A note from an educator

I think we are all feeling pretty raw & emotional about recent tragic events in Boston.  A friend sent this to me yesterday.  It was from an educator at her sister's school in NY & worth sharing....

Dear Families,

I am writing to you from me, just straight from the heart.

Today, as 3rd through 5th grade families are aware, standardized testing starts.

Tests happen. Kids don't do well. Kids do well. They go on. All the psychics, mystics and soothsayers can't predict the life of a child. Can a test?  "Schools" will do well...or not. "They" may take our "A" or "B" report card away. "They" may humiliate a teacher with a poor rating...."They" might make us king of the hill...or not.

Here is what no one can take away--the day that dawns and proceeds with all its beauty, confusion, joy, and anxiety intact. In other words, a day in the life. The joy that at the end of that day that we are still here, whether shaken or, rattled or rolled.

Yesterday, in a northern town, many people had that fundamental truth taken from them. We New Yorkers know that well. That was a true "test" . A day of standardized testing is not.

Perspective is something that I think sometimes we are given at a horrible price to others. In order to honor their sacrifice I believe we must accept it...and handle it with grace.

These tests ultimately are meaningless. We get up, we do our best and we try to give, not take. That is all that matters.

I honor the great city of Boston and its dead and wounded. I honor the great city of New York, the great community of this school which I believe has the wisdom to know what is important...and what is not.

I honor your children.

No matter what these tests show, we will continue to do our best.

And of course, being the lover of pop and rock I am, I leave you with what I feel are extraordinary lyrics from Bruce Springsteen that I sang to myself when I rose today...

Voice says "don't worry, I'm here
Just whisper the word tomorrow in my ear"
House on a quiet street, a home for the brave
A glorious kingdom with the sun on your face
Rising from a long night dark as the grave
On a thin chain of next moments and something like faith
On a morning to order a breakfast to make
A bed draped in sunshine a body that waits
For the touch of your fingers, the end of the day
The beat of your heart....the beat of your heart...the beat of your heart...

And I remind you, these lines are from a poet who barely made it through high school.

Your Loving Parent Coordinator.