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From the Superintendent's Desk |
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October 15, 2004 |
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This past weekend, Bowen Elementary School in Newton Centre endured yet another assault on the building. Vandals spray-painted racist, homophobic, and drug-related graffiti on various back walls of the school, and a mural, created several years ago by the entire school community, was again defaced. Paint, of course, can be sandblasted away; the meaning of the hurtful words, however, cannot. We can say that this is an isolated act, the work of one or a few individuals. We can say that this kind of thing does not, or should not, happen in Newton. We can decry these actions with words like "horrible" and "offensive." The anger, hatred and discrimination evidenced in this event shake us to our core. Even if this was the work of just one person, we all own a piece of the problem. We live and work together in this city. No one can say, "This does not concern me directly." Overt racism and homophobia shock us when we are caught off guard, as we were last weekend. The question is, what happens when the initial shock fades and we return to our routines. I am asking every one of us to look inside ourselves and ask what we can do to support justice and respect for human differences in our community. Each of us has a sphere of influence, whether it is in the classroom, the school, the department, the district, the family, or the community at large. We condemn the reprehensible events we witnessed in Newton last week, yet we know that next time it could happen at any school. If there is no magic solution to guarantee that we will not see this again in the future, at least we must stand together now to support our colleagues and strengthen our community. Newton is no place for hate. On Wednesday, October 20 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall, Mayor Cohen and I will meet with citizens and staff to discuss the challenges facing our community. All members of the NPS faculty and staff are invited to attend this event. For more info, click here. People sometimes ask me why we work on a core value of respect for human differences in our schools. Why can't we just leave well enough alone, they wonder. Well, every now and then we get a blunt reminder of why this work is so important. It is our responsibility as educators and leaders to set an example and to show our students how the world can be a better place, if people let go of their pre-judgments and simply respect others for the human beings they are. Our school community is populated with such wonderful and remarkable people, and I know together we will rise to the occasion. |
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