The 'Weather Station
Recent Writings
List of 5 news stories.
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Preparing for a Year of Compassion, Capacity, and Curiosity
Read MoreDear Fayerweather Families,Another school year is upon us, and as always, summer seems to pass far too quickly. I hope you found moments to rest, recharge, and enjoy time with family and friends. For me, this season has been a time to step back, reflect, and return with renewed gratitude and energy for the year ahead.The 2025–2026 school year will look different in many ways. Schools across the country are facing shifting enrollment and broader political, economic, environmental, and cultural changes that bring new challenges and opportunities. At Fayerweather, we are leaning into these realities with creativity and care, confident that our mission will continue to guide us. -
Until We Meet Again, Take Care!
Read MoreDear Fayerweather Families,As we wrap up another school year, I want to pause and reflect on all that we’ve experienced and accomplished together.What an incredible year of learning, creativity, and community engagement! Our 3rd–6th grade students impressed us with their award-winning performance of The Lion King, while our Unit students earned recognition from the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild’s Middle School Festival for their original production of The Con. Across the school year, students explored science, social studies, math, music, art, engineering, and design thinking, gaining a deeper understanding of how these disciplines connect and influence the world around them.Our students sang, danced, played instruments, and presented on the culmination of powerful projects. They raised funds for environmental causes, volunteered at food banks, sorted clothes for the unhoused, visited nursing homes, local libraries, museums, and important historical places. We had our first school dance since COVID, which was led by our student council. -
Our Mission, Our Values, and Our Students
Read MoreWelcome to April!
With the return of sunlight and longer days, we are invited into a quiet renewal—a moment to notice that even the subtlest seasonal shifts can carry powerful reminders: growth, clarity, and transformation are always within reach, even in uncertain times.We are living in a moment of dizzying change. Across our country—and around the globe—communities are being reshaped at a pace that feels disorienting. Here in the U.S., political shifts and presidential executive orders are altering public life in ways that are unfamiliar, unsettling, and, in many cases, deeply concerning. While these policies may not directly impact Fayerweather operationally, they most certainly affect us as a community. Many of our families are impacted—through employment, livelihood, or a broader sense of emotional and psychological safety.Much like the early days of the pandemic, we are once again charting unfamiliar terrain. There is no script, no clear roadmap. And with that, a familiar wave of emotion can rise—anxiety, fear, the pressure to have all the answers. I know I feel it. And yet, I also know this: we are the antidote. -
Beyond Knowledge: Cultivating Independent Thinkers in an Ever-Changing World
Read MoreDear Fayerweather Community,On Sunday morning, I felt the first twinge of a sore throat—a telltale sign of the wave of illness moving through our community. As so many of you have likely experienced, the flu has been making its rounds. I see it in teacher and student absences and in the familiar sight of Bran standing outside my door, delivering the latest update: “Another one has gone home—cough, flu, strep, you name it.” This week, the flu got to me, too. But in the forced stillness of recovery, I found something valuable: time. Time to read, time to reflect, and time to revisit a question that has been lingering in my mind since the AISNE Head of School retreat:How do we teach students independent or critical thinking skills? -
Education as Resistance: A Call to Action
Read MoreMy mind and heart have been heavy these past weeks as I am watching our government hell-bent on dismantling progress. This back and forth is not at all new to the history and current reality of the United States—two steps back, one step forward is the way our story has unfolded. With one executive order after another, this administration is waging war on diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice—terms that, to them, are apparently threatening to their version of America. The instability and chaos isn’t just reckless; it’s intentional. The goal? It appears to be to torpedo any movement toward collective liberation, multiculturalism, pluralism, and access to resources and human rights, with the purpose of curtailing the freedom to chart our own destinies. After all, what is the key to freedom in a democracy? Access to education is one of the central tenets and benefits of living in a free society.While attending the Head of School Retreat in New Hampshire through the Association of Independent Schools in New England, I received several emails from anxious staff members, desperate for guidance. How will we respond? How do we manage the chaos? I chuckled, not out of amusement but exhaustion. If I had all the answers, I would have some special status—or I would be in a position to wield more power. Instead, I sit in a conference room in New Hampshire, grappling with the same questions while trying not to feel hopeless.When the weight of it all threatens to pull me under, I turn to poetry, spiritual readings, and the wisdom of my ancestors for inspiration—those who endured, who survived, who carved paths where none existed. I remind myself: I am here. My purpose is clear. I educate children. And then, in a simple but profound moment, Garrett, our communications manager, reframed it perfectly: Education is our activism.
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Fayerweather Street School | 765 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 | 617-876-4746
Fayerweather is a private PreK, kindergarten, elementary and middle school. We engage each child’s intellect.