May 29, 2026

Weekly Information for May 29, 2026

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Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff,


The last month of the school year brings a mix of emotions for all of us. We are excited, tired, and hopeful. We are busy preparing for Senior Exhibitions and Gateways, authentic demonstrations of learning that are both celebratory and stressful. We are so proud of all our students for whom this is a major milestone and capstone experience. We just set up the tent and staging for graduation, the final milestone on their Parker career. Congratulations to our Seniors and their friends, family and teachers who supported them. Graduation is a celebration for our whole community and an important moment to say thank you. This will be our 27th Commencement exercises on Wednesday, June 3rd. We will miss our Seniors as they head off to life after Parker. Thank you for making us proud.


Many times across the school year, we have asked our students to represent Parker to the outside world. Whether welcoming prospective students and families, competing in athletics, robotics, math team or other co-curriculum competitions, speaking at conferences, or welcoming visitors – our students show the value of a Parker education. We are sad to say goodbye, but honored to share our graduates with the rest of the world!


Later next week, we welcome everyone to join us for an end-of-year celebration. There will be live music, fundraiser raffle baskets, and good cheer for families and friends of Parker. Join us on Friday, June 5th at 4:30 pm at Sterling Street on Devens. Please RSVP here so we know you’re coming.


Thank you for celebrating our students!



Brian

This week’s topics: 
  • Noon dismissals
  • Observing Memorial Day
  • Volleyball Club
  • Fundraising for Manning's School
  • Loaves & Fishes Food Drive
  • From SEPAC
  • Lost & Found - FINAL CHECK!
  • Event Parking Reminder
  • Yearbook Last Call
Noon Dismissals

Reminder the following dates are noon dismissals: Wednesday, June 3; Wednesday, June 17; and Thursday, June 18. Please arrange to have your student picked up at noon, as there is no after-school coverage and the building closes. The Big End (last day of school) is scheduled for Thursday, June 18.


Observing Memorial Day

Last Wednesday, May 20th, we were fortunate enough to have Randy Miller, a member of the Army National Guard and a Parker parent, visit our school to teach our students about the significance and history of Memorial Day. Thank you to Mr. Miller for sharing your knowledge with us, and to all who have served our country.


Volleyball Club

A big shoutout to all of our volleyball club participants during our 2026 season! The students have been practicing drills, serves, and game play for the past couple of months, and they showed it all off in our final color-play-day! It was an afternoon full of fun competition and lots of powerful plays! Thank you to the teachers and staff who joined us to play as well!


Fundraising for Manning's School

For the next two weeks, between June 1st and June 12th, Marena’s advisory is raising money for Manning’s School. Manning’s School is a public school in Jamaica whose building was destroyed during Hurricane Melissa in October 2025. Each advisory has been tasked with raising $25, with the reward being that their advisor will wear a silly outfit to the Big End. To contribute, students can bring in cash (every penny counts!) and put it in any advisor’s container.


Loaves & Fishes Food Drive

Alec’s, Aliza’s, and Jo’s advisories community service project is kicking off a food drive to support Loaves & Fishes in providing summer lunches for local students! We are collecting non-perishable breakfast and lunch items, and we invite your student to participate by bringing in donations. Collection bins will be located in the school lobby from May 26 through June 13. Thank you for helping us support our community and ensure all students have access to nutritious meals this summer!


SEPAC Meeting

If you are the parent of a student with a disability who has either a 504 Accommodation Plan or an IEP and you would like to be placed on the mailing list for the Parker Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC), please submit your email address to: parkerpac7@gmail.com

SEPAC will hold its next meeting virtually on Thursday, June 4, 2026 at 8:30 PM. A virtual link is included: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88401567242?pwd=6vJtz9B53ExBhtUQwmvuaY3qAFb7sb.1 Passcode: 676227


Lost & Found - FINAL Check!

You are welcome to check the LOST & FOUND at any time during these final weeks of school to see if there are any items belonging to you or your loved ones! ALL unclaimed items will be donated after the school year ends.


Event Parking Reminder

During school events (e.g., Graduation, Gateways), our on-campus parking is insufficient for our whole school community. Please remember and join in our community norms by parking in the Museum Lot (P-5), located across Jackson Road, allowing guests with limited mobility to use the available spaces on campus. Thank you!


Yearbook Last Call

Yearbooks will be distributed on the last day of school during the Big End (June 18, noon dismissal). Only a limited number of yearbooks remain available for purchase. Hard cover books are $60, soft cover books are $40, and Division 1 books are $20. Hard cover and soft cover books all have 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.


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:
Wed - Jun 3 Noon Dismissal
Wed - Jun 3 Graduation
Tues - Jun 9 Gateways Begin
Thu - Jun 11 Board of Trustees
Mon-Wed - Jun 15-17 Junior Retreat
Tue - Jun 16 Divisional Trip Day
Wed - Jun 17 Noon dismissal
Thu - Jun 18 Big End - Last Day of School
Thu - Jun 18 Noon Dismissal
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 race, color, sex, pregnancy, religion, gender identity, age, national origin, sexual orientation, homelessness, or disability, in the operation of the educational programs, activities, or employment policies

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Copy of Weekly Information for November 9th, 2026

By Xalli Gordon-Chavez • November 6, 2026
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Weekly Information for October 30th, 2026

By Xalli Gordon-Chavez • November 2, 2026
Parker Weekly Family Email for Friday, October 30, 2026 Dear Parker students, families and staff, What a community does together, when and why we gather, and how a group notes and celebrates accomplishments not only reflects what we value but also shapes who we are. It probably goes without saying that as a school, we focus significantly on the learning our students do and the aspects of the program that support intellectual growth. We showcase and celebrate the academic work and learning of our students in many ways—and I would argue that it is just as important that we celebrate and recognize the athletic and artistic accomplishments of our community and that we make regular efforts to build relationships and have fun together. Recently we held the annual 4 square tournament, anticipated yearly by students and faculty alike. This tradition always garners players and fans from throughout the community from Div 1 to the faculty. This past Wednesday featured another fun tradition: the Division 1 Advisory Halloween Party. This event is possible because every advisory takes some ownership for the event. Each group, with the support of their Peer Mentors, hosted a “booth” and students took turns facilitating and playing a series of games. People had fun together guessing the amount of candy in a jar, bowling, spinning wheels of fortune, and racing to unwrap objects from a ball of saran wrap. Events like these demonstrate the value of weaving joy and fun into the serious work and learning we do together in this community. As the fall sports seasons close out or move into post-season, we also have several additional athletic accomplishments to share: the boys’ varsity soccer team celebrated their seniors this week after a final game where all 3 senior members of the team scored goals. Congratulations to the team and seniors San Marshall, Will Schneider, and Connor Wentrup! Our girls’ varsity soccer team has qualified for the state tournament for the 7 th year in a row. Congratulations to the team and their seniors: Keira Collins, Gracie Condon, Fiona Connelly, Elsie Mitchell, Ellen Moriarty, Bontu Piazza, and Delaney Rezac! Turning our eye toward the cross country teams, who ended the regular season undefeated with the middle school boys’ and girls’ teams winning their respective championships, both JV cross-country teams finishing first, and both varsity teams finishing as runners up. Congratulations to all our runners and especially to seniors Elsa Pierpont, Heidi Lewis, Cy Lance, Danny Garrison, Nathan Davis, and Liam Mullen. Looking ahead, we invite and encourage you to join in supporting and celebrating the passions and hard work of our community members in the weeks ahead. Next week, our theater crew will be putting on their production of Puffs. See below for more details and please join the audience for one of the performances. Additionally, the cross-country middle school state finals are November 7 and high school state championships are November 21. Please consider being a spectator and supporter at either or both events. Wishing you all a sunny and safe weekend. Best, Bex

Weekly Information for October 26th, 2026

By Xalli Gordon-Chavez • October 26, 2026
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Weekly Information for October 16th, 2026

By Xalli Gordon-Chavez • October 20, 2026
Parker Weekly Family Email for Friday, October 16th, 2026 Dear Parker students, families and staff, There’s a “slow hobby” movement that seems to have reached a saturation point in my online media algorithms. Some examples of slow hobbies are knitting, gardening, and reading, but there are many others. At this point, I feel like I see references to this topic or the benefits of slow hobbies relatively routinely, and it got me thinking differently about the upsides of taking time and slowing down, something that is actually quite counter cultural in our fast moving, technology-oriented world. One thing I have learned through all this recent exposure to slow hobbies and their benefits is that there are actually two kinds of dopamine, a key reward chemical in our brains that relates to not only motivation but also aspects of our physical health such as sleep regulation or immune system functioning. There is fast dopamine and there is slow dopamine—and these slow hobbies release slow dopamine, which results in longer lasting, positive effects. To get these longer lasting results though, we have to be willing to put in some time and effort. We have to stick with something and sustain it. As students and advisors wrap up their work documenting Personal Learning Plan (PLP) goals and strategies after last week’s conferences, it occurred to me that this goal setting work is an exercise in slow dopamine release. Students take time to identify real things they want to work on throughout the year, and they develop clear plans and strategies. These goals have the potential to help shape a student’s focus and attention on not just what they are doing in school but how they are developing as a person and learner through that process. At the end of the year, being able to achieve a long-term goal like those our students have just spent time setting in their PLPs also helps release slow dopamine. Along with that, we hope focusing on and achieving these big goals will also help students discover some personal reward in their learning experiences and the accomplishments that can only happen over time. Best wishes for a restful weekend.  Bex

Weekly Information for October 9th, 2026

By Xalli Gordon-Chavez • October 9, 2026
Parker Weekly Family Email for Friday, October 9th, 2026 Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, Thank you for joining us for today’s PLP meetings. We appreciate the hard work that students and advisors put into the day, creating goals and strategies for the year ahead. Many of our students were both nervous and excited to lead their PLP meetings. Congratulations on this important milestone. Why do Parker students write Personal Learning Plans and why do we dedicate one day in October and another in March to review PLPs with families? PLPs are an essential component of our personalized education, in direct partnership with families. PLPs provide a structured opportunity for students to develop the Habits of Learning – skills such as perseverance, organization and reflection. PLPs help students develop agency in their own learning, authoring their own goals and strategies that they personally embrace. Our mission is “to move the child to the center of the education process and to interrelate the several subjects of the curriculum in such a way as to enhance their meaning for the child” (Charter, October 1994). Thank you for helping us to do just that. We want to commend all the students and teachers who attended Nature’s Classroom this week. It was a tremendous opportunity for students to step outside their comfort zone and learn in a different setting. We are proud of you for embracing this opportunity. As Kalista and Matt wrote to Division 1 families upon their return, “we were really impressed by the resilience, good humor, and positive middle school energy our students demonstrated here.” Welcome home. Finally, thanks to teachers Anna, Alec, and Gale and students Lana, Lindsay, and Freddie for representing Parker at the CLEE Fall Meeting this week. They shared their work with educators from around the country, presenting our hands-on and reflective approach to learning. We appreciate the many ways that our students and teachers help to disseminate our work. We were recently rated by DESE as “exemplary” at dissemination, a responsibility of charter schools to serve as laboratories and share our learning with others. We are always proud to share our work and learn from others. Have a great weekend. Brian

Weekly Information for October 2nd, 2026

By Xalli Gordon-Chavez • October 5, 2026
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, Dear members of the Parker community, The start of something new often feels quite busy to me. Part of that is, I think, the very real number of logistics that need to be managed and the time it takes to get into a routine, and part of it is the emotion that comes with settling in—sometimes excitement, sometimes nervousness, sometimes other feelings—as we get used to how this new thing works and it moves toward familiar. This September has held true to that idea as we all settled into the new school year together and it has felt busy. This past Tuesday, we hosted three different events—Parker 101 for our new families, an event focused on explaining the way assessment and feedback works at Parker as well as how PLP conferences work; Support our Seniors Night, where families share a potluck dinner and hear about the important components of the Senior Project, Senior year, and the path to graduation; and Community Connections Night, where our Seniors share information about and gather resources from community members to support their year-long, individually-designed Senior Projects. In Parker 101, several of our students shared work from their Division 1 gateway portfolios and explained the assignment, what skills they worked to demonstrate, how the revision process works and what they learned by engaging in the work they did. They also talked about the Habits of Learning and how reflecting on their work and learning helped them to learn about themselves and grow. Some of our student presenters’ parents and guardians joined us as well to reflect on their own experiences as they have supported their students through learning at Parker, including helping new families understand how PLP conferences work and the important role families play in that process. As we closed out our Parker 101 session, families were invited to cross the hall and see what their students will be doing when they are seniors—designing a year-long, independent project that includes research, experiential learning, collaboration, developing a product, and presenting their work. I can’t think of a better way to explain what learning at Parker looks like than to let our students speak for themselves and show their real work. It was a gift to hear students reflecting on their learning in Div 1 and to see how all of the Skill Areas and Habits of Learning come together to help students work through their Senior Projects. We always hope that the pieces will come together in the end as we get things started, and this week reminded me not only that the pieces do come together quite nicely, but also of the many different ways they can do so here. That, I believe, is one of the strengths that help us as a school to support students as individual learners and that allows us to balance the Common Principles of goals applying to all students and personalization. Wishing you all the best as we move into October.  Bex