Our total school enrollment is now over 4000 for the first time in over 20 years, right on track with the enrollment projections the Board of Education has been using for its long-range planning. We have new principals at Fox Lane High School and West Patent Elementary School, and interim principals at Pound Ridge and Mount Kisco Elementary Schools. And during July and August, the Board of Education met with an unusual degree of frequency to continue to refine a major capital facility project that will be brought to the community for a vote early in the winter.

Then September 11 th came. like Americans throughout our great land, our staff members have done their very best to deal with the devastating tragedy confronting our country, and to help our students through it. On the day of the crisis, I implemented a variety of emergency measures, including shutting outside access to our schools to all but parents trying to pick up their children. Our staff was incredible that day, with many teachers voluntarily riding home on elementary buses to ensure that all students were received safely. We had even made provision to bring in dinner for those youngsters whose parens might be unable to leave New York City because of the chaos in lower Manhattan.

Beginning on September 12, 1 asked the principals to make certain that every child in the district participated in age-appropriate discussions about this horrible national tragedy. Had you visited the many classrooms as I did in the days following, you would have been proud of our teachers and your children, who discussed what had happened with intelligence and sensitivity. Our community was by no means spared in the horrors of that day, and several of our children lost parents and other loved ones who worked in the World Trade Center. But the towns in our school district - and the adults and children who live and work here - have rallied to make us proud. Well over a thousand people gathered at a memorial service in Bedford for one victim of the tragedy, as young and old, relatives, friends, and co-workers paid their respects to the grieving family. Bedford faculty and staff collected over $ 10,000 that was forwarded to the American Red Cross for disaster relief. Your children have collected money in their classrooms and written to people on the front lines to express their admiration for their bravery and their support for their efforts, as those of us in charge of the schools attempted to restore a sense of normalcy to the youngsters' lives as quickly as possible. But somehow we know that things have been unalterably changed in the wake of the devastating attack on our country, and that what was normal once may never be the same again.

Things that were so very important on September 1Oth began to seem much less so in the days following the tragedy. And while life will never be quite the same after September I 1, 2001 , an event of this nature should give us pause to take stock of our real priorities. Thousands of parents left home that Tuesday expecting to return that evening, but they never did. Some of us may have quarreled with a loved one that morning, or rushed out of the house without taking time to kiss and hug our children - or to tell those most dear how much we love them. As we all struggle to move ahead in the aftermath of this horrific event, let us keep our real priorities in the forefront of our thoughts. The hope of this wonderful nation lies in our children, and I pledge to you that their safety and education have never been more important to those of us who work in the Bedford schools.

Sincerely,

Bruce L. Dennis
Superintendent of Schools