Anti-diversity trends.

[Anonymous]

South Park Elementary, why?

[Anonymous]

“white and hetero” families

How disgusting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I won't name the school, but out of curiosity, I attended a school wide virtual DEI meeting this year. I wanted to see what all the discussion was about but was shocked to find that there were less than 20 people at the meeting for a school with 700 students. So while the school invests in staff and other resources to support the programming, the parents don't seem to be on board. I wonder if this is typical.

As a white person, I would never attend an event like this. Not because I don’t believe in diversity or in most parts of DEI but because it cannot, by definition, go well for me. I would never say anything, lest it be misinterpreted. I would try not to take any side or show any opinion because I don’t know how things would be interpreted. There is just no good outcome for a person like me.

[Anonymous]

You aren’t wrong

[Anonymous]

My advice - for any school - is to look at what they actually are doing, and not pay too much attention to words.

Most local privates have been talking about DEI, ever since it became politically correct to do that. Some meant what they said; some did not.

Some privates were (quietly) trying to be representative of the area demographics long before it became politically correct to talk about DEI. Those likely will continue to try to achieve that - even if they aren’t talking about it so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you make a separate post about Holton?

Nope, but it's one of the schools I pulled.

Holton just lured Barbara Eghan away from GDS. She was responsible for their civic labs and other equity programs at the school.

Umm no. Way more to her departure. She was not "lured" Let's just say GDS was more than fine with her leaving.

[Anonymous]

Also As a person with kids who went GDS I would say if you care about diversity take a look at your kids friend group.
We had one child there whose best friend was Black. We are white. They were inseparable from 6th grade on and continue to be close in college. Sadly this is a very rare occurrence.

Our other child's friend group is almostly completely white and economically privileged. There are some asian and half asian kids in that mix but no black kids at all.

We believe GDS's DEI agenda only serves to silo the kids. My kid in middle school had lots of friends from different racial groups but as the school pushed identity politics and affinity groups everyone started self-separating in high school. I know for kids of color this can be a necessary and validating thing. I also know that kids are tribal by nature. It is the school's job to address this and GDS virtue signals but ignores the elephant in the room which is that the majority of friend groups are divided by race.
I view this as a failure of school leadership and an abandonment of the school's mission.

[Anonymous]

White Supremacy still governs the schools mentioned. Even the ones that constantly talk about DIE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only people who want to take DEI out of our school and who were freaking out about affinity groups was a tiny, vocal group of white, Christian, hetero, rich families. At one point they got so loud and insidious about it that the entire school community felt like the opinions of those people defined the school, and it really tore people apart.

The administration, in partnership with a few parents with social capital, got on top of the situation and carefully leaked the information that it was only 3 families in a student body of 450 who were continually seeding this anti-DEI and affinity group discord. Those families hadn't even re-enrolled last spring when they began their anti-DEI campaign. As soon as they were gone and the fall semester began, the conversations stopped. Student-led affinity groups are carrying on just fine and DEIJB continues to be a key component of curriculum, admissions, and community life.

Yeah right. Talk about “things that didn’t happen” and “name the school or you’re lying”.

We are neither Christian nor White and cannot stand this DEI nonsense.

We're Christian but not white, and we want DEI gone. It doesn't make make schools better or more diverse (other than an artificial increase in AA), it just separates people.

This. It absolutely is separating people. It’s not helping. It’s harming. It’s backfiring !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also As a person with kids who went GDS I would say if you care about diversity take a look at your kids friend group.
We had one child there whose best friend was Black. We are white. They were inseparable from 6th grade on and continue to be close in college. Sadly this is a very rare occurrence.

Our other child's friend group is almostly completely white and economically privileged. There are some asian and half asian kids in that mix but no black kids at all.

We believe GDS's DEI agenda only serves to silo the kids. My kid in middle school had lots of friends from different racial groups but as the school pushed identity politics and affinity groups everyone started self-separating in high school. I know for kids of color this can be a necessary and validating thing. I also know that kids are tribal by nature. It is the school's job to address this and GDS virtue signals but ignores the elephant in the room which is that the majority of friend groups are divided by race.
I view this as a failure of school leadership and an abandonment of the school's mission.

My child not at GDS had a mixed race group of friends. After affinity groups, some grew closer to each other and the group split. It’s great the kids grew closer to each other and natural that the group would split if some of the kids weren’t able to share in that private discussion and set of relationships so grew apart. But unfortunate that what was once a mixed race set of friends is no longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI- Burke had a range of affinity groups: Black, Asian, Latino, multiracial, Jewish, white allies, lgbt, etc.

NP.

Important to note here that many Burke parents and students are unhappy with the program as it is currently implemented and want to see change. It pops up in conversation regularly.

In terms of not wanting affinity groups or of wanting more?

Our K-8 now has affinity groups for kids, but only for black kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also As a person with kids who went GDS I would say if you care about diversity take a look at your kids friend group.
We had one child there whose best friend was Black. We are white. They were inseparable from 6th grade on and continue to be close in college. Sadly this is a very rare occurrence.

Our other child's friend group is almostly completely white and economically privileged. There are some asian and half asian kids in that mix but no black kids at all.

We believe GDS's DEI agenda only serves to silo the kids. My kid in middle school had lots of friends from different racial groups but as the school pushed identity politics and affinity groups everyone started self-separating in high school. I know for kids of color this can be a necessary and validating thing. I also know that kids are tribal by nature. It is the school's job to address this and GDS virtue signals but ignores the elephant in the room which is that the majority of friend groups are divided by race.
I view this as a failure of school leadership and an abandonment of the school's mission.

So sad now your white child won’t be able to tell people they are not racist because they have 1 black friend. DEI is terrible.

[Anonymous]

What is this GDS parent on? That’s not at all our experience. Very mixed friend group. Good grief

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also As a person with kids who went GDS I would say if you care about diversity take a look at your kids friend group.
We had one child there whose best friend was Black. We are white. They were inseparable from 6th grade on and continue to be close in college. Sadly this is a very rare occurrence.

Our other child's friend group is almostly completely white and economically privileged. There are some asian and half asian kids in that mix but no black kids at all.

We believe GDS's DEI agenda only serves to silo the kids. My kid in middle school had lots of friends from different racial groups but as the school pushed identity politics and affinity groups everyone started self-separating in high school. I know for kids of color this can be a necessary and validating thing. I also know that kids are tribal by nature. It is the school's job to address this and GDS virtue signals but ignores the elephant in the room which is that the majority of friend groups are divided by race.
I view this as a failure of school leadership and an abandonment of the school's mission.

So sad now your white child won’t be able to tell people they are not racist because they have 1 black friend. DEI is terrible.

But wasn't DEI about decreasing segregation and bringing peace to racial relationships? This is a sincere question as I don't know what the target outcome is.

Anyway, I actually don't have personal experience as my kids are not yet in school. But it's an issue I think of often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is this GDS parent on? That’s not at all our experience. Very mixed friend group. Good grief

I am happy for you - but we had a different experience. As I said our oldest has a best friend who is Black and had other Black friends as well. So to the snarky poster who bemoaned my child's ability to say they are "not racist" bc they have "a black friend" this is not a problem and it has nothing to do with how many Black friends they do or do not have. My child is not racist and neither are we. We joined this school community because of its commitment to social justice and diversity and the DEI program is fairly miserably in our opinion, especially in the high school.

Based on our other kid's experience and friends children and 10 plus years at the school, I will say that mixed friend groups in the high school is not the norm, sadly. If you ask parents of both URM kids and white kids they will tell you this is true and the school doesn't do anything to address it, and that the affinity groups sometimes foster division. As I stated before, I understand affinity groups can also offer a sense of connection and community and affirmation of identity. But when it results in division and silos, the school needs to work to help maintain a sense of community. GDS does nothing to address the elephant in the room. So to me this constitutes a failure of the mission and stated purpose of the school.