The School recently announced its adoption of a policy, put into effect last academic year, to avoid making public-facing statements about events that occur beyond the community.
Moreover, faculty and staff have been instructed to avoid making political statements or sharing their personal views with students.
“In the last year, there has been a lot of discussion among leadership teams at independent schools about when it is appropriate or right to make public statements about major national or world events,” Head of School Judith Guild said. “These conversations have considered the true intentions of public statements, their potentially harmful consequences, as well as what role they play in taking care of a school community.”
Inspired by actions taken by nearby Phillips Academy in Andover, the move is designed to align with the Brimmer’s mission—and also offer guidance to teachers in the wake of polarizing political events.
Tracy M. Sweet, Chief Communications Officer at Phillips Academy, wrote an article for the National Association of Independent Schools last spring, detailing how the institution issued public statements over the past two years in response to major events, including the January 6 insurrection, the Ukraine conflict, the Buffalo supermarket shooting, and the Uvalde school massacre.
“As news of these tragedies was breaking, a group of senior administrators exchanged a seemingly endless chain of emails to determine whether a statement was appropriate, and if so, what it would say, and from whom would it come,” Sweet said. “The conversation usually centered around two questions: Why do we need a statement? And, by making a statement, are we advancing a broader conversation beyond campus?”
Even with its new policy, the School remains committed to caring for and educating its students on issues that matter to them, including controversial ones, according to Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Jessica Christian.
“It is the School’s responsibility to create space within the School for students to learn and understand the facts of national and global issues so that they may form their own informed opinions,” Christian said.
Christian’s comments align with the position adopted by Harvard University last April, following nationwide student protests and demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war that also drew the prestigious institution into the spotlight. In response, Harvard officials released a report, stating that “the university and its leaders should not… issue official statements about public matters that do not directly affect the university’s core function” as an academic institution.
“Instead, the university should continue and expand the efforts of its pastoral arms in the different schools and residential houses to support affected community members,” the statement said. “It must dedicate resources to training staff most directly in contact with affected community members. These concrete actions should prove, in the end, more effective and meaningful than public statements.”
Following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, the administration initially felt uncertain about how to address community concerns.
“When we don’t have a policy, we run the risk of getting stuck in the mire.”
Guild is confident that providing a fact-based education is best for the community. The School, she said, has no intention of suspending education on important topics such as climate change, vaccines, or other politicized topics in science.
“The action we would take is we are going to continue to teach this curriculum,” Guild said.
