A letter from Gabe Burnstein, Head of School
Last week, we welcomed families of newly admitted students to campus. Near the end of an alumni panel, a new parent turned to the current and past parents in the room:
“We’ve heard a lot about the amazing student community. What about the adults? Are there opportunities for parents to connect with the community?”
Paige Stowers raised her hand and took the microphone. Her son Jack started in PreK and, as a member of the Class of 2024, is one of our most recent graduates. Paige didn’t even have to say a word! Her presence at CRS on Thursday night answered the question about the deep and meaningful relationships in our community for parents and caregivers. Paige gracefully answered anyway, sharing that she found some of her closest friends in the parent community at CRS. And her advice was to get involved with the school early and often.
When Paige passed the microphone to Laura Hahn, she might as well have passed a torch. Laura’s sixth grade son Darian is finishing his second year at CRS and her two younger daughters, Audra and Hadley, are joining the community in the fall. Like Paige, and so many others, Laura has been everywhere on our campus as an integral member of the Community Association– bringing a partnership with Cocotree Kids to support meaningful service learning opportunities, planning events for Middle School students with Robyn Leahy and Ellen Rollings, and helping new families smooth the transition to Old Meadow Road. Laura laughed, “There are so many opportunities to get involved that I’ve seen Gabe at events three times this week!” (Sorry?)
Here’s the truth: the involvement of parents and caregivers at CRS is not a nice feature of our school. Parents and caregivers are essential to our capacity to live our mission and to create and sustain meaningful learning experiences for our children.
Don’t believe me? Look no further than THAT VERY DAY – Thursday, March 27th.
We started at 8:15am with a group of parents and caregivers meeting with our second finalist for our Associate Head of School position. I witnessed new parents this year, like Rory Glaeseman, engage with thoughtful questions that demonstrate a deep commitment to our school. (He prefaced his question with, “We love CRS and I’m getting a CRS tattoo.”) Later, more parents and caregivers met with the candidate on Zoom to do the same.
A few hours later, students burst into the Playbarn which had been transformed into our first on-campus book fair in a decade — powered by parent volunteers.
Just upstairs from the Book Fair, at the same time, fifth-grade scientists were dissecting sheep eyeballs with Annie Kenney who had the support of current parent and ophthalmologist Dr. Veena Mathew.
Across campus, still at the same time, Kat Whitten, our Director of Community Engagement, welcomed 12 former parents and caregivers – some who had students at CRS in the 1980s and 1990s – to help organize our archives in Founders House and to send notes and archival photos to alumni and families. One member of the group, North Cunningham, has stayed connected with our community in meaningful ways since she was a student at CRS starting in the early 1950s.
So… the short answer is “yes.” There are as many opportunities for parents and caregivers to get involved in CRS as the school day is long. I think our founders would be proud.
With gratitude,
Gabe