Matt Willoughby, Principal

Madhu Narayanan, Assistant Principal

525 West 50th Street New York, NY 10019

P: (212) 586-0981

F: (212) 586-1731

www.uasdc.org

March 16, 2013

Parents, Students, Teachers, and Staff of the SDC Community,

Our entire school community pours our heart out to Kimani Gray’s mother and

family. We miss Kimani as we know they do in an unimaginably painful way. I was

Kimani’s principal for the last year and a half. In light of all the attention, I feel it is

important to share a little about the Kimani that we knew.

We believed in his potential from the day he entered our school. He traveled for over an

hour each day from East Flatbush to Midtown West to our little architectural themed high

school. The year and a half we had with Kimani allowed us to get to know his best self.

Kimani made great strides this year academically. He was taking an extra English class

after school; he was writing a dramatic dialogue in another English class; his group in

Design class was working on a project to design a school. Now they are working to

complete their project without him.

My hope is that as a community we can agree that the death of anyone so young is

tragic. Kimani should be remembered for all of who he was – an energetic, kind, playful,

independent young man who was trying to learn and grow one day at a time.

Our Social Worker and Guidance Counselors, as well as teachers and students trained in

Restorative Justice practices, have been available to the school community every day

since Monday. We will continue to create space and time for our school to grieve and

provide support to all who need it.

Thank you,

Matt Willoughby

Principal, Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction