October 19th, 2020
Dear Community,
As you doubtless all know, this summer was a time of activism for racial equality of an intensity not seen in our country in many decades. A part of that activism involved a calling on all kinds of institutions—not just law enforcement agencies—to examine their own practices, intentional and unintentional biases, and to set goals toward broader inclusion and justice.
Members of our own community, in groups and as individuals, wrote to the school’s administration on the same front. As I wrote directly to many this summer, we affirm our longstanding commitment to equal access and justice, not only as a core part of the school’s mission, but also as values we hold, and have long held, as individual people.
Toward that end, we formed a number of committees of board members and faculty to examine our historical practices, to suggest changes or improvements to existing practices or policies where needed, and to undertake additional initiatives. Among them were committees on Inclusion and Equity in Curriculum; Cultural Programming and Service; Inclusion and Equity in Hiring and Board Recruitment; Internal Recordkeeping including compliance with FERPA and HIPAA; Inclusion and Equity in Post-Graduation Counseling; Sexual Misconduct; and Inclusion and Equity in Admission and Recruitment of Students.
Much of the above work was already underway, and, indeed, is perpetual. That work isn’t always publicly obvious, and it was useful to focus on how and when to communicate how we do things, from hiring to curricular design, and on ways we can do better. Some committees’ completed work can be seen in part in this year’s revised handbook and website. Some committees, including those working on increasing diversity in our community, are continuing to meet and to work to improve our campus.
Many students and alumni reached out to us for conversation this summer, and their insights were clarifying. We are grateful for those open to dialogue; it is always helpful. We also encourage students to get involved more actively in the diversity and inclusivity work our school regularly undertakes. October 3rd, for example, saw the first of a series of virtual programs we are collaborating on with the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, a panel conversation with slavery and citizenship scholar Derek Litvak. We were grateful to the students who volunteered their time to help and attend. The next program is scheduled for mid-November with playwright Mike Wiley. We remain committed to pursuing such collaboration and programming, as we have since the school’s inception.
Finally, this: 2020 has been a tumultuous year, a succession of fresh outrages. As an institution, it is sometimes hard to know how and when to respond; too many statements of condemnation, especially of events far from campus, risk the appearance of performative outrage, or, worse, insincere marketing. But let there be no confusion. Systemic Racism, that is to say racism which was intentionally and unintentionally built into the legal, medical, educational and economic structures of the United States, is real, deep-rooted and ongoing and must be addressed for our country to rise to the moral standard our aspirational founding documents promised. To a lesser extent, so are structural inequalities based on class, language, ethnicity, religion, sexuality and gender. It is more difficult now to rise in America through hard work than it once was; study after study has made it clear that we now trail countries we used to lead in class mobility. The unequal policing of communities of color—an absolutely vital issue—is one symptom of a broad array of increasingly calcified inequities. These things must be faced through education and through effective policy, or we risk losing our democracy. Community High School, by mission and design, is committed to facing those realities inside and outside of the classroom, and to being a place where dialogue about how to best pursue and achieve positive change can be undertaken with kindness, tolerance and mutual respect.
Josh Chapman