June 2020: End Of The Year and Uncertainty

Here we are, nearing the end of the 2019-2020 school year.  In many ways it has been a year like no other. In the span of a few short months, we've gone to meeting in person to meeting on-line and feeling unsure about our health, our safety, and our country.

Between the inequities sharply highlighted by the Covid-19 Pandemic and the recent protests against police brutality and inherent inequity for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), many of us are reeling and wondering what we can do to help.  Many of us are also wondering how to talk to our children about these realities and how we can both protect them and make them active change agents.

Rather than telling you what to do, we will remind you that staying connected with each other is an essential component of healthy emotional wellness and isolating yourself has a negative impact on your mental health.  So, please stay connected, check on each other, support each other.

There are a number of resources listed below, which offer the history of race in this country, ways to examine and think about our own roles and contributions to this history (particularly if we are not Black, Indigenous, and People of Color- BIPOC), and ways to get involved now to help change and move towards a more equitable nation.

It is unclear, at the time of this writing, what a fall start will look like in Newton.  The district is working hard to make sure that everyone feels supported and has access to the same academic teaching and support.  NPS is keeping social and emotional wellness and support at the forefront of these plans.  Regardless of how we come together in the fall, we will be here to support and encourage all of Bigelow's students and community.

Please be kind to yourself and to each other, and please continue to connect and support each other.

See you in the fall!

--Dr J

Resources: 
More ways to get involved:

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