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.Hello from the Executive Director.
May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may your heart be filled with gladness to cheer you.
~Irish blessing
Happy Spring, CCCS Families!
Now that the weather is warming a bit, we are looking for ways to bring our school community together outside. One idea is for us to have family picnic time after school on Fridays where you can bring a basket and a blanket to have lunch in our garden area and visit with other Bronco families on warm, sunny days. Another idea is to have a family movie night by the gym where families can bring blankets to spread on the lawn area to watch a movie favorite projected onto the gym wall. We will be kicking these ideas around and invite you to share any other fun options for outdoor get togethers to help us reconnect, meet new friends, and celebrate spring and our wonderful school community.
With the wild ride we’ve endured this year, it sure feels nice to see smiling faces in the building before the end of the year. It will take a while for things to fully normalize, and probably life will never be the same kind of normal that it was prior to the pandemic. This is okay, because we learned so much about ourselves and our ability to overcome hard things. We are stronger because of this experience and perhaps have a deeper appreciation for our health and our relationships.
With spring break behind us, we are on the school year home stretch… seeing the light at the end of the tunnel…looking toward happy endings… As the rest of the school year unfolds, I plan to focus on the bazillion reasons for gratitude (my kids tell me that isn’t really a word, but it’s my favorite big number descriptor). Life always gets better when we focus on all that we have over the things we don’t. I hope you will join me in reflecting on the positive outcomes and challenges we’ve conquered this year which made our school much stronger and better.
Warm regards,
Lisa
.Hello from the Dean of Student Services.
Prior to COVID, a trend emerged in discussions of parenting. It became increasingly common to discuss what is painful and difficult (not just lovely) in parenting. Books like Jennifer Senior’s All Fun, but No Joy highlighted the paradox of how parenting can both be wonderful and terrifyingly tough at the same time.
While parents might know that having bad feelings as a parent does not equal bad parenting, it is hard to remember at times, particularly when parenting feels overwhelming and isolating. Thus, it makes sense that parents want to strip social expectations of being “perfect parents.” Like all humans, they need connections and support to get through challenges in one piece.
Parenting expectations are remarkably high currently. Prior to the 1980s, good parents were simply good custodians of children. Now, parenting has become more intensive - simply put, people believe good children are the result of a great deal of money, thought, time, and investment. Parents need not be helicopter parents to believe in intensive parenting - it simply means they believe their children are the products they are making through their investment. The more they labor, the better thing they are making.
But is this true?
The “investment” metaphor has its limits. Children aren’t piggy banks. What you put in doesn’t come out in the end. Children are living things. They aren’t old cars that are being fixed up piece by piece. Children come with personalities. They grow and change in ways parents cannot expect. Moreover, no two children need quite the same things.
Children are like different plants that thrive when given different things - sun? shade? frequent or infrequent watering? Children evolve and unroll surprisingly. There is rarely a sure thing, as badly as we want there to be.
Yet, we do know that (like plants) there are basic elements that help children - warmth and encouragement (sun), solid foundations (soil), clarity (water), and mistakes being reborn into new things (manure).
Parenting is difficult intellectual labor. It is truly work to notice and pay attention to what helps individual children thrive. But things get really hard for parents when it becomes emotional labor too. When parents hope or expect for emotional rewards from parenting, it may be disappointing.
Part of investment parenting thinking is the idea that parents are doing “unpaid labor.” So what is their payment? The joy. The bliss. The emotional payout of the experience. Sadly, this is a hard ideal. Children do not always like their parents or given them emotional satisfaction. There is struggle and genuine heartbreak that goes into rearing children and hoping for them. It is easy to be burnt as a parent.
It’s a risk to turn to our children to meet our emotional needs. It’s a risk to think that’s the payment we’ll get.
Humans right now are stuck between ages. We are stuck between an old world and a new one. We’re in the middle of dreaming up new ways of being human. This makes it hard to know what being a parent is all about. Is it about making a great product? Is it about personal satisfaction? Is it about experiencing what is raw and real about being alive?
No matter what you think, I encourage you to give yourself a break this week when you aren’t exactly the parent you expect yourself to be.
If it helps, one of my go-to reminders is a little short story that Margaret Atwood wrote in 1977. It’s called “Giving Birth.” It follows the experience of a woman discovering that labor and delivering is not what she thought it would be. It’s not glamorous. It’s not simple. She questions if she’s “giving” anything, but considers that in this uncontrollable moment, she and the baby are locked into the same thing. It’s a precious place where two are meeting - she’s not the one “giving.”
I remember this story in moments I feel I’ve failed to “give” my child the right thing. I remind myself that I’m meeting someone over and over again, and that it’s a gift to encounter her. I’m more than a production line worker. I’m a living thing. We encounter and encounter, and grow wider and wiser by that encountering. She is my teacher, as much as I’m hers. This whole process is such much more than “investment” or “intensive” work to make a thing.
-Liz Bruno
.General Information.
Calendar:
April 7- Coburg Community Charter School Lottery @ 3:45pm
April 15- NO SCHOOL
Aril 25- Board Meeting @ 6pm
April 27-29 Coyote Outdoor School
OBOB:
Middle School regionals April 9th at 9am via Zoom @CCCS room 3
Team: Maddi Foster (8th), Amaryllis Zarzosa-Grier and Georgia Barry (7th), Owen Smythe and Carson Stouder (6th) Alternates: Meadow Kitchens (8th) and Kylie Nevin (7th)
.PCS Corner.
Hello from PCS (People for Coburg School), the school's parent group. Three things to know or help out with this week….
Our next PCS meeting will be this Friday, April 1st after drop off. It will primarily be focused on the auction, so our auction chair, Jen Derby, has graciously offered to host (a few blocks from the school: 91102 Austin Street - little siblings welcome too) + we’ll have a zoom option if you can’t join in-person (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88236596266?pwd=Z2FhSjBaTVpZNDdGaWVMMCsyazloUT09 - Meeting ID: 882 3659 6266; Passcode: 037290). Hope to see you there!
Ems Game 6/12 - please turn in your form by April 8th! PCS has reserved a block of tickets at the Emeralds baseball game on Sunday, June 12th. Tickets are for entry, reserved seats + all you can eat buffet and two drinks in a section just for Coburg families - so this is going to be a great way to connect with other families (and make up for all the lost social time)! Green ticket order forms came home with students or can be downloaded here. Please return to the PCS mailbox in front of the school with your check (made out to “PCS”). Thanks!
Bronco Bash on 5/14 - donation & sponsorships needed. On Saturday night, May 14th we’re bringing back our annual auction at Shadow Hills Country Club (invitations coming shortly). If you are able to sponsor or donate a good/service (e.g., anything from vacation homes to tickets, baskets to gift cards), Donation & Sponsorship Forms are online: www.coburgcharter.com/fundraising.
Other questions or comments? E-mail PCS@coburgcharter.org. Thank you!
.CCCS Board Corner.
Open enrollment for the Board of Directors of CCCS has begun. Interested persons should either email board@coburgcharter.org or ask in the school office for a board application. Dates for Open Board Enrollment are March 1-April 4, 2022.
The board is seeking passionate committed parents and community members to fill one vacant board seat. A typical board term is for 3 years. Of particular interest are those individuals who have experience and expertise in the areas of budget and finance as well as long term strategic planning. Governing a Charter School is a privilege and a responsibility that CCCS Board members take seriously. The success of any Charter School depends both on good governance and financial management of the Corporation.
Thank you for considering becoming part of our great Governance Team!
Open Board Enrollment March 1-April 4
Open Board Forum May 9
Board Vote before June 16 TBA
.Community Corner.
Our students are helping decorate placemats for senior meals that are held at the Coburg IOOF building each week.
Our students have been loving the sunshine at recess! One of their favorite activities is touch football!
Thank you to our March Sponsor, Ryan Thomas Construction!
Ryan Thomas Construction is a full service general contracting company performing all types of construction projects for both residential and commercial customers since 1996. Whether a remodel, addition or new construction, for business or home, we strive to provide the highest quality results to our customers through all phases of the project. Quality construction by qualified people with the experience to take your project from planning and dreams, to reality. We guide you through the process to make it an enjoyable one, giving you the confidence you should expect from your builder. Give us a call and schedule a consultation. We’d love to discuss your project with you and make another satisfied client.
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