Head of School's Message: February 23

Accompanied by thunder and lightning, the storm was positively biblical. Students in the Chandler School Extended Care program responded with hysteria. It was too much to resist. They slid on the field, made ice balls, engaged in a futile effort to build a snowman, splashed around, and eventually sheltered under an awning or an umbrella soaked, shivering and screaming. A trio of third grade boys proclaimed that the hail made Tuesday, February 15th, ‘the best day ever.’

 

On Wednesday morning, I spoke with some kindergarten girls in the courtyard and asked them what they thought of the storm. ‘I have never seen anything like that in real life.’ ‘It was loud and scary.’ ‘I loved it.’ ‘I was sad,’ they said. I approached a group of kindergarten boys with the same question, ‘I had T-ball practice’, ‘I threw a snowball at my dad when I got home.’ Gender differences revealed!

 

To prepare for the Seventh Grade Poetry Night on Tuesday evening, Middle School English Teacher Ashley Laird and Chandler’s maintenance crew had assembled chairs and a podium in the middle school courtyard before the storm arrived. The hail forced a change of venue. Parents and students gathered in the Ahmanson Performing Arts Center at 6:30 p.m. as one of Chandler’s traditions resumed. For the first time in almost two years we had an audience of parents and students in the Ahmanson for an event. It was fantastic.

 

One seventh grade dad, a doctor and a member of Chandler’s medical advisory committee described the combination of the Rams' Super Bowl win, the storm and the poetry event as a ‘magical reset.’

 

The Class of 2023 read their poems to their classmates and parents. There were musical interludes with students playing selections from Bach, The Beatles and Billy Idol. It was a memorable night. There were profound poems about the state of the world, descriptive nature poems, witty poems and more odes to mom than I can remember from past years. Instructed by Ashley Laird, the audience showed their appreciation by clicking their fingers and thumbs after each reader. “There should be no sound louder than the spoken word,” Ashley said. This was Ashley’s 26th year organizing the Seventh Grade Poetry Night. The Chandler community is grateful for her dedication and for inspiring her students to express themselves through poetry. It’s an art form that lives at Chandler.

 

Cracks have appeared in the wooden beams attached to the gym ceiling so we are closing the gym until we make repairs. Recent high winds may have been the cause. The basketball assemblies are attached to the beams. A structural engineer has looked at photos of the damage and determined that neither the roof nor the basketball assemblies are in imminent danger of coming down. Engineers will be coming out this week to determine the scope of repairs. The rough estimate is that the gym will be closed for three weeks.