09/10/2026
Good afternoon,
Thank you for a wonderful first week of school! I've been genuinely happy with how quickly things have come together, and we're ahead of schedule when it comes to working out the usual bugs that come with starting a new year.
You are going to hear a common theme both at school and at home this year: being "PAWSome." PAWSome stands for Paying Attention to the Whole Student, and it's how everyone in our district, staff and students alike, keeps an eye on one another. Not from a "gotcha" perspective, but from a "let's make sure everyone is okay" perspective. It's "see something, say something," not just for negative things, but for those times when someone might not be acting like themselves, and how we can all help.
We had great success with this last year, and it's already taking off again this fall. It ties directly into our school year theme, Meeting Me at the Why. Our students and this place are the why, and we showed that clearly as we kicked off the year.
Lastly, I'm sending this message a day early because tomorrow, September 11, marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11. As a relatively new superintendent at the time (2001), that day remains the most challenging day of leadership I've experienced. We didn't fully know what was happening, and we didn't have cell phones, internet, or email to communicate home or receive word from families. I remember an employee sitting in my office, watching the news on a black-and-white television, when Tower 2 collapsed. Her brother was inside at the time and lost his life. She has just spoken to him from my office phone minutes before that moment. It was a terrible day.
Many of you close to my age will have your own stories or connections to that day. Every year brings a moment of reflection, but this year, the 25th anniversary, will be harder for many. It can be difficult to feel the weight of something you didn't experience firsthand or weren't yet alive for, but that weight is very real for others. Please give people the space and grace to feel it in their own way.
Thank you to the surviving first responders, and to the children and families that responders who lost their lives showing the greatest form of bravery, left behind. That sacrifice and valor will never be forgotten
The one thing I hold onto from that time is how the country came together, and I think about the power of that feeling every day.
Thank you for reading, and we will never forget.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
