We miss you, but you inspire us still.
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While this year reinforced what’s possible when we join together, it has also forced us to reckon with deep uncertainty and loss. We have lost the rhythms of life that we knew. We see each other mostly through computer screens. Our public spaces were largely empty, especially as our outdoor activities yielded to the New York winter and quarantine restrictions. This loss of connection and human contact will return, in the coming months and years.
But we have also lost friends and family.
These four extraordinary members of our community represent the family, friends, colleagues, neighbors that we have lost this year. We are diminished by their passing, but the values that they lived, the passion that they embodied, are beacons as we seek to recover and rebuild. They each believed deeply in the importance of public education and fought fiercely for public schools in their own ways.
Julia Forman
As 2020 ended, Julia Forman, our deputy director of career readiness, passed away unexpectedly. Julia was deeply committed to serving students who have too often been excluded from educational opportunity. She worked tirelessly to create equitable access to college and career readiness opportunities that help students achieve their aspirations. Julia was also our friend: radiantly warm, building deep relationships with school partners and with colleagues. Her enthusiasm and optimism were infectious and desperately needed during difficult days; her laughter came frequently and more than filled any room she was in.
Bridgett Hooks
Last fall, we said goodbye to beloved music teacher and glee club director, Bridgett Hooks. A fixture in the New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science (AMS) community for the past seven years, Bridgett was known for her generosity, warmth, and unrivaled hospitality. You could often find students hanging out in her room before class or during lunch breaks just to be around her. Bridgett loved her students and her music. She occasionally graced the AMS graduation stage, her beautiful soprano voice resounding and inspiring all within earshot. In the same way, her loving spirit will continue to echo in our hearts.
Jay Kriegel
In the closing days of 2019, Jay Kriegel, longtime New Visions board member, passed away. Jay was an advisor to New Visions leaders for two decades and a legend in New York City for his endearing love of the city and his involvement, beginning in the Lindsay administration, in so many civic efforts. New Visions honors his legacy through the Jay Kriegel Scholars program, which, in 2020, announced its first class of scholarship recipients committed to making an impact on the civic life of our city, as Jay so indelibly did.
Dez-Ann Romain
In the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, the virus struck close to home. The first New York City educator to succumb to complications of the disease, Dez-Ann Romain was a member of the New Visions family. Dez-Ann was a lifelong educator who was principal of Brooklyn Democracy Academy, a transfer school in Brownsville. Those who knew her well described her as a force and the perfect personality to lead a school serving students striving for a second chance at success: caring, loving, tough, innovative, and persistent.
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