Community Corner

Resident Commended for 'Welcoming' Work

Miranda Cogswell started helping new families assimilate into Chatham schools after relocating with kids.

Miranda Cogswell was honored by Interim Superintendent Dennis Fyffe Monday for her work with the New Parent Welcome Committee.

Cogswell said she came up with the idea for a committee to welcome new parents and students after she moved to Chatham 16 years ago with a kindergartner and a pre-K student in the middle of the school year.

"At least if you come in in September, the school is used to having everybody arrive and they give you all the information. You move in the middle of January, from abroad, ... I had no clue," she said.

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Though her own children graduated from the district several years ago, Cogswell continues to serve as the committee's chair. "We have six schools, and every time a new family comes from out of Chatham, we're there to welcome them," she said.

Cooperation and endorsement from the district is an essential part of the committee's service. Schools send a list of new families registered to Cogswell in August of each year. From there, she said, "the key to the whole thing is networking."

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She said she makes an effort to meet as many new families as possible. "Certainly if they're from abroad, I meet them," Cogswell said. "I call them all when they first move here, if it's the beginning of the year in September, then we all check after school starts. 'How's it going, how are the kids getting on.'"

While Cogswell said she knows schools in other towns who organize events for new families, she is not aware of one that works district-wide.

"If it was just a school doing it individually," she said, "they wouldn't know that [for example, two families] just moved from Paris, because [one] has got a high schooler and the other one's got kindergarten. But they don't care, because they just want to know each other."

For families without a language or cultural barrier to overcome, Cogswell facilitates introductions to neighbors, parents of children the same age and to key staff members in the schools. "It's totally about just helping people and giving them friends," she said.

Fyffe said Principal Bob Accardi drafted a letter of thanks and commendation to Cogswell. The principals at the remaining five schools also signed the letter, which Fyffe read aloud at the meeting Monday.

"The comments from parents are always the same: Miranda's efforts make them feel welcomed, cared for and so happy that they chose to live in our communities. Many tell us they've experienced nothing like it in all their travels," the letter read.

Cogswell, who has repeatedly asked Chatham Patch not to publish her photograph, made an exception Monday on the occasion of the board and superintendent recognizing her efforts.


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