Letters from current parents are somewhat commonplace for schools. In fact, thank you letters from parents about their child’s happiness at Watkinson are a regular occurrence. However, given the enormity of change that occurred to re-open Watkinson during the COVID-19 quarantine, a recent letter from a parent holds particular weight. After receiving the note below, Head of School Teri Schrader shared it with all employees via email. The collective feeling of validation renewed our school-wide commitment to persist in addressing any and all of the variables that continue to arise as a result of the pandemic.
September 3, 2020
Dear Teri,
I wanted to express my deepest gratitude to you and to the school for this first week for my daughter who joined your ninth grade. She simply LOVES Watkinson. And yes, I know the work will pick up and it will not be all roses all of the time, but for her, the foundation of everything is feeling like she belongs and is valued, and your team has knocked it out of the park on this one. Never in my life have I seen this child bound out of bed in the morning in order to make sure she gets to school on time!
I know how challenging it is to start off the school year well, and how unbelievably challenging it is to do so during a pandemic, and from my daughter’s perspective everything has been seamless and positive and has exceeded her best hopes for what a school could feel like.
Please feel free to share with your team. We could not be happier with how warmly and thoughtfully you’ve approached the start of school. As my daughter said in the car on the way to school this morning, “We made exactly the right choice for me for high school.” I couldn’t agree more.
From a current 9th-grade parent
