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Dear TCA Families,
I want to thank the PTC for a delightful week of teacher appreciation. I am confident that I speak for the staff when I say that we are all very grateful for the generosity of parents and families. Our bellies are a testament to it!
I would also like to offer a quick reminder regarding the carline. Students should be dropped off through the carline unless prior arrangements have been made with the admin team for front drop-off, the student is a walker, or the student attends before-care. It is inappropriate to drop your students off in front in an attempt to skip the carline. This is akin to butting in front of someone in line. The vast majority of parents make the 5-10 minute morning sacrifice of going through the carline. Refusal to do so sends a clear message to the other families. Officer Tom will continue to remain out front until we are able to resolve this matter.
Our enrollment continues to grow, enrollment for next year will be at 980 students. We will be adding a 5th kindergarten class and our 10th graders will rise to 11th grade. Over 90% of our current student population has committed to returning next year. We are already at 970 students for next year. It is going to be a great year!
Recently, students were issued student ID’s. The ID’s assist in expediting the lunch line and they can be used for checking out books in the library. There are a couple of rumors that may be going around. I would like to take a moment to dispel them. First it is not a policy that students must have their ID in order to receive a hot lunch. While the ID will help expedite lunch, students are still able to get a hot lunch without an ID. Another rumor I have heard is that students will be given detention if they do not have their ID on their person. This is also not something that has been communicated to teachers or students. The ID’s were implemented in an effort to simplify and expedite the lunch line and as well as the process of checking out library books.
As we prepare to celebrate the United States' 250th birthday, I find myself immersed in a number of great works regarding the American intellectual tradition. The Declaration is always the best place to start. The preface of the Declaration of Independence, may be one of the most beautiful government documents written in history. I will quote it at length here for your edification.
“The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
The Constitution was meant to be a means to the achievement of the natural-rights principles of the Declaration. The central ideas being that human beings possess by nature particular rights, given them by God, that any just government would safeguard and promote those rights, and that this would limit the scope and size of the government. Jefferson’s view of the Polis was not unlike that of the ancients, the citizenry should be well-educated and moral. In other words it should seek the highest things - intellectual and moral virtue. If you are wondering where this all went awry, I will leave you with what may have been a turning point. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson was elected president. His view of the declaration and of the scope and size of government can be summed up in the following quotes “If you want to understand the Declaration of Independence, do not repeat the preface.” In other words, let us eliminate the central limiting principle of American government. Wilson would later urge, that “we are not bound to adhere to the doctrines held by the signers of the Declaration of Independence.” The result, the birth of progressivism and the ongoing expansion of centralized government. If you are interested in a great book on the Declaration of Independence, I recommend reading “The Making of the American Mind,” by Matthew Spalding.
At the heart of a Hillsdale K-12, American Classical Education is the recovery of the founding principles upon which American excellence was built. It is a joy to participate in the formation of the young American mind. We are grateful that you have entrusted those young American minds to our care and we look forward to continuing to serve you and your families.
One final note, Mr. William S. Atherton a friend who has been incredibly generous with us passed away this weekend. He passed at the age of 92, he led a long and fruitful life. Bill Atherton was a great friend of Hillsdale and of Tulsa Classical Academy. We are grateful for all that he and his foundation have done for us. Please pray for the Atherton family as they mourn the loss of their patriarch.
Pax et Bonum
Mr. Garcia
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