News & Weekly Letters

The snow day closure on Tuesday reminded me of something Richard Brautigan wrote, “The smallest snowstorm on record took place an hour ago in my backyard.” It didn’t really matter that there was no real snow to speak of; a surprise day off in the midst of a very busy week at school was nonetheless very welcome.

The Lunar New Year celebrations that took place at school today, thanks to the Parents Association, brought back memories of the years I spent in China and Taiwan. Over there, it’s the biggest celebration of the year, and being a 老外 lǎowài (in China) or wāiguǒrén 外國人 (in Taiwan),* I had a tricky time getting my head around its importance. At school, we frequently refer to intercultural competencies, and the Lunar New Year is a prime example of one—it’s important for us not only to know about traditions in other cultures but also to understand what they mean for those who celebrate so we can enjoy the festivities with them.

Those of you who follow my Instagram account (which I am frankly not very good at keeping up-to-date) will know that I spent a few days in San Diego at the AFSA head of schools conference at the start of this week. I completely forgot to mention it in last week’s letter, even though it would have fitted in quite nicely—like every educational conference taking place these days, a considerable amount of time was spent discussing Artificial Intelligence (in short: it’s a bit scary today, but it will be brilliant tomorrow.)

On February 7, I will be participating in a panel on artificial intelligence–touching on its impact on certain sectors, how people in every field try to reign it in, and how, in the long term, living and working alongside AI will not only be possible but beneficial.

It was before the winter break, which seems a long time ago now. A bit tired, but excited at the prospect of the two weeks of rest ahead of us, everyone in the Elementary and Middle School Building made their way to Baruch College to celebrate our last assembly of 2023. The plan was to give center stage to our students who take part in different activities and recess clubs. Tiera, the president of our student council, set the tone with a spirited speech about the values of The École and how she sees them incarnated daily by her schoolmates.