PrintDear CES Friends,

The final CES Fall Forum was held this past weekend in the Providence, Rhode Island, the city where the first Fall Forum was held 28 years ago. Today I am writing to thank you for making it yet another successful gathering. We saw old friends, made new ones, learned together, and celebrated decades of good work.

It does not matter whether you were in attendance or not last weekend. The success of that gathering and everything else CES has done has been due the work of school people like you. Every one of you was present, if not in body then in spirit, and we cannot thank you enough for your work.

CES as a national organization will be closing its doors over the next few weeks. During this transition we will be keeping you informed as to where you will be able to have continuous, free access to CES resources such as schools, practices, and colleagues via our web site, which we intend to maintain for the foreseeable future. We’ll also be sending out a Fall Forum wrap up with reflections and links for more information. For today, still enjoying the good vibes from the Fall Forum, I just wanted to reach out and assure you the spirit of CES will not be lost.

As I said at Fall Forum, the CES Common Principles that have guided the work of educators around the country will live on in so many ways. In practices like advisory, portfolios, exhibitions of learning, shared responsibility for all students, and so much more that we see in schools and reform organizations, the Common Principles live on. In the lives of young people and educators who have benefitted from school communities guided by these principles, the principles live on. And, most importantly, they live on in you–as they guide your habits of heart and mind in the work you do in the communities where you live.

Thanks for building a past of which we all can be justifiably proud and a future that will be reflected in the changed lives of your students.

With deepest respect and friendship,

George Wood
Chair, CES Board
Superintendent, Federal Hocking Local Schools, Stewart, Ohio