February 21, 2023

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As we return to school after a long weekend and gear up for the final push ahead of Spring Break, I am glad to have this opportunity to touch base. We have done extremely well with the seven weeks we have had together since returning to school in early January. With far too much to capture in one letter, I would like to touch on some of what has stood out to me in January and February, and then add one moment along the way that has stayed with me since experiencing it. I have been proud of the work students and colleagues have been doing together this winter far too many times to count.

It was a thrill to experience Winter Term without any restrictions for the first time in three years. These first few weeks in January that have us working together in team-taught, project-based, and experiential courses provide a wonderful way to ease into the new year and learn in ways that are very different than what we are accustomed to in the first and second semesters. I love the immersion, the exploration, and the time we all have together to work with a distinct group of students we would not otherwise come to know. My trip around the classroom building during the symposium some of you were able to attend revealed deep and broad experiences that I believe will stay with our students for years to come. I am already looking forward to next year!

During Winter Term, and then over the four weeks that have passed since the second semester started, our winter athletic teams have been working hard, having fun, and representing the school well when competing interscholastically. This Saturday will be the final regular season game date for all of our winter teams, and a number of our second and third teams will be looking to finish off very successful seasons. Our first teams are still battling for New England tournament berths, so this week’s games have high stakes. I hope you will be able to take in some of the action.

We held our winter trustee meetings over the course of two weeks in January and continue to be engaged in thinking about strengthening the school’s present and future. With our center campus and Main Street transformation complete, and work on our new boathouse and faculty housing projects on track to be completed this summer, we are staying busy in the moment as we sharpen our thinking about what lies ahead. We are just four years away from the school’s centennial year, and it is exciting to think about what we might do now to fortify the school as it heads into a second century.

We are also contending with an inflationary environment and how we might confront expenses that are running at higher levels than we experienced one year ago. The Brooks Fund is one important variable in this equation, as a robust annual giving program is a big part of the solution. To that end, I want to thank so many of you who contributed to our Giving Day effort earlier this month. With 888 gifts, and nearly $363,000 raised in just one day, we moved substantially closer to reaching our goal this year. In addition, we will be donating 888 school supply items to Bellesini Academy in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in fulfillment of our pledge to match each gift to the school with a supply Bellesini Academy needs. Your participation and support means an enormous amount. Thank you for helping make this such a successful and impactful day.

With February nearing the end, and the winter season winding down, I do want to single out two more events and areas that deserve highlighting:

First, we have been focused on Black History Month in Chapel throughout February, and have been treated to one extraordinary talk after another, along with readings and music that has afforded all of us an opportunity to reflect and learn together. The entire community has been the beneficiary of the honesty and hope our colleagues and friends have shared with us so generously. As we continue to move in directions that aspire to deepen a sense of belonging for all at Brooks, our time in Chapel this month has served an important role in underlining the need to stay the course. I also want to emphasize the good work Senior Prefect Laura Kahu ’23 has done in organizing so many memorable services. Her leadership of this effort has been extraordinary.

Second, I do hope you will be able to join us on campus for at least one of the three performances of Chicago on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for the Arts. The cast and crew of this wonderful musical have been hard at work pulling the show and set together, dating all the way back to Thanksgiving Break. With a number of vacation stops and starts, our Winter Term mode, and the occasionally disjointed schedule we keep in the winter, the work these students and faculty members have done to get to this point is a huge accomplishment. This group has just three opportunities to share their work with the school community, and we very much hope to have huge crowds in our beautiful theater on all three nights. We hope you will be able to make it.

Finally, this reference to Chicago brings me to the moment I would like to leave you with. It was very nice to see some of you at our first Boston Reception in three years when we gathered at the beginning of the month. We had a wonderful turnout to the event and a wide range of alums, parents, and friends in attendance -- nearly double the number we had in the same space the last time we were there. In an effort to share just a taste of all that goes on at our school with the many attendees who are removed from the day-to-day of school life, a group of students who are in the cast of Chicago made the trip to Boston to perform a few numbers from the show. This might not sound all that complicated, but all of them came to Boston on a bus with no idea about the type of space in which they would be singing and dancing. I met them with a few others as they arrived, and then got out of the way as they began in an unfamiliar setting and in front of an audience that they did not know all that well. They brought down the house, earned thunderous applause, and left this head of school beaming with pride as I took it all in from the sidelines. The group was nothing short of amazing.

This moment stands out for me when thinking about the past seven weeks or so because it represents a rare occasion when the school of the present touches the many who have contributed in their own ways to the foundation we are all so fortunate to be building upon. To see and feel those who have helped make the school what it is today in such close proximity to students who are writing their own Brooks School chapters felt so good. When I think about our school at its best, I think about moments like that.

I do hope this final push to the end of the third marking period and Spring Break goes well for you and your Brooks School child. We feel great about where we are in this 2022-2023 school year and are looking forward to all we will experience together this spring. Take good care and please do be in touch if I can be of help in any way.

Best,

John R. Packard

Head of School