May 31 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well.  I am writing to you from the comfort of my home and neighborhood surrounded by people who care for me and are cared for by me.  However, given the recent news of lives being so needlessly and unjustly brutalized in Louisiana, Georgia, and Minnesota, I am reminded of the fact that many fellow citizens do not enjoy the privileges afforded to me.  Our race, ethnicity, gender, and different aspects of our identities we are born with determine what resources we are able to access and how we are treated by other members of this society.  The recent event that happened in Central Park between a black bird watcher and a white dog walker showed us that regardless of the level of education we have attained, or our professional achievements, we all have the capacity to turn to our biased selves when we are dysregulated, and the resulting behaviors we exhibit can bring about devastating consequences for others and ourselves.

As Dr. Evans stated in her email, the district is working on various options for what schooling will look like in the Fall.  Even though we all yearn to get back to our “normal” practices and schedules because they are familiar and therefore comforting, we have to remember there are parts of that “normal” we should no longer accept.  I am reminded of the Faculty Meeting we held a week before school closure when I shared with the McCall teachers and staff the quote below from writer and scholar Ibram Kendi:

“One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of 'not racist'. The claim of 'not racist' neutrality is a mask for racism.”

How we will teach our students to embrace anti-bias thinking and exhibit anti-bias behaviors has not left my thoughts since March.  Given the uncertainty with the Fall, I cannot tell you specifically how we will be moving forward with this endeavor at this moment.  However, inaction is not an option, and returning to a “normal” where we do not address behaviors such as racist graffiti on our walls and various forms of microaggression proactively and through a whole school approach is not one we should want to return to.  My staff and I will will be working on this in the coming months, and I will share with you our plan as soon as we develop it.  I hope I can count on all of your support even though the process may bring about some level of discomfort within all of us.

Lastly, I would like to share with you this article which outlines a conversation with Beverly Daniel Tatum and Erlanger Turner, both psychologists, on how to help our students process the events related to the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd.  I hope you will find it helpful.

Thank you and be well!

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School

May 10 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,


I hope this message finds you well. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all mothers as well as everyone who serves as mother figures a happy Mother’s Day! During these days of school closure, the role of mother has expanded and become more complicated as if it was not complicated enough to begin with. Therefore, I hope everyone will find time today – and each and every day – to take care of yourselves so you can be ready to take care of others.


I would also like to thank the McCall Parent Association – and everyone who supports them – for the work it had done to honor all McCall teachers and staff during Teacher Appreciation Week. On behalf of everyone at McCall, we also thank all parents, guardians, and students who took the time to write to us on Teacher Appreciation Day. We certainly feel very grateful for all the kind words and well wishes you sent to us.



With gratitude,


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School

May 3 Update

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this message finds you well.  As you may know, I have a 7^th grade son.  He has not been feeling well this past week because he has been dealing with a head cold.  I was proud of him this past Tuesday because he got himself out of bed so he can be ready for a morning Zoom session scheduled by his teacher despite the fact he was feeling lousy.  Not only did he get himself out of bed, he got himself up early enough to shower and put on his nicest hoodie because he wanted to look good on Zoom.  Shortly before the session started, I saw him on the couch with his laptop open.  Since it looked like he was ready to go, my wife and I went to our own spaces to do my own Zoom meetings.  Thirty minutes later, I returned and found my son fast asleep on the coach with the laptop still open.  He completely missed the Zoom session.

He woke in a state of panic.  He was worried that he missed important instructions, and he was upset because all that preparation was for naught.  Mostly, he was upset because he was convinced that he had disappointed his teacher, and she would think he did not care.

After he calmed himself down, we received an email message sent from the teacher to my son, and both my wife and I were cc’ed on it.  My son was devastated when he read the email because he felt his nightmare had come true.  He interpreted the message as the teacher was telling him that she was disappointed in him for not being part of the Zoom session.  When I read the message the first thought that popped in my head was, “For heaven's sake, the kid was not feeling well.  He just needs some time to get himself together, and he will be back at it tomorrow.”  However, I soon took off my parent hat to replace it with my principal hat and remembered I have often asked the McCall teachers and staff to please contact parents and guardians if their students are not engaging in Distance Learning activities.  After reading the teacher’s message through a different lens, I realized the message was written and sent out of care and concern for my boy.  I also marveled at how efficiently she reached out to me.

I mention all of this because if you happen to be on the receiving end of one or more emails from my staff I hope that you will receive them knowing that the intention is not to shame or judge or criticize.  We do feel compelled to inform parents of student engagement, and to offer any care and support that we can, fully recognizing that one more email may be the last thing that you need right now.  I’ve communicated with many of you this past week and I know my family is not alone in having had a tough week.  In addition to the expected grief and anxiety of the school closure lasting through the rest of the year, many of you are managing much more serious concerns about jobs, finances, and physical and emotional health.  As we try to figure out the right level of communication, it’s clear that one approach will definitely not work for all families.  If you happen to be in a place where more regular communication about how your child is engaging with learning, please let me know.  You can also let me know if frequent emails are triggering bursts of colorful language in your heads. I can work with the teachers and staff to find a frequency of updates that does not add to anyone’s stress levels.

I thank all of you to your continued support of the work my staff have been doing.  More importantly, I thank everyone for recognizing that as imperfect as our work may be, we are all trying very hard to meet the needs of every McCall student.

As for my son, he is well judging by how the much fun he is having Fortnighting with his buddies online as I type this message.

Thank you and be well!

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School