Dear Bacich Families,

Thank you so much for your efforts in recognizing our fabulous Bacich staff last week! You could really see and feel the love on campus. I also want to recognize all of our families and their contributions that make Bacich School feel like such a strong community with the unified purpose of providing our students the education and care they need to develop into great citizens.

Bacich staff strives to create an environment where all students can be themselves. We work to provide affirming and inclusive spaces by using respectful language, visibly inclusive signs, and positive actions. We encourage our student body to do the same through our modeling and direct lessons. To further this objective, this month, teachers at every grade level are delivering age appropriate lessons on the topic of gender expression and identity. Each grade level is providing an access point to the topic of gender through a children’s book and then following up with a lesson. At the elementary level, life lessons such as these are best delivered with the use of thematic books that have characters with whom students can identify and/or empathize that help start a guided conversation.

Gender impacts every single one of us, and these gender lessons will help students develop a greater sense of self, as well as an understanding and awareness of people with experiences different from their own. Each individual at Bacich contributes to building and sustaining a safe and welcoming school climate. Like with any group of people, personal identity and experience of each individual varies immensely across broad spectrums. Please reinforce with your child that when people express their sense of self in a way that may differ from what we expect, or even from what is typical, that compassion, empathy, and understanding can go a long way to help that person feel comfortable and that they belong. For your reference, I am sharing this information sheet about gender from Gender Spectrum that has been used as a part of gender lessons for our middle school students. Although our lessons do not quite reach this same level of depth and vocabulary, I think it is important for you to see what is ahead for your child as we build the foundation in elementary school.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the lessons taught, or about this topic. Thank you for your partnership in raising conscientious and accepting children who work to understand and accept experiences that differ from their own.