Peirce Update

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Greetings Peirce Families,

I write this email with a heavy heart and hope that you are taking care of yourselves and your families. This email contains a response to how we are supporting students after the murder of Tyre Nichols along with a response to Peirce's participation in the Lunar New Year Parade.

-Lori Zaimi

Principal

On Friday evening, video was released of the murder of Tyre Nichols, a black man in Memphis Tennessee who was killed by 5 (now former) police officers earlier this month. The murder of Tyre along with years of crimes against the black community contribute to the trauma that many in our community experience, especially community members of color.

Please know that as a school staff, we are committed to centering the needs of students especially during this time in order to process and make sense of these traumatic events. Each student and each classroom have differing needs and our staff members try to reach the range of needs in their classrooms. While not always perfect, we are committed to ongoing growth and development.

CPS provided resources and guidance for staff to support students - please see part of the districts emails to staff and families that went out Friday:

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As a District, it is our responsibility to support students in the wake of traumatic events. One crucial way we can do this is by creating an environment in our schools and classrooms where students feel safe asking questions, expressing their feelings freely, processing trauma, and having productive and healing conversations about difficult topics. Please see the below resources that are designed to support our educators in situations like these:

• The Day After: Classroom discourse guide for a timely response to difficult or controversial topics.

• Say Their Names: A toolkit to help foster productive conversations about race and civil disobedience.

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This news comes as we are entering Black History Month - a time to center the many beautiful contributions of the Black Community. While our teachers have made significant shifts in their curriculum to not just teach Black History during the month of February, we look forward to spending additional time this month to support our students with further learning. Our theme is centered on the question, "How do culture and identity influence who we are? Think about representation, identity, and diversity in the Peirce community." More information will be shared with the school community about our February 24th African American Heritage Showcase.

On Saturday, January 28th, Uptown United and the 48th Ward organized the annual Argyle Lunar New Year Parade, this year was an opportunity to welcome the year of the Rabbit while also celebrating the first day of spring on the lunar calendar.

It has been brought to my attention that during the parade, supporters of an Aldermanic candidate walked alongside of the Peirce group, carrying signs with this candidates name, creating an appearance that Peirce School supports this candidate. Please know that Peirce School does not endorse any candidate for public office and I am in touch with district officials to determine next steps.

Email: lzaimi@cps.edu
Website: peirce.cps.edu
Location: 1423 W Bryn Mawr Chicago, IL
Phone: 773-534-2440
Facebook: facebook.com/peircecps