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March 31, 2026
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope all of you enjoyed a nice Spring Break and some family time that is not ordinarily within reach. We are glad to be back in session looking forward to all that is in store over April and May.
With what follows, I am outlining some programming with A Long Talk that we will be engaging in over the next few weeks. We were first introduced to A Long Talk during our Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance in January and have remained in touch with them thinking about a longer-term partnership. The hope over the first part of April is to begin some ongoing work aimed at growing our understanding of the deleterious effects of racism and better position our school to be fostering community and belonging for all of us at Brooks. A Long Talk works to "equip people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to interrupt ignorance in real time — transforming good intentions into consistent action." We are looking forward to learning together.
Here is the schedule for the next few weeks:
Wednesday, April 1
At 7:30 p.m., we will screen a film provided by A Long Talk on The History of Race in America in the theater in the Center for the Arts. We would like boarding and day students to watch the film together. For day students who are not able to attend, we will be able to direct them to watch the film on their own. There are some reflection questions we will all answer at the end of the 80-minute film and we anticipate all students will be done by 9:15 p.m.
Saturday, April 4
We will not be holding classes on Saturday morning, in order to allow school employees to attend a two-hour virtual session with staff from A Long Talk from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Afternoon programs will run, as scheduled.
Tuesday, April 7 or Wednesday, April 8 or Thursday, April 9
All students will attend a similar two-hour virtual session during study hours (8 to 10 p.m.) on one of these three nights. We will be assigning students to three cohorts and they will be able to access the session they are assigned from their dormitory room or home.
Monday, April 13
All students will attend one two-hour, in-person session with A Long Talk staff on campus. Here, too, students will be assigned to one of three sessions, and they will run as follows:
1:15 to 3:15 p.m.
3:45 to 5:45 p.m.
7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14
School employees will attend an in-person session running from 8 to 10 a.m., and we will have a delayed start to school that day. We will share an abbreviated schedule for this day at a later date.
Saturday, April 25
A Long Talk will be on campus to run an in-person session with the school's Board of Trustees. This will not have any impact on student schedules.
We are excited about getting this work started over the course of April and building upon it moving forward. We also appreciate that scheduling conflicts are inevitable and will work with students and families as those conflicts surface. Just let us know. Finally, please be in touch with any questions.
Best,
John R. Packard
Head of School
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