Dear Chargers...
June 10, 2020
Dear Chargers,
I hope this message finds you hanging in there during this final week of school. I know it hasn’t been easy these past few months and you have persevered. I am proud of you.
In the past few weeks, our country has been experiencing anger, frustration, sadness, and despair due to the recent murder of George Floyd. Through protests and demonstrations, our fellow citizens are calling for change. Not just words, but meaningful actions that will bring about real, true, impactful change. We want to live in a world that doesn’t just call out bias, discrimination, prejudice, and inequities, but one that actively works to effectively eradicate the systems and mindsets that enable and perpetuate an endless cycle of injustice. ADL and EWSD have a role in creating change to make this true.
At ADL, we have been working with the Anti-Defamation League to train student facilitators in the A World of Difference (AWOD) program for the past three years. Implementing the AWOD curriculum is one step we have taken to support our awareness of bias and discrimination in our school and community, and to help us build our muscles in taking action to respond to prejudice and cultivate a safe, inclusive environment for all students.
As a faculty, we have been focused on integrating restorative practices at our school for several years. In addition to utilizing restorative justice to respond to harms, we also use restorative circles to build community and create a safe space to engage in important conversations with one another. This past winter, students led classroom circles to facilitate school-wide discussion on raising the Black Lives Matter flag at ADL, and organized an opportunity for our student body to participate in the flag-raising ceremony. The solidarity demonstrated as a student body, in support of our community members of color, was inspiring and impactful.
Several of your teachers and I attended training this year called Beyond Diversity: Courageous Conversations. This training expanded our personal and collective knowledge about race and racism, and the deep and lasting impacts of prejudice on people of color, and other marginalized people. We are committed to providing this training to all staff. We will also be initiating a curriculum audit, beginning with our social studies curriculum at ADL, to prioritize inclusion and equity.
We want every single ADL student to walk through our red doors excited to be at school every day and feeling safe, welcomed and respected for who they are. I know that this is not currently the case for every one of you, and will continue to do everything possible to make it so. Your voices and positive actions in support of this work are critical to our progress. Please reach out if you have any questions or if you would like to discuss this with me. I will be here and would love to hear from you.
Be brave. Be kind. Stay safe.
Respectfully,
Jennifer Wood
Principal