A Letter from Co-Directors Maggie Lyon and Tom Fisher

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Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year.

Thank you for choosing Breakwater and trusting us to help develop your child’s sense of curiosity, compassion, and determination. 

Breakwater’s 67th year is off to a great start! As Co-Directors of Breakwater Learning, we are thrilled to bring our community together to share in Breakwater’s spirit of honoring and engaging in the work of living well on this beautiful planet. We are inspired by and are eager to build upon the greatest strength of our school: the faculty, staff, students, and families that commit to our shared mission with passion and care.

Breakwater students are already exploring the world on adventure trips, embracing new units of study, and finding joy in their interactions with learning and one another. Examples include the kindergarteners ringing the bell each morning to start the school day, friends greeting one another with hugs and excitement, the teachers setting up routines so individuals can find success, weekly Community Meetings, and so much more. Whether it’s a child’s 13th and final year or their very first school year, these days at Breakwater will bring authentic growth, guided challenges, carefully chosen risks, and the innate joy of learning something new. 

In planning for Breakwater’s future, we identified areas of potential growth which include: 

  • Better communicating who we are and who we are not

  • Effectively showing each other, the Breakwater community, and prospective families what it looks like when we are at our best 

  • Optimizing the educational experience in all aspects of Breakwater Learning

  • Increasing enrollment in our day school

  • Building a development plan that includes increased alumni family support

  • Constantly striving for a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just community  

We believe that this plan will directly impact our ability to tackle strategic priorities, which include constantly improving an educational environment that we believe in deeply, and better supporting the faculty and staff whose dedication and professionalism create this learning environment that we all value so much.

Our educational environment is not just made up of students and teachers. We are a community, and we know that parents are valuable team members in our shared goal of providing the best possible environment for Breakwater Students. That sense of community has been affected by the last few years of greater isolation, but we look forward to partnering with you this year to help restore that sense that Breakwater belongs to all of us. We need your feedback, your ideas, your sense of fun, and your presence. Please don't hesitate to come to campus at drop off and pick up in order to meet and greet one another on the playground. Please don’t hesitate to talk to your child’s teacher in order to better understand the work they are engaged in with your children. We believe in what we do here, and we want you to see it. And please help develop that sense of community by coming to events as you are able so we can connect to our shared values. 

The next fall events include:

  • Parent Night (October 12th, 5:30-7:30) to engage with your classroom parent community and listen to the teachers' work.

  • Breakwater Work Day (November 3rd, starting @ 1:30) to give back to our campus as we initiate a refresh of our grounds and buildings. 

  • Our annual Harvest Fest (November 4th, 11:00-1:00) to gather for a shared meal.

Let’s come together and celebrate. Our faculty and staff may be the heart of the school, but our community is the heartbeat. 

With gratitude and curiosity for the future,

Maggie and Tom