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Principal's Message
Happy Friday Du Bois Families,
I had a powerful e-mail conversation with the parent of a student this week around the use of the phrase “Stay Safe” as a part of our Du Bois Way (Work Hard, Stay Safe, Be Kind). I do not want to try to encapsulate the conversation too deeply, but a key takeaway for me is this: staying safe is about literal, physical safety in a building that serves as the daytime home to 335 students and 80 adults…but staying safe should really be about more than physical safety and order.
Part of “staying safe” means feeling safe enough to perhaps be unsafe in specific ways. Our school should be safe enough for students to be willing and maybe even eager to take risks.
The notion that school is a place where right answers and perfect outcomes are treasured, and all else is looked at with disappointment, can feel very real to young people. The need to be perfect runs strong in young people these days, especially in a social media-driven world where life and life experiences are curated and edited to appear perfect.
At Du Bois, we model that perfection, if it exists at all, is a rarely experienced state of being. We model and teach that academic risk-taking is actually where discovery, self-knowledge, wisdom, and real and substantive growth occur. The idea of “learning from our mistakes” is as old as the language we use to write the phrase, I suspect. And for good reason–it’s true!
Moving forward, we may need to add to our Du Bois Way or add a caveat to “stay safe.” While it is vital that must listen to directions, are aware of others, seriously practice emergency drills and procedures…it is likewise vital that our students know it is safe to take risks here, it is safe to be wrong, here, and that real learning comes from asking questions and stretching their minds and ideas beyond what their experience may suggest is perfectly safe.
I’m always grateful for the opportunity to learn from and share with our Du Bois families. I indubitably come away wiser and a better servant to our kids, staff, and community.
Have a peaceful weekend.
Jake M.
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