#lrsd

Dear Gus & Magnus,

We had the PHE Fall Carnival and book fair tonight. You two each got balloon swords and scabbards and ran around like lunatics with all the other kids. Gus picked out a Lord Garmadon book and a book about predator animals.

Dad.

In solidarity with the teachers and students in Little Rock today who are marching against resegregation of schools and the dissolution of the teachers’ union!

More info here

And to my library system for opening their doors at 7:30 am for displaced students!

Dear Gus & Magnus,

Today is your last day of PreK/3rd grade. Mom and I can't believe how grown you both are. We're terribly proud. She took you for Loblolly after school, then when I got home, we all went for a celebratory dinner at a restaurant you two chose (and agreed upon) -- El Sur.

We had you both in bed by 8pm, but then Laura messaged Mom to say Jack Bailey was on his way to their house to spend the night, so we went and got Gus out of bed and sent him over. He was ecstatic. A good way to kick summer break off.

Dad.

Dear Gus & Magnus,

Yiayia, Nene, and Rick joined us for the Fair Park Farewell Celebration at Southwest High School tonight. I worried Mags would be extremely shy on stage, but he wasn't. He took all of his hand-gesture cues from Gracie, who was on top of the lyrics and rehearsed movements of their song. They were all super cute.

I like seeing Magnus up there in between his neighbor-girl friends. I feel like they're going to continue to rely on each other as they experience the stresses and joys of growing up.

We didn't get to have a pre-k celebration with Gus because of COVID, so we were thankful to get to have it with Mags tonight.

Dad.

My friend Tony Rose is running for the school board in the Little Rock, Arkansas School Board. Please vote for him if you live there. Here is his campaign statement: My name is Tony Rose, and I am running for LRSD School Board, Zone 4. I have multiple degrees from UALR in mathematics and history. I am currently semi-retired and do work as a private scholar, mostly writing history. I think that…

Dear Gus & Magnus,

I went to a strategic planning session this morning for the Little Rock School District, which I learned upon arrival would be led by my Leadership Greater Little Rock friend Reggie Ballard. He handled a hard job with grace and intelligence and it made me optimistic about keeping you two in public school. Mom and I want to keep you at LRSD because we believe in public education and we want you to be around kids from all different backgrounds, but we're not so idealistic that we will send you to a school based on principle, if there's a better option out there. Time will tell.

Also pictured, my other LGLR friend Jane.

Dad.

Dear Gus & Magnus,

Mom worked today, and our usual Choate Boy hangout partners (Nene, Yiayia, the Grummers) were out of pocket, so I took you two to a school district expo event that sounded kind of fun. We were only a few booths in when Gus made a plea to leave. I didn't fight him on it because it was kind of boring, so we got our hot dog/hamburger lunches and went to a park to play and have a picnic.

The district posted this photo to the district social media pages. There we are on the left, by the three-point line -- me standing with the stroller in the yellow hat, Magnus in the stroller, Gus crawling on the stroller.

We also took this photo on our way out the door.

Dad.