News & Weekly Letters

It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been two weeks since our last update—and things have continued to move forward at a fast pace. In fact, a quick look at our construction meeting notes from February shows that we are slightly ahead of schedule!

I’m often asked where I find the inspiration to write a letter every Friday. Each week is a little different: sometimes I see something that triggers an idea, sometimes it’s a conversation with one of you, sometimes it’s an article I read or a podcast I listen to, and other times—like last week with the Substantial Equivalency Law—it’s a necessity dictated by current events at the school. This week, for a change, it’s a photo that got me thinking. And a photo of me to boot!

Sometimes, events that occur far from our own reality have a direct impact on us. For example, in 1895, the State of New York passed a Substantial Equivalency Law, with the stated aim of ensuring that independent and religious schools follow a curriculum more or less equivalent to what is expected in public schools, particularly where English and math are concerned. Private schools are free to teach religion, foreign languages, or other idiosyncrasies provided their students can demonstrate a solid foundation in these core subjects.

We’re excited to share the latest progress on our new school building—and the first thing to say is that since spring break and our last update, things have been moving impressively fast. It’s all starting to feel very real!

I hope everyone is back into the rhythm after the two-week break and is ready to tackle the final stretch of the school year. Upon returning from Taiwan where I spent a spring break full of joyful and emotional reunions, I noticed that some little elves had been at work at 111 dotting each piece of furniture with a sticker—green for what gets moved to the new building, yellow for what stays, and red for what won’t make the short trip and will be discarded or donated.