My fellow citizens of the world,

President John F. Kennedy included those words within his inaugural address and followed them by asking us to look within ourselves to see what we could do together. Whether student, parent, teacher, educational assistant or another resident of our tiny corner of the globe, I welcome you with a similar question: what can we do together through the exploration of the various languages and cultures to enhance our understanding of each other and our world. The philosophy of the World Language Department of the Bayonne Board of Education is that we can do many great things, together, through the prism of language and culture.

Whether we say Welcome, or Willkommen, Bienvenido, Benvenuto, or Bienvenue is of little moment. What matters is that we maintain the welcoming learning community that we have established here as we begin this school year. Maintaining the best aspects of that community is both our blessing and our challenge as our broader communities seem to tend toward tension rather than understanding. Our goal this and every September is welcome our word language community together, and to begin a year of achievement and linguistic enhancement. Communicating with each other through common languages is, during our school year, a means of academic progress, and for the rest of our lives a way to improve our world.

Sincerely,

Monica Flynn

Director