PHS Friday Letter

Dear Parents

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 12:58:37 -0800

For this last Friday letter of the year Karen, Lalitha and I have all written short pieces to close the school year.

I can’t possibly thank everyone personally for all of the ways you have each contributed to this school year. Both professionally and personally I am incredibly appreciative of your support. Thank you for the many, many, many contributions you have made and continue to make to the school on behalf of the children.

Please take the time to thank your child’s teachers in the next few days. Words of appreciation and gratitude mean a lot to teachers. In my closet at home I have a huge box of cards and handwritten notes collected from my days as a teacher. The sentiments contained in that box are very special and powerful. Teaching can be an isolating job — lots of contact with wonderful children and very little contact with adults. So please take a few minutes to send an email, write a short note, or deliver a hug letting your teachers know how much you appreciate the role they have played in your child’s life during the past school year.

Enjoy the long days of summer. I look forward to seeing you August 31 for the first day of school.

Ann Meissner
Associate Director and Lower School Dean

Good Intentions, Bad Impact

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 12:36:18 -0800

I just ordered a book called Breaking the Code of Good Intentions, which examines the way some people dismiss or diminish the negative experiences of others by pointing to well-intentioned actions. The author claims that “We meant well” can all too easily be a way of avoiding accountability for causing harm. The protest of good intentions ignores bad outcomes.

Commencement

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 12:34:17 -0800

Commencement symbolizes a beginning, origination, or introduction not only for the students in eighth grade, but also for all PHS students. For those in kindergarten through fourth grades, it means a promotion to the next grade level and the opportunity to work with a new teacher. In fifth grade, commencement signals the beginning of middle school and the introduction of advising, study hall, and park lunch. For the graduates of 2005, the culmination of their academic experiences at Presidio Hill School is only surpassed by the start of high school.

Drama

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 12:33:10 -0800

Well, it is the evening of the second to the last Thursday of the second to the last week of school in 2005 (not that I am keeping track…) and I am sitting down to reflect on goodbyes. I am realizing that the peculiar little soft and quiet sadness that has been swimming around in my heart over these past couple of weeks may be due to the fact that it’s time for me to say goodbye to some amazing people that have been a beautiful part of my life over the last six years. I am coming to recognize this soft, quiet feeling as loss, and have begun to treat it with its requisite respect, and gentleness.