First of all, I look forward to seeing you at Open House tonight. Stop by and introduce yourself and say hello if you see me! I love this night because you get to walk in your student’s shoes and hear the wonderful ways they will learn and grow from the tutelage of caring adults. Please enjoy and take time to soak in all the wonderful offerings throughout our building.
While this week has not been easy for our HP community and other communities around the globe who have experienced tragedies, I have great faith in the ability of our HP community to bounce back and celebrate our greatest strengths. First, we need to address the harm. As I have communicated, a social media post that targeted multiple members of our HP family is causing many to be in pain this week. Right now, I challenge us to align our actions with our values, even if it is uncomfortable. I want to say thank you to so many of you for reaching out to me and many members of our staff in support of our efforts to eradicate bullying, harassment, and hate in our school. It takes courage to take accountability, to be an upstander, to reflect on our choices and to wake up the next day as a better version of ourselves. I’ve seen many do so this week. I encourage you to talk to your students about the impact harassment and bullying has on the targets and the community. Raise a few points and ask some reflective questions:
- Do you fully understand that once you post online you no longer retain privacy and you lose control of what happens with your post?
- How can you consider the impact your words have on others and empathize by thinking of times you were hurt?
- How can you support those who have been targeted by acts of bullying by both your words and your actions?
- How can we as a community do better?
- What gets in our way of speaking up and out against bullying, racism, and harassment?
- Can you challenge yourself to set one goal to close the gap between who you are and who you want to be?
Not only do we reflect on ways we can improve, we should also celebrate our strengths, which are numerous. Just last week in my family email, I shared a list of ways we live our values. Let’s hold both truths right now. There are many actions that should be celebrated and some that need correction. I know that we will continue to have many celebratory events, positive decisions, actions, and moments as Giants.
I look forward to the buzz of activity tonight and welcoming you into our home!!! I hope you can make it, as each of you are valued members of our community and we wouldn’t be the same without your partnership!
As always, thank you for sharing your students with us this week and beyond,
Holly Fleischer
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