List of 3 items.

• July 1, 2020: To the College Prep Community

  Dear College Prep Community,

   

  We reach out to you today with humility and open hearts. Especially to the Black members of our community, we say clearly, we hear you: your emails; your phone calls; your posts on Instagram at blackatcollegeprep and other social media. It is humbling to learn of injustices that took place long ago and as recently as this last school year. It is heartbreaking to hear that members of our community have been hurt or diminished by the very people they relied upon for care and support: administrators, faculty, peers.

   

  We hear the individual and institutional ways that College Prep has fallen short of providing the experience and community that you deserve.We appreciate the courage that it has taken to share your stories. Underneath the details, we have heard evidence and patterns of ways that our actions and inactions caused pain; we deeply regret the harm we have caused and the opportunities lost. We should have done better. For this, we are truly sorry.

   

  In order to foster the genuinely equitable and inclusive culture to which we aspire, we must face our shortcomings, and yet not be paralyzed by them. In June, the School made a Statement of Commitment to deepen our anti-racist work, acknowledging that statements, by themselves, do not create change. We are moving forward with intent and urgency to review our programs and practices. While this planning takes shape, we commit to anchoring our work by:

   

  • Requiring anti-racist training for all employees and Board members;
  • Identifying and implementing additional strategies to recruit and hire Black faculty and administrators so as to expand the diversity of our adult population;  
  • Identifying and addressing barriers to the enrollment of more students who identify as Black, striving to be a school of choice for Black students who represent a broad and diverse cross section of the community; 
  • Creating accessible spaces and processes to enable critical feedback about experiences of racism on campus while implementing accountability measures and restorative and accountability pathways for students and employees;
  • Using curriculum and expanding programming to foster an anti-racist culture of inclusion and belonging for all students, employees, and parents;
  • Strengthening transparency and communications about existing and future programming and anti-racist efforts to ensure visibility, accountability, and change.

   

  We know this is the School’s work to do. We hope that you, our community members, will help us do it better. If you are willing, we want to hear more: about the ways that race impacted your experience at College Prep, about the ways you would like to see our school improve, about how you’d like to get involved. We invite all interested students, parents, alumni, past parents, and employees to give us feedback:  

   

  1. Share your written feedback here. 
  2. Participate in a summer or fall live community conversation via Zoom with Jeremiah Jackson, Director of Equity and Inclusion, and Monique DeVane, Head of School. 
  3. Send a confidential message to the Board of Trustees through this dedicated email account.

   

  We do not expect to proceed without stumbles, but we are listening and committed to action. We work toward a vision where every member of our community feels safe, visible and supported, ready to live and learn in a more equitable world.

   

  Sincerely,

   

  Monique DeVane

  Head of School

   

  Kevin Katari

  Chair, Board of Trustees

• June 9, 2020: A Statement of Commitment

  In this moment of national reflection, The College Preparatory School affirms its longstanding commitment to social justice and its rejection of hatred in all its forms; especially racial hatred and anti-Black violence. At College Prep and for our wider community, we state unequivocally that Black lives matter. 

   

  Statements of commitment are important starting points, but they do not create change, nor do they expose the full extent of the real and existential harm experienced daily by Black people in our country. Meaningful changes are needed on both individual and structural levels, guided by the experiences of those who have been most hurt and whose opportunities have been most deeply diminished. As a learning community, we are only strengthened when we acknowledge and center these voices. 

   

  To our Black students, families, staff, faculty, and alumni, we acknowledge that, while College Prep continues to work earnestly and has made tangible progress on issues of equity and inclusion, it has not been a place of comfortable belonging for all of its members, nor has it been immune to structural racism. If we are to be an anti-racist institution, we have a great deal to do. We are committed to this goal and understand that this work—too often shouldered by Black students, faculty, and staff—must engage the entire community. 

   

  For College Prep to live up to the aspirations of its mission statement, we must keep working against cycles of historic injustice, across racial and ethnic divides, and for change that is actionable and measurable. We will continue to enlist the help of our extended community to create a durable and inclusive framework for this effort, one that is collaborative and visible. Only then can we truly foster shared accountability and an equitable future.

• June 3, 2020: To Students and Families

  Dear Students and Families,

   

  I am without adequate words for the range of emotions these past days have brought. Juxtaposed with my appreciation for how our teachers and students have risen to this most unusual spring, like many of you, I am also grieving: for George Floyd and so many before him, lost to anti-Black violence; for the cost of our tolerance of systemic racism; for the enormous gap between our aspirations and the lived realities of so many people of color in our country.

   

  It is heartbreaking to witness the racial chaos in which we find ourselves, to know that people continue to be denied basic protection and dignity in ways that feel numbingly familiar. As parents, we all want our children to be safe, to have hope and opportunity. I cannot know what it feels like to be a parent of color right now, but I am certain that within our own diverse community, some of our families are disproportionately and profoundly affected by the hate, inequities, and violence in our country. Our students and their families need and deserve to know that we are in solidarity in the shared belief that Black lives matter.

   

  Schools hold a particular obligation to be places of hope. But hope alone is not enough. We must be resolved to live up to our School’s commitment to anti-bias, cultural competency, and service leadership. As we look to the future, we need to be willing to sit with the discomfort that comes with hard questions and realities, and to listen and learn from those whose lives are centered in this struggle. In this challenging space, perhaps we can find openings for new and shared understandings. Perhaps repair can begin. 

   

  I have great faith in our students and faculty. Their daily work promises new beginnings and a more just society. Even though the school year is over, I see the students in our No Place for Hate Coalition and the Black Student Union creating spaces to talk and plan together. Our faculty are also sharing resources and engaging in both adult and community conversations. There is much work to be done, but in our own spheres of influence, we can each use our power to disrupt oppression and inequity. We can all commit to educating ourselves, to listening, and to kindness.

   

  With care, 

   

  Monique DeVane

  Head of School