|
Dear West Potomac Students and Parents,
I am reaching out to acknowledge the range of difficult experiences and feelings experienced by our West Potomac community in the past few days. It pains our entire staff that we cannot be present in-person to support our students and their families through the many, varied emotions of anxiety, sadness and/or grief, anger and fear that we are all collectively feeling. Some of you may be aware of a recent social media incident that highlighted these feelings and concerns.
One of the main reasons I chose to come to West Potomac three years ago was because we are a representative microcosm of our nation. Every language, religion, race and ethnicity and diverse identities exist at West Potomac. I firmly believe that if we can “get it right” as a learning community, we will be an exemplar for our nation. When we experience difficulties in our school community that reflect the difficulties in our nation, I feel a unique responsibility to “get it right”. Our students, families and staff need to feel respected and supported and when we have interactions that make individuals feel isolated and disrespected, we must work together to make a change. It all starts with having courageous conversations around topics like racism, forms of privilege, antisemitism, xenophobia, homophobia, and sexism. All these topics are relevant for West Potomac and are concerns for many of our students. The time is now to talk, listen, learn and lead real systemic change. Our students are good about leading change, but they are still young and need the support of the adults in their lives to guide as to the best ways to achieve change.
Please know that West Potomac staff are here to support you. Our staff has been focused on issues surrounding equity, and its importance, for several years. Today, many teachers took the time to facilitate discussions that allowed students’ varied opinions, feelings and perspectives to be heard and valued. We do not, and will not, support negative bias or inequity in any form but we are not unrealistic and realize that these things do exist at West Potomac. We must be committed to the work of eradicating it. I would like to partner with all of you to make this happen. I will be reaching out to you for your thoughts and to develop some live community discussions with students, staff and families so that we can create a plan for moving forward with purpose, vision and hope.
We are here for you. Reach out to any of us at any time. We have teachers, administrators, counselors and many resources if you need help or just want to talk.
Here are some timely and relevant resources that you can access for support or to help you with your student for the immediacy of the moment.
Wolverine Nation Stand Up!
Ms. Millard
|
