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Dear Families and Friends of Virginia Chance School,

As a school we are dedicated to providing a culture of mutual respect. We invite each other to understand and value multiple perspectives, and identify and reject stereotypes and biases, and to work for equity and peace within the school and beyond. We all have a role to play, as educators, parents, and community members. Here are some resources that were sent out to faculty and staff that we've found helpful:

Choosing grace over guilt. How do you stop the guilt, turn off the “You should have (or shouldn’t have)” and “You aren’t a good parent, worker, teacher, spouse, partner, etc.”? How can you give yourself grace and put that guilt out of your mind and out of your heart? Here are six suggestions:

Don’t get me wrong...COVID-19 is not a good thing; it is not a positive thing. It is serious and can be a deadly virus for those at risk. What I mean by this question is, are there already some positive things that are an outcome or by-product of this coronavirus pandemic. Having and developing a growth mindset and positive attitude is a positive outcome of this COVID-19 outbreak, we'll show you how to reframe it in this blog:

Progressive Schools, traditional schools, boarding schools, day schools, college-prep schools, parochial schools, public schools, private schools, magnet schools and home schools…the choices are many! Making the right choice for your child can be a bit daunting for parents. As a Head of an independent school, I get to answer the question, “What’s so special about your school?” and “What does it mean that Virginia Chance School is a progressive school?”

Visit any classroom at Virginia Chance School, and you will see two highly qualified teachers - not one teacher, not one teacher and an assistant teacher or aide, and not a teacher and a special education teacher and not two part-time teachers job sharing. In every preschool and elementary classroom, from twos through fifth grade, there are two equal lead classroom teachers.

These five Social/Emotional tenets - self awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, social awareness and relationship skills - are the most critical social and emotional learning competencies for effective learning to take place in a classroom and for an individual to reach his or her full potential.

Talking with young children about race and identity issues can feel daunting for parents and even educators. We want to provide you with a few resources that address why we should start or continue these conversations and some suggestions to help you along the journey, especially as we celebrate Martin Luther King’s life and legacy on Monday.

We have completed a three-year comprehensive search and survey of the Middle Schools of our graduates to collect data – the empirical and the anecdotal – to track our graduates from the last three years. We have compiled their grades, test scores, teacher comments, report cards, and information about their student activities and involvement.  These results are from children who have attended other independent, public and parochial schools.

By taking the time to teach our children social skills in the classroom, we are giving them skills that they will use all of their life, whether at home with family, in high school with friends or with coworkers at a job.

This weekly newsletter is authored by K/1 Co-Teacher Team, Alayne Vokurka and Heather Isham.