Head of School's Message: August 31
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you they belong not to you.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls.
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls.
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you.
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”
Khalil Gibran, On Children, in The Prophet (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923)
The school year begins on Wednesday as we welcome students in grades 1-8 from 8 a.m. until noon and kindergarten families from 8:30–9:30 a.m. The first full day of school for everyone will be on Thursday. The campus is primed, the faculty are pumped and we’re ready to swing open the school gates and the classroom doors to welcome the eighth grade class of 2016, the kindergarten class of 2024 and every grade in between for Chandler’s 65th year. Khalil Gibran reminds us of the big picture. We need a little poetry in the midst of the bustling prose of a new year.
I will send an occasional reminder about Chandler’s drop-off and pick-up procedures. Located as we are in a residential neighborhood, it is important to be mindful of our neighbors during peak traffic times. Under an agreement with the City of Pasadena, students in grades 3-8 must be dropped off and picked up on Seco street. K-2 students and their siblings must be dropped off and picked up on Armada Drive.
We ask that all kindergarten parents follow our drop-off and pick-up procedures starting Monday, September 14 by dropping your child curbside and not parking in the neighborhood during the school day. For the first week and a half, we understand if you want to ease any separation anxiety (yours or your children’s) by parking and walking to the classroom. Special events, CFA meetings, class coffees, and today’s All School Picnic are exceptions throughout the school year. If you park in the neighborhood, please do not park on the bridge and please do not block driveways.
I look forward to seeing many of you at tonight’s picnic, at the Middle School parent coffee and back-to-school night on Thursday and at the events over the next month that mark the beginning of the new year.
Most sincerely,
