The Genovese family can’t pinpoint exactly why they landed in Concord when they decided to move to the U.S. from the Czech Republic.
When Guy and his daughter, Zyra, visited in June, however, they knew they had found what they sought. It felt somewhat cosmopolitan, yet still quaint with its New England vibes. It has low crime rates and friendly people – even at the DMV. It has four seasons and mountains, meaning Zyra and her older sister Ashley can ski.
“Concord won our hearts,” Guy said.
The warm welcome they received from Concord schools, he added, sealed the deal.
Within hours of a cold email to Rundlett Middle and Concord High Schools – on a six-hour time difference – his family had corresponded with school principals and set up tours for their kids. Zyra will be an eighth grader and Ashley a sophomore – which, she quipped, feels almost like repeating “year 10” from her British-run international high school, because the two systems, among other things, count class years differently.
Concord School District’s Back to School Night on Wednesday marked their 50th day as city residents.
“People recognized us immediately, and said, ‘we needed to see you about this or this,” Guy Genovese noted. “So this is a great event for cleaning up those little loopholes that were hanging.”
The summer gathering is a chance for children and families – especially those who might be new to Concord schools or new to the area in general – to meet their school leaders, to check out extra-curricular activities and to enjoy the final days of August with pizza, shaved-ice and some last laps around Keach Park.
While each school hosted a table to welcome students, a long line of kids waited to talk and laugh with Mill Brook School Principal Katie Scarpati.
For Mill Brook especially, Scarpati said, back-to-school night has become a key touch point for families in the East Concord and Heights neighborhoods, part of a summer-long effort to connect with the school community ahead of the first day of classes.
“It is an easy way, because our neighborhood is right here, for families to get back out to see us,” she said. “And for our incoming Ks, it’s nice to put a face for them to see who we are, for us to meet them in person and connect them with resources.”
Ensuring young students are ready for school also means helping to ensure that their families have everything they need – from getting their bus-route questions answered to ensuring they know how to sign up for hot lunch, access parenting support or outside services.
The event brings in non-profit organizations like Waypoint and the Community Action Program, offering connections with parents and guardians that might not happen otherwise.
“It really allows families in the city and the surrounding towns to come and just see what our program is about,” said Matt Gross of the Community Action Program. “Even if we’ve got families that are coming that have older kids that are in school, a lot of times they have younger siblings that also need our services,” like Head Start community childcare or home-visitors, all of which are open to applications.
This type of outreach can forge relationships that otherwise might not happen.
“Not everyone will come to our site,” said Joan Valk, the family resource center coordinator at Waypoint.
Valk had just met a grandmother who takes care of her two granddaughters and picked up a brochure for kinship providers.
“We never would have known about her if we hadn’t come out in the community and met her,” Valk said. “And so that kind of connection really makes it important.”
In its third year, Back to School Night was born from the changing educational landscape post-COVID, where strong, in-person relationships, student social support and access to community resources are more important than ever, said Erin Cayer, the coordinator of early supports and district homelessness with the Concord School District.
Staff at the event, with the help of translators, could help families apply for free and reduced lunch or update their critical information. Multiple families experiencing homelessness attended the event and enrolled their children in school on Monday night, Cayer noted. A physical presence matters.
It was also just a chance to churn up the back-to-school excitement among students.
Ayaan Shaik was only a few wide-eyed sentences into expressing why he was so excited to return to Mill Brook for first grade – because his best friend, Teddy, would be in his class – when Teddy suddenly appeared behind him. They erupted into breathless excitement.
For Ashley and Zyra Genovese, settling into school will mean finding their footing as American teenagers.
The family of four, including Guy’s wife Lourdes, had been in Prague for Zyra and Ashley’s entire lives, where they attended an English-language international school. They’d been thinking about moving to the United States for a while, but dove in when the writing was on the wall for federal cuts to public radio. Guy worked at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for sixteen years.
“I’m pretty excited for a new experience,” Zyra said. For now, though, they’re taking things one day at a time. “I’m trying to figure out where I’d be put in math.”