The New School News

Monday, January 31 students, teachers, parents, and community members gathered at TNS to interview our final candidates for the humanities teacher position. I would like to offer my deepest appreciation to MaryBeth Luce, Mimi Pizey, Jodi Castello, Fern Brown, Nancy Goldberg, Scott Hamann, Manid Donegan, and Alexy Pizey for serving on the Hiring Committee. Thanks also to the many students who participated in the interview classes! We had a spectacular turn-out and their experiences and opinions were important in the decision-making process.

As a result of Monday’s interviews, we are excited to welcome Myriah Davis to the teaching team.

Myriah Davis is joining The New School with over ten years of experience in education. She received a Bachelor's degree in Archaeology and History from the University of Connecticut in 2005, and a Master of Science in Secondary Education from the University of New Haven in 2007. Myriah spent approximately two years working in experiential education at The Mystic Seaport, a living history museum in Mystic, CT, before entering into the traditional classroom setting. She has worked in public and private schools, in general education and special education classes across three states. Her passion for educating the whole student, and for using real-world experiences as learning tools led her to The New School, where she is thrilled and excited to work with the students on their learning journeys.

When not in a humanities classroom, Myriah enjoys sipping tea while reading fantasy novels and crocheting, as well as spending time with her family, at home, or traveling.

Myriah will be joining us full time on February 28, but has already begun her transition and orientation to the school. She joined us Wednesday and jumped right into helping plan our spring semester by designing a google form for data collection. Myriah’s orientation will continue over the next two weeks.

Our emergent intensives continue this week. Keep an out for daily updates from the three groups: American Narrative, Haunted History, and Winter Sports. Remember that during the 3-Week Intensives, the schedules for the different groups may not be the same. Each group will be planning their days to best meet their learning objectives, so it will be important for families to be in close communication with Intensives Leaders and with each other (if carpooling with students who are part of different groups). School may happen on the weekend during February, and there will be days off during the week to compensate for this. School may take place in the evening or even at night if there is some event that the group decides to attend. Start times may be different in the morning and pick-up times may be different in the afternoon. We will provide you with as much advanced notice as possible for changes.

A reminder to families and students that credit, attendance, and active participation are all connected--during the semester-long classes and also during the Intensives. Obviously, we want people to stay home and take care of themselves when they are sick, but we also encourage people to lean into discomfort and prioritize learning whenever possible.

We are such a small community that the absence of 2-3 people can have a dynamic impact on our whole school. We are at our best when everyone is able to join us.

Families, please continue to communicate with advisors and with Susan in the main office if your student will be absent.

Our February All School Meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, February 7 at 6:00 on Zoom.

Here is the link to the Zoom Room.

On the agenda for our meeting tomorrow night:

• Announcements
• Team Updates
• Assessment--Christine will give a presentation about narratives and transcripts
• Spring Fundraising Event--Olde Fashioned Community Picnic
• Budget Update--Scott will tell us how we are doing financially
• Recruitment Season--Scott will discuss ways everyone can help increase enrollment for next year
• Meet Myriah--hopefully Myriah will be able to join us and you can all meet her
• We will close our meeting with Gratitudes

Remember that we welcome input from all members of our community and encourage you to add agenda items to the meetings. When submitting an agenda item, please include a brief description of the topic and an estimate of the amount of time you would like to devote to it.

Transcripts reflecting first-semester credit and coursework will be mailed on Monday. Virtual copies of narratives and transcripts will also be sent out this week. Christine will talk about the assessment process at TNS at the February All School Meeting to help new and old families alike understand these documents better.

Narratives and Credit for the Inter-Session Intensives will appear on the end of the year transcripts in June.

The Kennebunk Free Library announces its February 2022 Speers Gallery exhibit “Through the Eyes of the Young”, featuring the art work of students from The New School and The School Around Us. The show features pieces of different media, all created by students ages 5-18.

The New School (TNS) is a democratic high school located in Kennebunk, and School Around Us (SAU) is a holistic learning community for ages 5-14 in Arundel. In 2016 The New School was featured in a one-school art show at Full Circle Gallery in Biddeford, and showed their work in 2017 at The Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk and in 2020 and 2021 at the Speers Gallery at the Kennebunk Free Library.

Both schools offer a variety of opportunities to expand their student’s artistic skills that vary from year to year. Of late, drawing photography, music, and theater have been of special interest to a number of students. Some years it is painting, pottery, sculpture, and sewing. Whatever form of artistic expression comes to the fore is encouraged, as the schools feel that the arts fuel imagination and personal expression, as well as contribute to the development of a sense of self that feeds intuition, close observation of the world and the ability to fuse emotion and intellect. The arts also build self-confidence and the ability to connect with an audience beyond the self.

This year the work of students includes photography from The New School and self-portraits from The School Around Us. Artist Ellie Kennedy, age 12, says, “Art is the ability to create whatever you have on your mind. It is so amazing to have the ability to put your imagination into a sheet of paper and respect yourself to share your feelings, thoughts and ideas with other people. When I draw I feel happy and I love having the freedom to be in my own bubble with myself and my imagination.”

Kennebunk Free Library is pleased to welcome back and display the works of these talented artists once again.

Thank you to those who have been diligent about calling the office to let us know if your student is going to be absent or late. Let's keep it up. It only takes a minute, and it makes a difference to our morning! (207) 985-3745.

We care about our community members and we worry when people do not show up when we are expecting them. We also want folks to be able to participate fully in our learning adventures, so we will wait for everyone to arrive until we begin things in the morning. Please, help us out by notifying the office if your student is going to be absent or late to school!

• January 31-February 18: 3-Week Intensives
• February 7: Facilities Team Meeting 5:00 on Zoom
• February 7: All School Meeting 6:00
• February 10: Virtual Open House 6:30 - 7:30
• February 14: Admissions Team Meeting 6:00 on Zoom
• February 17: Events Team Meeting 6:30 on Zoom
• February 21-28: No School February Vacation
• February 28: Teacher Day
• March 1: Second Session Classes Begin!
• March 7: All School Meeting in-person @ TNS 6:00

• Family Commitment Tracking
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• The New School News archive
• (207) 985-3745 Please remember to call the office if your student is going to be absent. Thanks!