Friends, Graduation is the culminating event of each academic year for our community. I love that our graduation is here at school; I love that the ceremony is simple and features more student voices than grown up ones; and I love that all of us, families, community, faculty, staff, and Board, gather to acknowledge and name the milestone that high …

Friends, Over the last 10 school days, I have had several conversations with faculty and staff, parents, students, and other advocates that have been challenging and thought-provoking. Based on these conversations, I wonder about whether or not I focus too often on the “network of mutuality” phrase in our primary tenet and not enough on this sentence: “Whatever affects one …

Friends, Next year, we would love to welcome five more students to both our 7th and 8th grade classes. We say it time and again: Word of mouth is the best way to promote and fill our school. We would like to ask for your help talking with your neighbors and colleagues about Crossroads College Preparatory School and why it …

Friends, We are coming to our end-of-the-year traditions for seniors that begin this Friday with the Senior Pancake Breakfast and that culminate in graduation on May 21st at noon here at Crossroads. For all of the task orientation of April, May begins up with an of open quality as we shift our schedule for AP exams and make room for …

Friends, This week, Crossroads is celebrating Pride Week as a lead up to Friday’s Day of Silence. Day of Silence is a student-led national event organized in thousands of schools, bringing awareness to the silencing effects of anti-LGBTQ name-calling, bullying, and harassment. On Monday during announcements, I talked a little about how some of our differences are visible and that …

Friends, I am looking forward to the fun activities that are a part of the last two months of school: prom, athletic events, our spring musical, awards day, field day, graduation, and others. As much as I am looking forward to these fun and important events, I know that they can diffuse our focus. I have been reminding students this …

Friends, I was standing in the hall during passing time today and noticed how tall our students are getting. This is to be expected, of course, but this year it caught my attention earlier than in years past. I have also noticed that students are moving through the space and speaking more confidently, that they are deep into projects and …

“This is the world I want to live in. The shared world.” –Naomi Shihab Nye “Gate A-4” Friends, After reading several articles about the recent vandalism at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City and the responses to this by area Rabbis, Imams, other faith and community leaders, as well as concerned citizens, I thought about Naomi Shihab Nye’s short …

Friends, Khalil Gibran writes this about love: “Let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of heaven dance between you.” As much as I write about what brings us closer and what keeps us working together as a network, I thought I’d bring some attention to the importance of loving distance and respecting the spaces between us. …

Friends, I had a conversation yesterday with a colleague from a different school about the difference between cultural competence and cultural humility. When I think about cultural humility, I am reminded to consider others first, particularly in terms of what others consider most important about their own identity and experiences. It also helps me remember to be humble with regard …