Matt's letter

Dear Overlake Community,

Last Saturday I had the inspiring pleasure of attending the Middle School Choir Concert in the afternoon, then heading to “A Festival of Lessons and Carols,” performed by the Northwest Boychoir, that evening. Young people singing may be the ideal way to get into the holiday spirit and to inspire gratitude for all that’s beautiful and positive in our lives. It was also heartwarming to watch a student-initiated eighth-grade-girl quintet perform on the Fulton stage! Here’s to Overlake students’ having an idea and acting on it. What was clear in both settings: the daily commitment and effort behind performances.

The fall has been filled with such commitment and effort from students, faculty, and staff in many settings. As we come ever closer to the end of the term and the beginning of winter break, I’m not only reflecting on the ways our community thrived this fall but also thinking about how we can get better and what was hard in recent months.

I’ve had many conversations and meetings this fall about student health, safety, and well-being, whether in the context of new work on social-and-emotional learning, responding to the invasion of our community brought by the camera incident, or hearing from parents about the volume of work their children are navigating. While the workload question has been a constant at every school where I’ve worked and exists in all of our peer schools, that reality doesn’t lessen what our students and their families feel and experience. What may distinguish the current discourse on the student experience in competitive schools are large questions being asked about the traditions and structure of education in a world that has radically changed since the prevalent school model was developed. That said, everyone is wrestling with the tension between a pull to changing the workload -- or even radically changing school -- and the concern that you are no longer adhering to the “rules” for competitive programs, which are followed across the country.

Do know that in the new year we are committed to reflecting, identifying ways we can improve, and acting on those intentions. The information you provided in the recent survey will be essential in these efforts.

Please know how grateful I am for your commitment to The Overlake School and how committed we are to our mission and to serving and caring for our students, your beloved children. I wish you all the best for the break, which I hope is filled with loved ones, inspiring music, delicious food, engaging books, new and old movies, favorite board games, and lots of deep sleep.

Warmly, Matt