together.
This week, LGA faculty returned to school to learn, reconnect, and prepare. Ours is a group of really warm, wise, and kind educators. There is no doubt in my mind that they are the kind of teachers who can help our children hold their deepest questions, and do so in a way that is embracing and also playful, rooted in excellent academics and social-emotional support. Oh, and yes, they can also tell us all what floor to go to.
I would like to wish all of us, students and parents and educators, that we find the answers that are there for us, and hold questions that cannot yet be answered, and extend to each other invitations to play. May it be a beautiful beginning and a fabulous year.
And now, a few important reminders:
– Please come to our LGA PTO potluck on Mon Sep 4th 5-7pm (sign up here).
– New families: we can’t wait to see you and your students at 9am on Tue Sep 5th.
– Our first half-day of school is Wed Sep 6th – doors open at 8am!
– All families are invited to join the all-school assembly 11.40am-12.10pm on Sep 6th.
– Really important: please fill out the volunteer form—we would love for all of you to be involved with the school.
– Please complete and submit all of your FACTs forms (contact Ashley Hooten ahooten@landergrinspoon.org with any questions).
– Sign up for our awesome Fall ‘23 after school offerings.
See you all at school!
Jake Marmer
Head of School
P. S. It’s never too early to help LGA meet its 2023-2024 fundraising goals! Whether at the $18 or $1800 level, your generosity will make a difference. Please donate here. |
