Anti-Bias Anti-Racist Work @ 276

Dear Battery Park City School Families,

There are moments in building community when we must pause to reflect, receive feedback, and plan for improvement. Since the start of the year, we have heard from students, families, and staff about the use of words, phrases, and images at school that do not reflect the values we aim to uphold. These expressions share one thing in common: they are connected to hate and ideologies that divide us and marginalize members of our school community. We are grateful for the brave adults and students who have stood up to say, "not at our school."

When we talk to students about being a Charger, we often refer to the 4 C's: Confident, Capable, Curious, and Caring. These ideals are impossible to achieve when students experience incidents involving bias and hateful words.

Our Commitment to Positive School Culture

At Battery Park City School, we build a positive school culture by establishing clear expectations, engaging with an inclusive curriculum, providing community members with multiple opportunities for success, and striving to expect the best from ourselves and one another. A positive school culture is deliberately and proactively built, and it remains open to feedback with a willingness for reflection and growth.

School culture is also impacted by the world around us. The challenges we face as New Yorkers, Americans, and global citizens make their way into our school. Now more than ever, with access to sometimes unfiltered online sources, students are seeing images and hearing words and phrases derived from a history of hatred. These words find their way into school, sometimes as purposeful acts of intimidation and other times without a full understanding of their context. Regardless of intention, as a school community committed to honoring all people, we must address the impact of such moments. When hate speech or bias goes unchallenged, the behavior can become normalized, validated, and continued. This is damaging to all who hear and experience these comments within our community.

Clear Standards and Expectations

The Department of Education has clear regulations about the use of hate speech and slurs in school. These words are not permitted and are subject to disciplinary action. As a school community, we must take a stand against bias and hateful speech and help students understand the history and impact of such language. It is our shared responsibility as adults and role models to interrupt slurs, bias, and hate speech whenever we hear them. This ensures that we consistently send the message that "Hate has no home here" and that we do not use slurs of any kind at our school.

Partnership with Families

Equally important is your role at home in helping unpack these words and images so that students know how to respond when confronted by hate. We hope families will:

• Engage in dialogue with children about hate speech, slurs, and hateful images

• Monitor internet access to ensure students are not exposed to hate or can process what they might encounter

• Set a family standard that all people are welcome at our school, belong at our school, and have the right to learn

• Denounce hate in all of its forms

Our Work at School

At school, we are committed to this work with students. We are/will be:

• Continuing to develop a curriculum in which all students can see themselves

• Organizing activities and learning in advisory to directly address the use of hateful language and symbols

• Sharing clear expectations with students regarding respectful engagement with one another

• Establishing ways to communicate with families so we can work together

• Denouncing hate in all of its forms