Monday, June 20, 2022

June 20 Update

 Dear McCall Families,

 

I hope this message finds you well.  I entered this school year with cautious optimism about returning to normalcy, but this year has been more challenging for me in a lot of ways than previous years.  The negative impact of the pandemic on the students’ academic progress and all our physical and mental health cannot be understated.   Although our conversations about the pandemic have often been about what it has taken from us, I think it is also necessary for us to think about what it has given us.  I am reminded of the commencement address Chief Justice Roberts delivered to the Cardigan Mountain School graduates in 2017.  During that speech he talked about the relationships between fairness and justice, pain and compassion, loneliness and friendship, and bad luck and chance. I think it is fitting to extrapolate what he said during that speech and apply it to our circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The impact of the pandemic has caused us pain.  However, it is in pain that we gain a better understanding of what it means to receive and give compassion.

 

The pandemic treated us unfairly - some more so than others.  However, it is when we receive unfair treatment that we understand the value of justice.

 

The isolation during the pandemic forced us to experience loneliness.  However, it is when we are lonely, we learn the value of friendship.

 

All of us experienced bad luck during the pandemic.  However, having experienced bad luck means we better understand our successes may not be completely deserved, while other people's failures and suffering may also not be completely deserved.  

 

This past school year has been a hard year for many of our students, families, and staff members.  We cannot change what the pandemic has done to us, but we all can take this experience, learn from it, and help ourselves and each other grow.

 

Lastly, I would like to congratulate Mr. Tom Awiszus, Technology and Engineering Teacher, Ms. Pat DeVries, Digital Literacy Teacher and Instructional Technology Specialist, and Ms. Anna Kerkorian, Digital Literacy Teacher, for concluding their careers.  All three colleagues decided to retire at the end of the current school year, and I wish all of them well as they head off on their new adventures.  

 

Thank you, and I hope everyone’s summer is one that includes a lot of fun, rest, and reflection.

I am looking forward to a great 22-23 school year with all of you!

 

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School