September 29, 2015
Dear Westbrook families,
I want to take a few moments of your time to address an important subject; respectful and open communication.
We are a Community of Caring. Thus, Westbrook’s core values of Respect, Responsibility, Trust, Caring, and
Family motivate everything that we do for students. One of the best things about being Westbrook’s Principal
is the partnership that I have been able to build with families, so that we can work together on the behalf of
children. Recently two events occurred that have caused a great deal of reflection on my part. Both events have
caused me to think about how we can continue to strengthen our home school partnership in a way that
promotes our Core Values.
The first event involved a student report of vandalism in the boys’ bathroom near our 3rd grade classrooms.
Specifically, a student reported that graffiti was present in the bathroom. This was reported to a teacher on
September 16, 2015 and investigated by staff on that same day. Since staff members were unable to see any
graffiti in the bathroom, the student who reported the vandalism was asked to point out specifically what he had
seen. Staff members were still unable to see any visible graffiti, although some had been scratched into the stall
door the previous year. The area had been sanded and repainted over the summer and no graffiti remains;
although the texture of the door is now slightly different. A student looking very closely at the door would be
able to see that some letters had been scratched in the door. No words are present, and even the letters are very
difficult to make out.
The original incident was addressed last spring, and I worked with the student involved and his family to
implement an appropriate consequence that aligns with our Responsive Classroom approach to discipline and
the values of Restorative Justice. Your PTA Co-Presidents have shared with me that rumors currently abound
about this alleged graffiti. They have also shared that some parents are concerned that I did not communicate
with them about this issue, and that I do not seem to be taking this seriously. Please trust that I take my
responsibility to our Westbrook students very seriously, and if hateful or obscene graffiti was on display in our
bathrooms I would be working with students and families to change behavior. I would also be working with
teachers and other staff about how to help other students to be “Up standers” in this type of situation. In this
case it is simply a non-incident and there is not much to do other than to thank the student who reported the
incident for his concern, tell him that he should always come to his teacher or another trusted adult when he
sees a problem at school, and if he sees anything in the future that he should certainly let us know. I am
working with Mrs. Vogel and classroom teachers to schedule classroom visits with classes where students have
expressed concerns about graffiti. Your child may share details of those visits with you soon.
The second event involves an email that was sent on September 28, 2015 to parents in one homeroom about the
PTA fundraising campaign. That email had the subject line “Small fire in the classroom today.” This email
was not pre-approved by the PTA Co-Presidents nor the PTA Fundraising chairs. Although I am certain that no
harm was intended by the sender of the email, I imagine that many of the parents who received it experienced a
similar response to mine when they first glanced at the subject. I was worried, I was concerned for student
safety, and I was shocked that such a thing could happen at Westbrook and that I would be unaware of it. When
I opened the email, I saw that that the purpose of the subject line was simply to get parents to open the email.
However, I do want to take this opportunity to reinforce our shared commitment to Community of Caring core
values and to ask that all of us think before we communicate in a way that might potentially be upsetting to
members of our community.
I want to reassure all members of the Westbrook community that I am fully committed to open and respectful
communication in order to support the well-being of our students. With that in mind I encourage you to follow
the Westbrook protocols for communication whenever you have a concern about your child’s education. As
always, when you have concerns about your child’s classroom experience, the first place to start is with your
child’s teacher. If you have school wide concerns, or suggestions for school wide improvement, please share
them with your PTA Co-Presidents. I meet frequently with the Co-Presidents, they consistently advocate on
behalf of Westbrook students, and they share parent concerns with me so that I can address them in a timely and
effective fashion. Of course, if you follow either of these avenues and your concerns are not adequately
addressed in a timely manner, I am pleased to meet or speak with you to address your concerns. I remain
committed to continuing to work with Westbrook families on behalf of our students, to strengthening our homeschool partnership, and to promoting our Community of Caring values.
Sincerely,
Jennifer S. Lane
Principal