Anti Racism Remote Project

Dear GSM Families,

We write this in shock and with sadness, as we mourn the lives of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Tony McDade in Florida, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, amid countless others. We now see people all over the country rising up in defiance of these crimes, rising up in defiance of the systemic racism that affects every member of our society, rising up to have their voices heard. 

Some teachers have already started talking about these events in age-appropriate ways with their classes, and we will continue throughout the week and beyond. As always we will keep the children’s developmental stage at the forefront, and we are working together as a staff to prepare how to best support the children and give them space to process what is happening all across our country as well as in our community. 

This is an important opportunity, especially for white and non-Black people of color, to listen and learn, to stand with our black colleagues, friends, and family members, to learn how to be better allies and advocates. To the black families in our extended community, we stand in solidarity with you.

Here at GSM, we will prioritize growth opportunities for the staff during our weekly staff meetings, including revisiting our resources for how best to discuss hard topics like racism with children and adolescents. The English teacher Dr. Adley will take the lead on this, but all staff will be involved. 

We will send out additional resources to support your conversations at home in due course. We’d also like to share an anti-racism resource primarily geared toward white people and parents to help support the fight against racial injustice in the United States. It’s about each individual working for collective change.

We are committed to constantly strive to do better in the work toward social justice. This is one step on a long road, but we have to keep walking.

In solidarity,

The GSM Team