October 6, 2023

Weekly Information for October 6th

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Dear Parker families, students and staff,


Thank you to everyone who joined us on Thursday evening for Community Connections and Parker 101. Community Connections is a terrific kickoff to the senior year where we celebrate our seniors as they launch their senior projects. Students shared their terrific project ideas and solicited feedback and connections. Parker 101 is an opportunity for families new to Parker to learn about our program and how best to support their child. Thanks to everyone who supported our newest and our oldest students.



As I wrote previously, this is an important year of reflection and revision, something that we do well at Parker. We invite you to share your voice and perspective across the year in a variety of ways, including interviews, surveys, focus groups and working groups. Our intent is to listen, learn and improve.


Strategic Plan


We are embarking on a strategic plan to position ourselves for long-term sustainability and growth. The result will be a five-year Strategic Plan that tells a compelling story of who we are and who we want to become, stays true to the Ten Common Principles, names our challenges and their root causes, and clearly articulates our priorities.


NEASC Self-Study


We are also launching a self-study under the guidance of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Every ten years schools undergo a self-study and NEASC accreditation process. We look closely at the elements of our educational program, including the culture, support and practice of student learning at Parker. We welcome NEASC into our school this March. Together we will highlight areas of transformative practice as well as 2-3 priorities for improvement. This is an invaluable opportunity to analyze our practice, all from a position of strength.


As part of this effort, we will be asking students to share their feedback in a survey to be administered in advisories. We are also seeking parent feedback. Please take a few moments and complete the following survey. We ask about the learning and growth opportunities for your child at Parker.


NEASC PARENT/GUARDIAN SURVEY


Finally, we are looking for a few parents and students to join the NEASC self-study committee this year, participating in 1-2 meetings per month at Parker. We generally meet on Wednesdays from 2:00 – 4:00 pm. We welcome parent and student voices to this effort. If you are interested, please complete this form by Thursday, October 12th.


NEASC Self-Study Committee


Thank you for lending your voice across the year. Enjoy the long weekend. See you on Tuesday.


Brian

This week’s topics:
  • PLP Conferences
  • T-shirts for Sale during PLPs
  • Senior Projects—offer your ideas!
  • Parker 101 Slides Available
  • Current Lottery Applications
  • OneNote Links Sent
  • Parker Band
  • Carpool List and Student Directory
  • Flu Vaccine Clinic
  • Optional COVID Testing
  • MART Transportation
OneNote Links Sent


Emails were sent to parents/guardians today with OneNote Links to student classes. These links allow parents/guardians to access class/project information as well as your own student’s rubrics. More information about what these are and how you might use them is in the email. We will have several drop-in sessions to help parents who want support in learning how to use this resource. The first one will be on PLP day, when help will be available all day. Plan to stop by the lobby before or after your PLP if you want a mini-lesson on how to use this resource!


School Photo Retakes


Photographers will be in the lobby NEXT Monday morning, October 2nd, from 7:45-9:45 AM to take photos of anyone who missed having their photo taken on registration day or anyone who would like a retake.


PLP Conferences on October 13th


Families should have heard from their child's advisors to set up a meeting time for PLP Conferences (Personal Learning Plans). This is a student/family/advisor conference – if you are new to Parker, your child’s advisor will give you a longer introduction to the process!


PLP Conferences are one of the traditions that help us to know our students well and support them in being at the center of their own education by setting their own goals for the year.  Please look for the email with a booking link from your child’s advisor and select an appointment time on Oct 13. If you have not yet received an email/booking link from your child’s advisor, you can reach out to mbeganski@theparkerschool.org and she can send the link to you (it is advisory-specific). If you cannot make any of the times on 10/13 or if you need to attend remotely, please email your child’s advisor to set that up. There are no regular classes scheduled on PLP day and your student’s attendance is based on attending the conference.


T-Shirts for Sale During PLPs


Are you a fan of this year’s hot pink Parker Faculty shirts? If yes, then you’re in luck! A limited number of hot pink Parker Community t-shirts will be on sale during PLPs for $15 each. They have a slight twist on the faculty design but follow the same theme. There will also be more green Parker EST 1995 shirts available for $10 each. Look for them in the lobby during PLPs.


Class of 2024 Senior Projects - Offer Your Ideas!


Thanks to everyone who was able to join us at the Class of 2024’s Community Connections Night. If you weren’t able to attend, please spend a few minutes listening to the Senior Project topics that students plan to pursue this year! The link below will give you access to each senior’s “elevator speech” and provide a space for you to offer ideas, resources, contacts or other helpful information that can push their projects forward!


Parker Class of 2024 Senior Projects: CLICK HERE to share ideas, resources, and contacts!


Respond with ideas for a few seniors or all! Remember to click submit at the bottom of the form when you are done! Thanks! The Senior Seminar Teachers (Debbie, Jim, Ryan and Henry)


Parker 101 Slides Available


To new (and new-ish) Parker families: Thanks to all of you who were able to join us for one or both of the Parker 101 sessions in the last two weeks. If you were not able to join us (or if you were there but want to look more closely at the material), you can access the powerpoint slides we used in both sessions HERE to see the headlines on the topics we discussed. If you have questions, Deb Merriam will be in the lobby most of the day on PLP Friday and she would be happy to answer your questions about the program.


Current Lottery Applications


Reminder lottery applications are being accepted for current openings in grades 7 and 9 until Friday, October 20th. There are no current openings in grade 8 at this time. If more applications are received than there are available spaces, a lottery will be drawn on October 23 at 4:00 PM. Enrollment offers will be made with an intended start date of November 6, 2023. We are also accepting applications for students entering grades 7, 8 and 9 next year until Thursday, February 1st. Direct interested families to www.parker.school/enroll.


OneNote Links Sent


Reminder emails were sent to parents/guardians last week with OneNote Links to student classes. These links allow parents/guardians to access class/project information as well as your own student’s rubrics. More information about what these are and how you might use them is in the email. We will have several drop-in sessions to help parents who want support in learning how to use this resource. The first one will be on PLP day, when help will be available all day. Plan to stop by the lobby before or after your PLP if you want a mini-lesson on how to use this resource!


Parker Band Update


Reminder if you missed the informational meeting, you are still welcome to sign up provided you know the basics of playing your woodwind, brass, or percussion instrument. Our rehearsals began on Tuesday, October 3rd in Room 13. Students can plan to come to rehearsals every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30-4:30 PM. We will run through our concert in mid-January, and we plan to offer another term starting in the spring semester. The details for signing up are:


  1. If you filled out a survey at our meeting, we have your information, so no further info is required. Skip to step 3.
  2. If you missed the meeting, please fill out this sign-up form and then continue to step 3.
  3. To pay the $100 activity fee for the semester, just complete your payment through Parker’s Unipay webpage, clicking the “band” and “fall” options from the list. You can also bring a check or cash to the office in an envelope with your name and “Band fee” written on it.

Students can drop your instrument off in Room 13 before advisory on rehearsal days if you’d like. Please contact us with any questions: Jim jdesmond@theparkerschool.org or Marena mcole@theparkerschool.org


Updated Carpool List & Student Directory


Reminder a copy of the updated Carpool List may be picked up at the front office (hard copy only).

Also, a printed Student Directory can be purchased at the front office for $3. If you would prefer to have a directory mailed to you, you can send $5 to Parker School or pay $5 online via UniPay under Misc, Fees, Other.


Flu Vaccine Clinic


Reminder a flu vaccine clinic will be held during PLP Day on Friday, October 13th, from 8:00 AM – 4:00 AM. Please CLICK HERE to register!


Please register now so enough vaccines are brought for everyone. The COVID vaccine won’t be available until October. More information regarding the COVID-19 vaccine is forthcoming.


Optional COVID-19 Testing


Reminder optional symptomatic testing is available for staff and students while they are at school. Please click the link below to consent to symptomatic rapid antigen testing: https://forms.office.com/r/c1wSd55c7X


Please reach out to Nurse Lisa with any questions at lzick@theparkerschool.org.


MART Transportation


Reminder to click here for more information about a potential shuttle from Bolton, Boxborough, Littleton or Stow. MART currently provides taxi/livery service from these towns but are willing to start shuttles with enough participation. Contact Keary Connors at keary.connors@mrta.us if interested.


Click here to learn more about taxi/livery service from Bolton, Boxborough, Lancaster, Littleton, Lunenburg, Sterling, or Stow.


MART also offers shuttle service to and from the Boys and Girls Club of Fitchburg and Leominster. Pickup is at 7:45 AM and drop off is at 4:15 PM at BGCFL. Cost is $4/ride or $80/month. Call MART directly at 800-922-5636 Option 3 by at least 4:30 PM the day before the ride is needed. Ask for the Devens Workforce Ride Program – Parker Charter and Boys and Girls Club.

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 under “Students & Parents>Athletics>Directions to Athletic Venues” or just click HERE.

Upcoming Dates of Note:
Mon - Oct 9 Fall Holiday - No School
Fri - Oct 13 Fall PLPs - No Classes
Wed - Oct 25 PSATs
Wed - Oct 25 Café Wednesday
Thu - Oct 26 Board of Trustees
CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PARKER FUND!
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.

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Weekly Information for October 10, 2025

By Cindy Johnson • October 10, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, I have been spending a lot of my time in Advisory lately—visiting sometimes with 2 or 3 advisories in a day. These visits are helping me to meet one of my goals for the fall which is to get to know all our students—yes, to learn almost 400 names (first names first—last names later…) but also to know our students as more than names and faces. During these visits, I have had the privilege of asking and answering questions about each other like “What is something you are proud of?,” drawing 10 second animals, sharing a meal, playing 4 on a couch, playing reverse charades, and sharing a rose, bud, and thorn for the week. Earlier this year, I talked about building a strong foundation at the start of the year. In that metaphor, the advisory program is a cornerstone of our foundation at Parker, with four important purposes that include academic advising, community service, community conversations, and group dynamics/recreation. It’s a student’s advisor who checks in with them weekly about their academic work and progress. It’s the advisor who coordinates and hosts the Personal Learning Plan (PLP) conferences twice a year. It’s the advisor who supports this small group of students in building community during morning and afternoon advisory each day. Advisory is at the heart of so much of what we do as a school to get to know our students well and foster community. When we have an important issue to discuss or want to learn about something together, we will turn to community conversations and our “Super Advisories,” cross-age constellations of multiple Advisory groups. Advisory is critical not only to how we personalize the experience of school for students but also to the work of fostering a tone of decency and trust in our community, two of our 10 Common Principles. In the last thirty years, more schools have developed and implemented advisory programs. I see this as a sign they are recognizing something we have always believed: that when students feel a sense of safety, belonging, and community, they engage more fully in their learning, and that when at least one adult knows a student well, they are more successful in school. I hope you will get your own glimpse into the special and important work our advisors do through the upcoming PLP conferences—and I hope you will build your own relationship with your student’s advisor so that we can partner in supporting our students as they learn. Wishing you a restful long weekend ahead! Bex

Weekly Information for October 3, 2025

By Cindy Johnson • October 3, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, It was a busy and exciting week at Parker. We have certainly hit our stride a month into the new school year. Thank you to everyone who joined us for Community Connections Night at Parker. Our Seniors did a terrific job describing their Senior Projects and welcoming ideas, connections, opportunities and resources as they launch. We appreciate all the families and friends who joined us. You provide invaluable guidance to our students! If you were unable to join us but still want to share your suggestions, please review the students’ topic areas in the document linked below, and then you may contact the Senior Seminar teacher. Class of 2026 Senior Project Declarations of Interest On Wednesday, we spent a lovely day at Mirror Lake on Devens with our Division 1 students. We do this trip every two years, providing a unique opportunity for Div 1 Advisories to work and play together. The highlight is always the cardboard boat race. After careful planning and team construction, one member of each Advisory captains their boat on a short course. Thank you to all the Division 1 students and Peer Mentors who tried something new and learned about teamwork and engineering. Congratulations to our Boys Cross Country team for winning the Ocean State Cross Country Invitational for the first time in school history. Our Boys Varsity team finished first out of 55 of the best schools from the region. We also placed 5th in the Boys JV race, 2nd in the Boys Freshman race and had three medalists in the Girls Freshman race. Outstanding showing at a very competitive meet. Finally, this week we welcomed students from Sophianum, our sister school in the Netherlands. We are delighted to host this exchange program for the second time, hosting ten Dutch students at Parker in October and then sending ten Parker students to the Netherlands in April. We are very proud of all the students and families who stepped towards this opportunity, sharing their homes and culture with students from across the world. This is a fun and important exchange for all of us. We look forward to seeing you in two weeks, Friday, October 17th for PLP day. Have a great weekend. Brian

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By Cindy Johnson • September 27, 2025
Dear Parker Students, Families and Staff, I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of community lately—what shapes and supports it and why it matters. I think at its core, a community is more than a mere group of people. There is a degree of shared investment in a common purpose or a common value that brings communities together—and there is a willingness and commitment to doing work aligned to our shared purpose or values collectively that both grows from and contributes to community. These traits ideally contribute to a feeling of connection or even belonging that are at the heart of true community. There are many places where I get to see the ways that the people who inhabit Parker every day are building and shaping community. Earlier this week, for example, I spent two blocks with the senior class as they came together as a group to share their Senior Project Declarations—short summaries of what they plan to study for the year, who they will work with, and what they will create. There was a theme song. Each student took a turn sharing their work. Everyone else in the group listened respectfully and celebrated the work others shared. These students already know each other. They have worked together for years—in and out of the classroom—and still, this shared experience gave them an opportunity to learn even more about each other and to share a moment that was at once common and highly individual. This highlights one of the aspects of community that might be easily overlooked: genuine community is not an exercise in sameness, even though it is about something shared. Real community grows from an investment in creating connection across differences, learning together, supporting each other in doing challenging things. Next Tuesday, September 30, we are hosting several events (see details below) including Community Connections Night—which will give any member of the Parker community a chance to come learn about this year’s Senior Class Projects and offer resources and ideas to support the seniors’ ongoing work. We hope you will join us if you can and invest some of your own time and energy in both getting to know and contributing to our rich and vibrant school community. Best wishes, Bex

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By Cindy Johnson • September 19, 2025
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Weekly Information for September 12, 2025

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.

Weekly Information for September 5, 2025

By Cindy Johnson • September 7, 2025
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