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Modeling Disagreement

It will likely come as no surprise to our parent body that the so-called peaceful transition of power in the White House has sent certain reverberations through the Berwick community. As I expected, this next chapter of leadership energizes many of our students and families, and others have been inclined to protest. I often say to my colleagues at other schools that I enjoy the richness of opinions afforded to us at Berwick based on our unique geography. At a moment when I am asked to oversee the emotional regulation, as it relates to the recent election, of 600 students, 125 employees and the potential reactions of parents, it has been a difficult leadership moment for me - and for Heads of School everywhere. Recently, I told the BPC Board that our parents should know that we take our obligation to appreciate all views in this community seriously, and behind the scenes we continue to address any student or employee behaviors or comments that strike us as crossing the line of modeling disagreement professionally and making differing viewpoints feel safe in our classrooms.

Simultaneously, Michael Buensuceso and I have been searching for ways to engage parents of all political viewpoints in conversations about culture, race, and socioeconomic class. While we maintain that our work in cultural competency is not political in nature, these conversations do inevitably touch at the core of our values, which clearly drive so many of our ideologies. Our parents have a great opportunity to hear a conversation about policing and communities of color in the 21st century on campus tonight Thursday, February 2. The panel includes a civil rights law professor from Drexel University, a current parent who is an expert on terrorism and security, and another professor in criminology who happens to be an active police officer in Nashua, NH as well. While these kinds of speakers can never be fully “screened” for their viewpoints, we have explained to all of them what we are trying to accomplish. We seek to model how we can have differing viewpoints and yet still engage in a respectful dialogue where everyone can learn and grow. Suffice it to say that Berwick Academy has never tackled this kind of topical format with our parent community before.


The reality is that this might be one of the best events we have ever done or it might go poorly. We have opened it up to the public, and we could have lots of interest or less than ten people showing up. I will certainly know more a week from now. However it goes, I believe it is essential that the adults in this community model and embrace dialogue and listening in these times of great divisiveness. If one’s school community does not have the courage to challenge views and ask tough questions, I am not sure any other institution in our lives here on the Seacoast will do so. So the event this week may very well be small today, but I think its significance will be fairly large. Hope I might see you there.

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