Dear Lansing School District Community,
I hope that this newsletter finds you well. I also hope that all of you reading this today are warm and safe. The cold weather is certainly upon us. As I write this newsletter, our wonderful facilities team is braving the elements around town, checking to make sure we have heat and water in all of our buildings, ready for the school week ahead.
Please don't hesitate to reach out if anyone is struggling with heat or other concerns during this cold weather period. As a school district, we have many connections to utility companies, food, and shelter. In all cases, especially in an emergency, please know that the school district is here to help support you. Your health, safety, and welfare are important to us. Though our main purpose as a school district is to provide a top-notch education, we know that we can and do more than that. Our love and support of our students, staff, and community are as important to the functioning of a school district as test scores. And it is with that lens of love and support we will make the decision about closing or remaining open. Please remember, if you ever feel that it is unsafe to send your student to school, you may do so. Just let us know. And if you are a staff member, you have many union and collective bargaining protections if you feel it necessary to call out. But we as a district will do our best to remain open so that the thousands of students who we serve have a safe, warm, and loving place to learn. Especially when it comes to cold weather, keeping our schools open is gravely important, giving places for both our students and staff to be secure. Additionally, if we are open and any family needs a respite from the cold, please feel free to drop by the school building. We are here for all of our families.
And what better way to move into a discussion about Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. than talking about love and support. As we all know, tomorrow is MLK Day. As I said the last two years: "No words that I write can describe the importance of MLK. Nothing I type in this newsletter will signify the honor and gratitude we should feel as a nation to recognize his work."
Of course, I still feel that way, but discussing his work personally and for our community is immensely important. The last two years, I mentioned that both my father and grandfather attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom as part of their local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and witnessed firsthand Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech. Hearing his words on that day was immensely important to my family, as it strengthened their resolve to continue to fight to support our country as it battled injustice. Two years ago, I focused on how that event was an incredible example of bringing people together for a common purpose and how we in Lansing should try to answer Dr. King's question from 1957:
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?"
Last year I asked: can the school district be more welcoming to your service? Can the school district do more so that you can volunteer with us? Two years ago, I asked you all to help support the school district, and so many of you have taken up that challenge. Our school district has more community programs than we have had in years. We have more volunteers and non-profits working in our schools. Last year, I asked, what can the school district do to help you help us? How can we be more open so that more people in the community feel comfortable working with us? Many people responded to those questions, and we have tried to answer them by communicating more with families and reaching out through different modes of communication. We have increased our social media presence. We have held more events. We have created more spaces for families to engage with the district.
So now, this year, I want to ask, what do you need? If we are to change the world for the better, if we are going to fight injustice and love our fellow community members, it behooves us to ask what the community needs.
As Dr. King wrote in his famous Letter from a Birmingham jail:
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."
I know that each and every one of you reading this newsletter wants the best for our district, but sometimes, the district makes decisions without truly listening. We don't know what is impacting you. So, I say to you all, what can we do to better serve you? What do you need from the district to make your lives better? I look forward to hearing that answer.
Thank you so much for all of your incredible support of our district. Together, we will do great things for the children of Lansing.
Benjamin Shuldiner, Superintendent
Lansing School District
