Welcome Back from the Superintendent
Posted on 09/02/2014
September, 2014
Dear CPS Community,
Welcome to the new school year! I hope that you and yours enjoyed some
relaxing and fun times with family and friends this summer and that you
and your children are now ready to join with our faculty and staff to
make 2014/15 an outstanding and memorable year. During my tour of all of
our schools on September 2, I observed staff and students who are
excited to be back and I know that their enthusiasm and optimism will
continue and grow in the days ahead.
I do believe that when people write the history of education in the
U.S., they will look back at this period as a time of tremendous, and
somewhat tumultuous, change. Everyone who works in schools is being
asked to do our job in a different way. We all are learning new skills,
and we all want our students to achieve academically, evolve socially,
and grow into full human beings. As educators, we strive for balance
between opening ourselves up to learning and doing better (exactly what
we ask of our students, by the way) and taking ownership for and pride
in what happens in our schools.
The path to navigating these challenges, I believe, involves
strengthening our own educational community. I have the utmost
confidence in our faculty and staff and trust their intentions for the
young people in our city. My personal goal this year is to spend more
time with them in our schools so I can better understand how I can
support their work.
The other major component in realizing success is school for all
students involves family engagement. We firmly believe that when schools
and families work in partnership, in an open, honest and non-defensive
posture, that students will reap the benefits of that relationship. In a
word, we need your help and are making this direct appeal to you to
become an active member of your school community. It starts with the
basics, so please complete all the required forms you receive from the
school, and then we can go from there to reach even higher levels of
effective family involvement.
Together, we can do this. We can make Cambridge Public Schools the best
place to educate ALL children. Please join us on our journey toward
academic excellence and social justice. Cambridge kids are counting on
us.
Again, welcome back. I look forward to seeing you around school this year,
Sincerely,
Jeffrey M. Young
Superintendent of Schools