By: Josh Griffin, Principal
I hope our students and families enjoyed Prom and After Prom this past weekend. I am pleased that we were able to host these awesome events, and I appreciate the parent volunteers and student leaders that made both Prom and After Prom such a great success. My steadfast focus remains on ensuring that our students, faculty, staff, and families enjoy a successful conclusion to the 2021-2022 school year. The end of the school year is a very busy and exciting time in our school. In addition to the upcoming AP testing and end-of-year exams and finals, we have a multitude of awards events and ceremonies, athletic and extracurricular events, and annual traditions lined up to wrap up the year. It is the busiest and most uplifting time of the school year. The past couple of weeks have been challenging at D’Evelyn. The developments in the principal hiring process since April 14th created a stir in our community. As the current D’Evelyn principal, I was disappointed to see and hear the divisiveness and negativity that this matter brought into our community. Once again, we experienced great strife and conflict in our community. While it does seem that the uproar over the principal hiring process has been substantially reduced throughout the course of the week, that has not erased my disappointment in behaviors I observed and heard throughout the past two weeks. Throughout my D’Evelyn tenure, as a teacher, coach, administrator, and principal, it has always been my goal to ensure the success and wellbeing of current and future D’Evelyn students. Particularly in my role as principal in the past 5+ years, we have endured a significant number of crises in our school, and I include the recent events associated with the principal hiring process among them. I have learned a lot through those experiences, and in my last few weeks in this role, I hope to position the school to be better equipped to manage challenging circumstances. At a foundational level, I believe that students, faculty and staff, and families in the D’Evelyn community love this school and want the school to be successful, now and forever. We share a common belief in the importance of a liberal arts education and the transformative personal and academic experiences our students enjoy. The shared belief in and love for the school should be unifying. Nonetheless, when challenging issues arise in our community, I have not seen our common love for this school and our students flourish. All too often, I have seen negative presumptions of intent and divisive language and behaviors rise to the surface. Specifically, I have witnessed personal attacks, vitriolic emails/correspondence, and unhelpful commentary on social media outlets as very disruptive to the common goal of ensuring the success and wellbeing of our students and school. These and other similar actions do not support a healthy, thriving school community, and most importantly, it can negatively impact our success and wellbeing of our students and our great school. My best hope for the D’Evelyn community in the future is that we can collectively grow in our willingness to consider the various perspectives of fellow community members, whether from students, faculty/staff, or parents and families. In difficult times in our school, it is important that we presume positive intent of others, that we listen and consider all angles of an issue, and that we work together towards the common good throughout our community. On a very specific level, I cannot imagine how venting angry, negative comments on social media outlets are in any way healthy or helpful for our community. Actions like these widen the gap between people and harden different groups from a willingness to work together to support our students and the school. There are a multitude of community stakeholders in our school, and when questions arise or further clarification is needed, it is important that we can directly and respectfully communicate with one another in pursuit of the common good. Going forward, we will undoubtedly have challenges that arise in our community. I call upon all D’Evelyn community members to consider how they can contribute respectfully and productively to those future challenges - let us all commit to rising above the fray that we so often see in the world around us, and work together directly, hand-in-hand, for the continued success and betterment of D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School. Open and honest discourse is essential to the future success of D’Evelyn; however, that productive discourse cannot thrive without openness and willingness to thoughtfully consider the opinions, inspirations, and perspectives of your fellow community members. Please consider how you can work together with our various constituencies within our community to ensure the current and long-term success of D’Evelyn students and the stability of our school. I appreciate your consideration of this message. I love this school and I want to see it thrive in the future - I look forward to the continued success of our students. Without a doubt, I believe that our community will be more successful in the future with more open, healthy discourse. I wish you all the very best for a great week ahead and a happy, fun, and successful conclusion to this school year.
Bruno Lutz
4/25/2022 08:56:22 am
Very important message and very well stated! Thank you. Comments are closed.
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