December 8, 2024

Weekly Information for December 6, 2024

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Dear Parker families, students and staff,


Our first snowfall came early this year. I was pleased that it did not disrupt the school day on Thursday. Based on the chatter walking into school, however, many students would have preferred a snow day. That will come, just not this week. Thank you to the Devens DPW and our custodial team of John, Greg and Ben for keeping the driveways and walkways clear around Parker. We appreciate their hard work this week and every time it snows.


I want to provide a little context on how decisions on cancellations and delays are made. We try to assess the conditions around Devens as well as our neighboring communities. We communicate with DPW and area superintendents in the evening and early morning. If school is cancelled or delayed, we inform students and families using an automated phone service, local media, and our website. We try to communicate by 6:00 am. On delayed openings, school starts at 10:30 am and all the classes are shortened.


There may be some cases where a storm impacts some communities more than others. Because Parker students come from over forty cities and towns throughout central Massachusetts, it’s important for families to exercise personal judgement, based on local conditions, when deciding whether to travel to campus during inclement weather.


Stay safe and warm this winter. Have a great weekend.


Brian

This week’s topics: 
  • Thank You
  • Fall Show
  • PPCC Holiday Appreciation
  • 2025 Student Art Calendars
  • TOYS for TOTS
  • Ski and Snowboard Club
  • Gift Giving Guidelines
  • Yearbooks
  • Winter Sports Registration

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who supported Parker on GivingTuesday this week! Our goal was for 30 current families to give on Tuesday—and we had over 40—which brings us to 21% participation. Our hope is to have at least 50% of families give before the end of the school year. We are grateful for your support. Thank you!


Fall Show

Parker Theater is proud to present Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This timeless tale of love and tragedy will thrill you, make you laugh, and break your heart. There will be dancing, romance, poetry, and lots of swordfights! The show will be performed three times in the Parker Auditorium:

  • Thursday, December 12, 2024, at 7 PM
  • Friday, December 13, 2024, at 7 PM
  • Saturday December 14, 2024, at 7 PM

Tickets can be purchased online before the show for a discounted price of $12.50 (including $2.25 fee) or for $15 cash at the door. Click here to purchase your tickets now. All shows will be general seating.


PPCC Holiday Appreciation

The holidays are the perfect time to show appreciation to the dedicated teachers and staff at Parker! The PPCC is hosting two initiatives to support teachers and staff this holiday season. The first is a supply drive for the staff lounge and Nurse Lisa's office. The second is a breakfast for the staff that will be held on Wednesday, 12/18.


We can't do this without the support of our amazing community! Monetary contributions can be sent via Venmo (see contact below). A limited Amazon wish list was created for direct ordering, with specific requests from the school. Through your generosity, the list has already been fulfilled. Items will be delivered to the school on the morning of the staff breakfast. Lastly, we are looking for a few volunteers to assist with breakfast setup and cleanup, signup link below.


Thank you for considering this opportunity to spread some holiday cheer at Parker this year. The PPCC wishes all Parker community members a joyous holiday season!

 

Student Artwork Calendars

Last Call to order 2025 wall calendars featuring Parker student artwork! Calendars will be available for pick up by December 18th. Proceeds support The Parker Fund. Don’t miss out and order your calendar now! Click here to order.


TOYS for TOTS

MONDAY is the last day to drop off new, unwrapped toys in the TOYS for TOTS donation bin located in the Front Lobby of our school. The toys, books and other gifts collected and distributed by Marines and volunteers to disadvantaged children offer them recognition, confidence and a positive memory for a lifetime. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! For more information, visit www.toysfortots.org.   

 

Ski & Snowboard Club

Registration closes next Friday, 12/13.  Check here for details and to register. Program begins 1/8.


Gift Giving Guidelines

As the holidays approach, please be reminded of the following guidelines on gift giving from the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission that apply to all public employees in Massachusetts:

  • Gifts where the combined value is $50 or more may not be accepted. Whether gifts are given for the holidays, end of year, or other occasion, a public school employee may not accept a gift or gifts from a current student or a parent over the course of an entire year (365 days) with the combined value of $50 or more.
  • Gifts which have a value under $50 are permitted under the law but may be subject to reporting to the State Ethics Commission on a disclosure form to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest. Generally, any item of monetary value gifted during the year, including the holiday period, is subject to disclosure.
  • A teacher may accept a gift to the classroom that is to be used for the class and it will become the property of the school district and not the property of the teacher. Gifts from individual students, parents, classes, or other groups and entities are allowed so long as the gift is to the school. These gifts are not subject to disclosure. Parker will maintain a record of the gift. Such gifts must be in accordance with Parker’s policies.


Yearbooks

Order your 2024-2025 yearbook by January 31st for $5 off regular prices. Hard cover and soft cover books have all the same content while the Division 1 books contain the same whole school and Division 1 sections but not the sections for Division 2, Juniors, Seniors, and senior parent ad pages. Currently, hard cover books are $55,

soft cover books are $35, and Division 1 books are $15.

   

Winter Sports Registration

The Winter Sports season has started, but it's not too late to join a team! Please click here to register: Athlete Registration

Parents of Athletes

Do you know how to find your way to Parker’s playing locations? We have a GREAT feature on our website with interactive Google maps - just enter your address to receive directions to any of our game and meet locations. Find this feature by clicking HERE.

Upcoming Dates of Note:
Thu - Dec 12 Board of Trustees
Thu-Sat; Dec 12-14 Fall Show
Fri - Dec 20 NOON Dismissal
Mon-Tue; Dec 23-31 Holiday Break
Wed - Jan 1 New Years Day (NO SCHOOL)
Thu - Jan 2 Faculty Planning (NO CLASSES)
Fri - Jan 3 Classes Resume

Looking for help with or concerning: Please contact:
a specific class or assignment the teacher of that class (see Parker email list)
technical support email: helpdesk@theparkerschool.org
your family's or student's health email: lzick@theparkerschool.org
mental health/emotional support needs email: skelly@theparkerschool.org
food insecurity/free and reduced school lunch needs email: mmckenna@theparkerschool.org

The Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School is committed to equal employment and educational opportunity for all members of the school community and prohibits discrimination on the basis of the basis of race, color, gender, pregnancy or pregnancy status, religion, gender identity, age, national origin, sexual orientation, homelessness, or disability, in the operation of the educational programs, activities, or employment policies.

Recent Posts

By Cindy Johnson September 19, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, It was great to see everyone at Back-to-School night last evening. Thank you for joining us and experiencing Parker as your child does. It was a positive and affirming night for all of us. Parker was founded in 1995 by local parents who wanted to do school differently. They imagined a school where their child was challenged to use their mind well, where they would be known deeply by their teachers in a community with a culture of decency and trust. We are proud to have lived that mission, in partnership with Parker families. We look forward to seeing you at PLP conferences on Friday, October 17th. Your child’s advisor will send details and an opportunity to sign up for a 30-minute session soon. Fall PLP conferences are an essential opportunity for the student to create their own learning goals for the year, with support from their family and advisor. These goals are often aligned to the Parker Habits of Learning including inquiry, organization, collaboration, reflection and perseverance. Students prepare their plans and prep for the meeting in Advisory across the next month. It is a productive and iterative process with meaningful results for our students. Thank you for your help. We appreciate the leadership of the Parker Parent and Caregiver Community (PPCC), founded two years ago to foster an involved and inclusive community. All families are welcome to join the Facebook group at Parker Parent and Caregiver Community | Facebook . Thank you to the PPCC for everything that they do to build and sustain our community, including the warm welcome you extended to new students and families across the spring and summer. We are all better for it. Please join us for a coffee with Bex on Wednesday, October 1st at 8:30 AM in Room 40. As our new Principal, Bex welcomes your perspective and feedback. Join us to say hi. Thank you for your partnership! Brian
By Cindy Johnson September 13, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, I love the start of a new school year—not just because the empty building comes back to life with the presence of the students, faculty, and families and not just because it is a chance for a new beginning—though I do appreciate those things. What I enjoy most about the start of the school year is the way it sets the important foundation for everything that comes next. The thing about foundations is that they are not particularly glamorous, they are rarely the star of the show. Not many of us notice the foundations of buildings we enter or live in—unless there are problems with them. A good, solid foundation does its job without calling attention to itself, and the foundational ideas and beliefs at the core of what we do and believe at Parker is what I am noticing and appreciating in the foundation building I see happening every day. Here at Parker, the Common Principles are the ideas that matter most to our foundation and the most important work in our classrooms, hallways, clubs, and teams is teaching, practicing, and holding ourselves accountable to the ways we live those out in the day to day work. What does that look like? It looks like extra time in advisory and divisional gatherings in these first few weeks, fostering relationship building with new teachers and new classmates. It looks like learning about the advisory routines for Academic Advising and Academic Block. It looks like reviewing and learning about divisional norms and expectations. When I think about how this translates to classrooms, I am struck by the foundation building in the classes that book-end a student’s academic experience at Parker—7th Seminar which introduces key concepts like the Habits of Learning* , self-advocacy, and the process of revision, and Senior Seminar which challenges students to apply all their Habits and Skills to a year-long independent project they design. Some of what we work really intentionally to build with our students across their years with us is the willingness to try hard things, the perseverance to keep going, and the ability to reflect and revise based on feedback. We intentionally revisit these foundations every year. We intentionally ask our students to apply them to new and more challenging tasks as they progress from division to division. We intentionally shift more and more of the work involved in these tasks to students so that they each build their own solid foundation. Like all good foundations, these might not feel like the most exciting or glamorous work we do. Certainly, big demonstrations of learning like Gateways and Senior Exhibitions get more fanfare—but what I want to celebrate and call to your attention is how every little thing we do now enables those “bigger” things later. So, as we wrap up our first five-day week of the school year, I invite you all to notice and appreciate the foundations you might see being built for the year ahead. Happy Friday and happy weekend! Bex *The eight habits of learning at Parker are Inquiry, Expression, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Organization, Attentiveness, Involvement and Reflection.
By Cindy Johnson September 7, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, It is with great pride that I reflect on the first two weeks of our new school year. We all started new routines, embraced our new classes, and made new friends. Congratulations on a terrific launch! Parker was founded on the belief we could do school differently, challenging students to use their minds well in a culture of decency and trust. It starts with knowing our students well, as learners and human beings. We believe that all students can succeed and thrive – and we provide the personalized support and encouragement that students need. Our students and staff work incredibly hard to meet these high standards. As our founders Ted and Nancy Sizer wrote in The Students Are Watching, “What we need to consider and then to create is the kind of environment [that convinces young people that they] are in a place which believes in them – and from which they can, therefore, learn well and deeply.” Through the 10 Common Principles and their leadership as co-principals, Ted and Nancy set the standards for academic rigor, student engagement and community that define Parker today. We are proud of all the ways that our students embrace and live these values every day at Parker. For example, our student Ambassadors and Peer Leaders came in over the summer to welcome and support new students and families. Their kindness and positive energy created a welcoming environment for our newest students. Many of these same students are serving as Peer Mentors to Division 1 advisories. They serve as role models, leading different games and facilitating discussions about school culture. They also run the Halloween party, Mirror Lake trip, Film Festival, and Field Day for Division 1. Our Teaching Assistants (TAs) provide similar support within our academic classes. TAs in 7th Seminar, Spanish, Wellness, and MST provide wisdom, small group facilitation, and one-on-one support. They help set the tone for the class, model appropriate participation and collaboration skills, and make connections with individual students. For example, this week in 7th Seminar, our TAs helped students learn some of the technology that we use to communicate while reflecting on the importance of connecting with their teachers. Finally, our Division 3 students served as leaders and role models during the first Super Advisory yesterday, leading their cross-divisional groups in activities to help build community and connection. They modeled taking risks and the importance of building community. Thank you to everyone who makes Parker a special place to learn and grow up. Together, we are off to a great start!  Brian
By Cindy Johnson August 30, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, Welcome Back! We are delighted to be back to school, to welcome almost 100 new students and families, and to begin another school year together. Thank you to our Peer Leaders, PPCC and everyone on staff who helped to welcome new students and families to Parker. Everyone at Parker experienced changes this year, as we walked through the renovated walkway, welcomed our new Principal, Bex Wilucz, and adjusted to new schedules and routines. We are so proud of all our students for embracing these changes, for doing your best work and for being supportive of your classmates. Parker is an extraordinary place because of you! Thank you and congratulations for a terrific first week. We are all looking forward to another great year at Parker. Enjoy the long weekend. Brian
By Cindy Johnson June 14, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, Thank you for a great year! We are so proud of our students for your hard work and tremendous growth all year. Congratulations to all the students who Gatewayed over the past two weeks. Gateways are a public exhibition and celebration of learning for our students and our whole community. It is also a terrific way to end the year. We look forward to our last day of school – the Big End – on Monday. We welcome the Juniors back from their retreat and unveil the Essential Question for next year. It is a fun and aspirational way to transition. We also start the front walkway construction project later that day, to be finished in time for the start of school in August. The Main Office will be in Room 28 all summer. Have a great summer. Take advantage of the break to try something new, read a good book, work a summer job. We will be back together soon enough. Brian
By Cindy Johnson June 7, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, Congratulations to students in the Class of 2025. We are very proud of our Seniors! As I said on Wednesday night, graduation is a big deal for the graduates, their families and our school. 30 years ago, a small group of local families and educators were bold enough to imagine this little school, to draft a charter, find a building, and convince enough families and staff to give Parker a chance. From the very beginning, we put students at the center of all learning, challenged them to use their minds well in a community of decency and trust. 30 years later, we conferred diplomas to 56 exceptional young people in the Class of 2025. Congratulations to our students – to their families and their teachers – and to everyone who played a role over the last 30 years! Best of luck to all the students participating in Gateway presentations today and next week. This can be a stressful and exhilarating moment for our students, an authentic opportunity to reflect on their learning as they progress to the next level. Our students are focused and determined to do their best work – and then we celebrate their learning and success. It is a very meaningful way to end the year. We also look forward to Junior retreat and divisional trips next week and the Big End on Monday, June 16th. Summer vacation starts at Noon on June 16th. Thank you for your hard work, positive attitude and for supporting one another. We look forward to a strong end to a terrific year.  Brian