Furthering Our Commitment to Inclusion

6/1/2020

Dear Parents,

We know this is a distressing time for our local community, nation and the greater world. The untimely and horrific death of George Floyd has created an outpouring of feelings and a cry for social justice. Ongoing peaceful protests, riots and reactionary gatherings, both safe and unsafe, are ubiquitous in all forms of media. In addition, COVID-19 has forced us to endure distance and massive changes in our daily lives. Now more than ever, the emotional needs of each individual we serve are on our minds as a professional group of educators. Your children are likely to see and hear an array of very disturbing images on multiple forms of media. We want you to know we are thinking about our students and their need to process feelings, ask questions and make sense out of a series of complex and tragic realities. Collegiate professionals are thinking about you, our partners and the parents of our students, and are ready to assist. Collegiate’s mission and core values promote spaces of respectful and civil discourse, and our classroom is indeed a shared one, especially during the summer months. We value our crucial partnership with you, our parents, to promote essential moral growth and lifelong habits for your children.

The mission of Collegiate School is to create a diverse and inclusive community of learners committed to a challenging and supportive educational experience that will foster the intellectual, moral, emotional and physical development of each student. Were we in school, we would certainly foster respectful dialogue and process feelings, thoughts and questions. Such discourse is a hallmark of our learning community.

Although school is not “in session,” we know there is so very much to process. We encourage you to continue to rely upon us for resources and strategies to foster the intellectual and moral education of your children. It is likely that they and you are moving through an array of feelings, worries and questions. Asking open-ended questions for facilitating such a dialogue allows your child to navigate this space with a feeling of control. It is important that we listen to our students and children. If we allow them to ask questions and share their feelings, even if their ideas are not in sync with our own, we are promoting tolerance and modeling our core values of honor, love of learning, excellence, respect and community. Collegiate’s Inclusion Committee has created a resource list that will assist you as you navigate the topic of race and bias.

HELPFUL RESOURCES:
Explaining the News to Our Kids
How to Talk to Kids about Race and Racism
Talking to Children about Racial Bias
Are your kids too young to talk about race; Resource roundup
Guide to Allyship

Together, the Collegiate professional community stands as responsible citizens and as role models for our school, our region and human dignity. If we can assist in any fashion, please do not hesitate to let us know.

With great sincerity and hope,

Penny B. Evins

Head of School
penny_evins@collegiate-va.org

Back