A letter for Fall 2021.

Dear BELOVED Parents, Teachers, & Administrators,

20 years ago this month, I was prepping for my first year in a classroom teaching First Grade.

And yes, 5 days into the year was 9/11.

Teaching in DC on 9/11 was powerful, difficult, and just what it was.

I was terrified in that classroom, I did not think I was going to make it out of that school alive.

But I DO remember that blue sky.

Years later, in 2007, when I was an administrator at a Public Charter School that I had helped to start, open and operate,

We had a shooting at our front door and one of our staff members was killed at the end of the school day.

I fell apart after this shooting, a breakdown of sorts, but I do remember the next morning I drove back to the school to open the doors for our students,.

And I DO remember the sky.

And now, in a few short weeks, my own babies heading back to school, now ages 10 & 13, after a very long time away from the way things were, and heading into a world that is full of our future.

It’s full of unknowns and beautiful moments and terrible challenges and honestly, all the life stuff that’s always been.

In some ways, having them home all the time was a false sense of security, of safety.

And now, we all emerge, FULL of grief, full of nercitement over what’s to come.

In our schools, in our homes, in our lives.

I’m talking to you, holding you in all these roles that are so big & sometimes hard &overwhelming to know what to do or not do- parent, teacher, administrator, loving human-

Don’t you sometimes just want someone to tell you what to do to make it all better? Easier? Safer? Calmer?

Don’t you want to just KNOW, KNOW, KNOW in your bones, that everything is going to be okay, for your children, your schools, yourselves?

I know, me too.

My hope for all of us is that we find our way to the sky-

the moments in terrible times that help us find our way home,

the moments of awe that stick with us years later -

when the emergency is long over from the outside but still showing scars on the inside.

Look to the Sky.

Blessings for this school year.

May we be a place of comfort and support for all our students, staff and families,

May we be strong and brave enough to reach for each other — when our own worlds are shaking,

May we breathe, heal and turn towards one another for all the days ahead.

Xo,

Pleasance