I want to apologize to everyone in DEI Leadership that we were not sensitive enough to catch the trigger oppression inherent in our regressive tradition of naming a “Boy” and a “Girl” Valedictorian in the High School again this year.
We will do better next year, and we’d like your input so that we can improve the grading system for next fall.
To insure that we achieve the school’s goal of total Equity, by how many groups should we record grades? For example, POC (People of Color)/BIO Female/Straight, POC/BIO Female/Lesbian, POC/BIO Female/Bi, POC/ID Female/Bi, POC/ID Female/Straight, POC/ID Female/Lesbian, POC/Other? And then the same distinctions for Asian, Latino and White “formerly girls”? Then formerly boys.
Are there any other categories to help make sure that no one is again oppressed in the area of personal achievement and recognition?
We also plan to hold separate Honors Days next year, one for the Oppressed Group and one for the Oppressor Group, with only students and parents from each group allowed to attend their group’s celebration, to minimize any harmful trigger feelings.
We slipped up this year, and we again apologize. But perfect Equity is our goal, we’re spending millions to achieve it (and of course most of that money comes to us!), and with your help we’ll get there. Keep the faith.
And think about how far we’ve come—this place used to have, if you can believe it, a Girls’ School and a Boys’ School! Incredible. Thankfully, we’ve now progressed far beyond those simplistic, repressive stereotypes.