Dear Oyster-Adams Family,

Last night, I left Back to School Night at Adams full of hope for our collective future. In the coming years, we will be an unstoppable force for bilingual education in this nation because of our unbelievably talented teachers and committed families. Like last week at Oyster, the auditorium was packed with families, and it was standing room only! Thank you to everyone who made sacrifices to be there, and of course to our staff who prepared the event with great dedication. Special shout-out to Dr. Fortson who stayed at Adams until 11pm the night before cleaning our spaces while our hard-working custodians recovered from illnesses. There are so many folks in our community who do invisible but essential work, and they deserve recognition.

I also wanted to share that we are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month this month! Our teachers have prepared several celebratory gestures. At Oyster, we will be hosting the Hispanic Heritage Concert on the morning of the 16th. We will notify families of the exact times shortly so you can join us! Adams will be having an assembly the next week to celebrate the month. The Adams assembly will be for students only, but teachers will send in pictures!

I want to propose a simple idea to celebrate this month on both campuses. I invite you to celebrate all the countries of Latin America according to the calendar below. Put on your national colors, soccer jerseys, your traditional costumes, or any other symbol of belonging to our Latino communities. Whether or not you are from these nations, we invite you to celebrate the diversity of our cultures and ethnicities.

Here is the proposal:

• September 23 (on my birthday I want to celebrate my two nationalities): Ecuador and Brazil (we’re a Portuguese-speaking nation, but it is our independence month!)
• September 25: Argentina and Peru
• September 27: Colombia (bring your Copa America jerseys!) and Venezuela
• September 30: Chile, Guatemala, and Equatorial Guinea
• October 2: Spain, Uruguay, and Mexico
• October 4: Bolivia and Cuba
• October 7: Dominican Republic and Honduras
• October 9: Nicaragua and Paraguay
• October 11: El Salvador and Costa Rica
• October 15: Panama and Puerto Rico

Big hugs,

Carolina Brito, Directora