Friday, December 18, 2020

Teacher Demands at Dalton

 


As promised. Looks like it's signed by most or all of the faculty. I'd like to meet anyone who didn't sign. That would be a very brave person.

This is unedited. As you can see, I left plenty out of my first post


Without new visions we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. We not only end up confused, rudderless, and cynical, but we forget that making a revolution is not a series of clever maneuvers and tactics but a process that can and must transform us. 

Robin D.G. Kelley 

 

Context

 

During the past few months, we have been inspired by the Black Lives Matter uprisings across the country. Black activists and their accomplices continue to put their personal safety at risk in order to make a better world for all of us; we thank them for their courage and vision.

 

We have also had the opportunity to see this activism up close, in our own community. Dalton’s Black students and students of color demonstrated that same courage—going forth unafraid—when they shared personal stories of racism and trauma in the high school town hall at the end of the year. On Instagram, @blackatdalton and @dalton_anonymous have held Dalton accountable for its shortcomings, and Dalton’s Black alumni and parents of Black students are helping us to envision a more inclusive school. We are also inspired by the demands currently being championed by Black Students Demanding Change.

 

Dalton has also made a public commitment to “live up to our stated values as a visibly, vocally, structurally anti-racist institution.” Towards this end, Head of School Jim Best outlined the following list of actions:

  • Create and apply a comprehensive anti-racism and inclusion plan 
  • Revise course content to be relevant and inclusive of a full range of experiences including those of people of color
  • Learn specific teaching practices that foster an inclusive classroom without burdening students of color and marginalized students
  • Establish a clear system for reporting incidents of bias, discrimination, or racism
  • Implement a mandatory parent orientation that is aligned with our mission, our values, and our commitment to anti-racism

 

We are heartened to see Dalton’s leadership taking such a strong stance on this issue, and we are energized for the work ahead. In the spirit of eager collaboration, we have identified 24 proposals, detailed below, that we believe will complement and extend Dalton’s existing efforts. 

 

To contextualize these proposals, we would like to include the following definitions, put forward by the Aspen Institute:

 

Structural Racism: A system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity. It identifies dimensions of our history and culture that have allowed privileges associated with “whiteness” and disadvantages associated with “color” to endure and adapt over time. Structural racism is not something that a few people or institutions choose to practice. Instead it has been a feature of the social, economic and political systems in which we all exist.

 

Institutional Racism: Institutional racism refers to the policies and practices within and across institutions that, intentionally or not, produce outcomes that chronically favor, or put a racial group at a disadvantage. Poignant examples of institutional racism can be found in school disciplinary policies in which students of color are punished at much higher rates than their white counterparts, in the criminal justice system, and within many employment sectors in which day-to-day operations, as well as hiring and firing practices can significantly disadvantage workers of color.

 

Much of the discourse surrounding equity and inclusion in schools focuses on reducing interpersonal racism, training faculty about implicit bias, and diversifying the curriculum. We heartily affirm the importance of these anti-racist efforts, especially in light of student testimony detailing microagressions, careless remarks, and blatant racial prejudice. In this document, we imagine what it would mean for Dalton to move towards its stated goal of becoming a more “structurally anti-racist institution” (emphasis added)—an inspiring charge that requires more than well-intentioned, individualized efforts. On the contrary, we must “[engage with] the Dalton community in an intensive, comprehensive, ongoing examination of our cultural norms, our policies, and our programs,” and most importantly, we must change them. Structural racism is cumulative, pervasive, durable, and mutable; our response must be similarly thorough and systematic.

 

It’s important to note that the language in this document focuses primarily on the Black community at Dalton. While we acknowledge that white supremacy harms all people of color, we believe that anti-Blackness must be understood as distinct from “racism” writ large. In this moment, our collective anti-racist efforts must center Black people and their needs. Nonetheless, we believe that many of the proposals outlined below could be extended to consider indigenous and native people; people from other underrepresented racial and ethnic identities; people from working-class backgrounds; people with disabilities; the queer community; non-binary, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming people; etc. 

 

Ta-Nehisi Coates says, “black history does not flatter American democracy; it chastens it.” The testimony of our Black students and alumni should also chasten us. Let their words spur us towards a “reckoning,” as Coates says, “that [will] lead to spiritual renewal.” We have seen the Dalton community come together in amazing ways during times of crisis. Dalton’s Black students and students of color deserve decisive action that reflects the urgency of the moment. Their lives are happening right now. To address past mistakes and obviate future harms, we must be willing to take the necessary steps to fundamentally transform our institution. We believe Dalton can and must be a leader in this vital, urgent work of making our school a home for all students.

 

To add your name in support of these proposals, please submit your information here.

 

Proposals

 

Equitable Outcomes and Self-Evaluation

  1. Collect and publish data regarding race and discipline (including suspensions).
  • One of the most damaging manifestations of institutional racism can be found in school discipline policies. Research suggests that schools tend to discipline Black students more often than their non-Black peers and that race, gender, and class are all linked to likelihood and severity of punishment. Dalton should publish all historical data and examine to what extent race plays a role in disciplinary practices.
  1. Collect and publish data regarding race, grades, retention, and graduation rates.
  • Dalton faculty are increasingly attendant to the pernicious effects of implicit bias and its impact in the classroom. Research suggests that grading practices can be one source of racial discrimination in schools. 
  • Furthermore, Black students and students of color at Dalton must perform under more challenging conditions than their white peers; for instance, one recent paper suggests that exposure to police violence leads to a persistent decrease in GPA for Black and Hispanic students. Other research shows that racist incidents on campus also have negative effects on GPA and mental health for Black students and students of color. In order to move towards equity within the classroom, we should ensure that there is no correlation between a student’s racial background and their ability to be successful at Dalton. 
  1. Commit to racial equity in leveled courses by 2023; at that time, if membership and performance of Black students are not at parity with non-Black students, leveled courses should be abolished.
  • Research suggests that Black students, students of color, and low-income students are more likely to be tracked into lower-level courses, creating segregated learning environments that affect students’ educational trajectories. In the High School, there have been persistent complaints of de facto racial segregation in some “Advanced” courses. Dalton should ensure that there is no correlation between race and placement or grades in all tracked courses.
  1. Publish data regarding faculty, staff, and administration salaries, including mean and median salaries of employees by race and gender.
  • Race and gender are well-established variables that affect negotiations, salaries, attainment of leadership positions, and turnover, and the Black-white wage gap has widened over the previous two decades. Providing salary benchmarks and transparency will prevent inadvertent salary disparities at Dalton.
  1. Dalton’s student body, faculty, staff, administration, and trustees should be representative of New York City in terms of gender, race, socioeconomic background, and immigration status by 2025. Dalton should publish yearly updates regarding the demographics of each of these groups.
  • As “an intentionally diverse community,” “an inclusive, democratic community,” and to ensure access and equity in the institution, Dalton should reflect the city in which it is located. Dalton has already made some progress on this front: for instance, 25% of the school’s top leadership is Black or African American, which reflects the demographics of New York City. Dalton should continue to diversify its community—from students to faculty to leadership—and publish comprehensive data about its progress each year.
  1. Develop a systematic and robust approach to assessing the experience of Black students and their families, and Black faculty, staff, and administration. Publish an annual report detailing institutional progress towards equity and inclusion.
  • The best way to hold ourselves accountable is to be public and transparent about our successes and failures; institutional integrity is crucial to the success of our mission. Informed community members will continue to push Dalton to be better, and we should welcome their engagement and recognize it as a form of optimism and love. As Head of School Jim Best acknowledges, this is “a conversation that needs many more voices,” and we won’t get it right every time. Dalton can and should change, but it will not be a straight line to success. An annual report will help us to stay focused and on track.
  1. Convene a committee of students, alumni, parents, and faculty to audit progress and develop new suggestions to supplement these measures by 2023. At least half of the committee participants should be Black.

 

Anti-Racist Pedagogy

  1. Adopt a two-pronged approach to course-related content changes: 1) Institute a divisional requirement for courses that explicitly center Black liberation and challenges to white supremacy. The requirement should be equivalent to or greater than the smallest requirement for any other department. 2) All other existing course content and departmental work via Dalton by Design should undergo an audit to ensure that content is guided by Dalton’s commitment to anti-racist education and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • In the same way that subjects such as English, art, physical education, and mathematics have been embedded within the Dalton experience, so too should coursework that is explicitly anti-racist. No Dalton student should graduate without taking classes that center race, identity, difference, and social justice.
  • Furthermore, we should take this opportunity to review all of our content and pedagogy across all divisions. While we acknowledge that diversifying curriculum is not a solution in and of itself, centering Black experiences, scholars, authors, and primary sources can be part of a broader strategy to align our classrooms with our stated values.
  1. Allow faculty members to earn a course release if they partner with a Black-led community organization to teach a class or volunteer in other meaningful ways.
  • Dalton should build partnerships with other organizations and schools to provide a robust array of opportunities for interested faculty, and the necessary support and professional development to ensure success. Dalton has already committed to “Creat[ing] a K-12 Service Learning program that emphasizes service in New York City and beyond as an essential part of the Dalton experience and prioritizes time for reflection on issues of ethics, equity, inclusion and social justice,” per the 2018 Strategic Plan. These opportunities should be expanded to allow faculty members to take their expertise beyond Dalton’s walls. In addition to good citizenship, this would be a powerful, transformative form of professional development that would improve faculty retention and Dalton’s ability to attract dynamic educators.
  1. All faculty, staff, administration, Parent Association volunteers, and trustees should undergo yearly anti-racist training. 
  • This proposal builds on work that has been ongoing in Equity Leadership Groups, new faculty and staff onboarding, and recent professional development efforts at the end of the 2019-20 school year. Dalton should build in time during the school year for these groups to collaborate with their colleagues and with experts from outside Dalton.
  1. Administrators, faculty, and staff should produce individual public anti-racism statements. Faculty should also include anti-racist resources for each class they teach. Each department/grade level should publish its DEI-related efforts in an annual report.
  • Anti-racism statements and resources provide an opportunity at the individual level for engagement with students, colleagues, and the broader Dalton community. Administrators, faculty, and staff should use these statements to describe the specific ways they have adapted their practices and curriculum to align with Dalton’s commitment to anti-racist eduation. Departments should also clarify their expectations for teachers, and produce an annual report on progress and other new initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Public statements help make the work visible to the wider community; the DEI office should not be the only mechanism by which we hold each other accountable.


Needed Personnel and Equity in Hiring

  1. Expand the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to include at least 12 full-time positions: one Director, one Office Assistant, three full-time staff members per division, and one full-time staff member for PE/Athletics.
  • In keeping with Dalton’s commitment to small class sizes and personal attention, we should budget for more full-time positions to support our community as we make these important changes to the school. At the divisional level, three staff members could collaborate on work that is faculty-, student-, and parent-facing. 
  • It is especially important for PE/Athletics to have a dedicated full-time staff member; PE/Athletics is housed in a different building and operates on a different schedule from the rest of Dalton. Furthermore, research suggests that PE/Athletics are important sites of racial identity formation.
  1. Hire a staff member outside of the DEI office whose entire role is to support Black students and students of color who come forward with complaints and/or face disciplinary action.
  • The outpouring of pain from current students and alumni reflect ongoing trauma in the Dalton environment that has been underappreciated and unaddressed. Black students deserve to have a full-time advocate to support and validate them as they navigate a predominantly white institution.
  1. Hire a psychologist in every division with a specialization on psychological issues affecting “ethnic minority populations,” as defined by the Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Interests. Expand services to support students coping with race-based traumatic stress.
  • Research suggests that racism has persistent negative psychological effects on the well-being of Black students and students of color. It is vital that Dalton invests in safe spaces where our Black students know they will be supported, and in people who reflect their backgrounds and can validate their experience.
  1. Implement name-, school-, and salary history-blind recruitment and hiring practices for faculty, staff, and administrative roles; require diversity statements as part of every application; publish expected salary range in every job posting; and publish data regarding the racial makeup of every stage of every hire.
  • Implementing explicitly anti-racist safeguards for recruitment, hiring, and promotion can be effective ways to reduce bias in recruitment and hiring. Research suggests the use of diversity statements early in a hiring process can be an effective strategy to improve equity in faculty hiring. Dalton should commit to publicly explaining the mechanisms that it employs to prevent discrimination in recruitment, hiring, and promotion.
  1. Review and audit all vendor and third-party contracts to ensure that Dalton is partnering with Black-owned businesses wherever possible. Publish yearly reports detailing Dalton’s vendors and third-party contracts.
  • For a variety of reasons, Black-owned businesses lag behind white-owned businesses in profits, employment, and survival. Nonetheless, Black-owned businesses tend to employ more Black people than their white-owned counterparts, and they are an important tool for economic advancement in the Black community. 
  1. Retain all security/maintenance/dining/other contracted staff without reduction in salary or benefits, regardless of whether Dalton is able to physically re-open facilities.
  • Black workers have suffered record job losses since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they are disproportionately represented among essential workers who must risk their health in order to continue working. Dalton must prioritize the health and security of its staff—no one is disposable. Our staff are beloved members of the Dalton community, and they should be supported in the same way that we are supporting administration and faculty.


Institutional Resources and Commitments

  1. Offer a special orientation session for incoming students and families of underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. Provide anti-racist orientations for all families on a yearly basis.
  • Dalton is already expanding the use of student affinity groups in Middle and High School, and should consider formal programming at the start of each year for new and returning Black students and students of color, and their families. Anti-racist orientations for all families would be especially important at crucial transition points (Kindergarten, 4th grade, 6th grade, 9th grade).
  1. Provide child and elder care support for faculty and staff, and any families who qualify for financial aid, especially if Dalton remains primarily online due to COVID-19. Dalton should also restructure its parental leave policies for employees; rather than 6 weeks of paid leave and 6 weeks of unpaid leave, Dalton should follow the lead of companies like Netflix and offer a full year of paid leave for new parents.
  • Families with young children have lower incomes than households without children, and “for parents of color, the lower income level associated with having a young child is compounded by the broader labor market disadvantages faced by people of color.” Access to high-quality child care is essential for child development and intergenerational social mobility; it is also unaffordable to the vast majority of Americans, and especially to Black families, who have significantly less wealth on average than white families.
  1. Commit to paying all Dalton employees—especially staff and independent contractors—at minimum a living wage for New York, as calculated by MIT’s Living Wage Calculator. Ensure racial equity in the proportion of full- and part-time workers; independent contractors; faculty, staff, administration, and associate teachers; and publish information regarding the racial makeup of each of these categories every year.
  • According to the Urban Institute, “Structural racism continues to disproportionately segregate communities of color from access to opportunity and upward mobility by making it more difficult for people of color to secure quality education, jobs, housing, healthcare, and equal treatment in the criminal justice system.” Studies also suggest that Black and Hispanic employees are more likely to be concentrated in less remunerative, more precarious occupations. As part of a commitment to structural anti-racism, and to ensure all employees can live in the city in which they work, Dalton should commit to salary floors for all employees that reflect the living wage—not the minimum wage—for New York.
  1. Double individual faculty and staff professional development (PD) allotment if it is used to service student debt.
  • Student debt is both a symptom and cause of the racial wealth gap. On the day of graduation, Black college graduates owe on average $23,400—$7,400 more than their white counterparts; four years later, their average debt balloons to $53,000, twice that of their white peers. Black students in doctoral and master’s programs were also more likely to borrow money and graduate with debt. One recent study suggests that the median debt for an average Black graduate student borrower is 50% higher than that of a white graduate student borrower.
  • One of the most meaningful changes Dalton could make for the long-term financial safety of its Black faculty and staff would be to commit to paying any outstanding student debt upon employment; failing that, Dalton should double the PD allotment for employees who use the money to service student debt. We believe this would also help Dalton stand out from other schools to attract and retain top teachers.
  1. Publish the endowment investment portfolio and immediately divest from private prisons and detention centers; companies that manufacture technology, equipment or weapons for police; companies that use prison labor; the bail-bond industry; and other companies as determined by a committee of students, faculty, parents, and trustees. At least half of the committee participants should be Black.
  • In alignment with the Movement for Black Lives, Dalton should immediately divest from the “criminalizing, caging, and harming of Black people.” Marbre Stahly-Butts, Executive Director of Law for Black Lives, says that divestment and reinvestment are parts of a broader strategy to “reallocate power and resources back to our safety, back to our health, in ways that help us thrive, and don’t criminalize or dehumanize us.” For Dalton to be a structurally anti-racist institution, it must ensure that its financial resources do not contribute to ongoing dehumanization and harming of Black people. 
  1. If Dalton is unable to diversify per Proposal 5, the school should make a financial commitment to institutions that serve a student body more closely representative of New York City, and contribute 50¢ of every dollar raised via any form of fundraising to the NYC Fund for Public Schools.
  • Over 100,000 NYC public and charter school students were unhoused or housing insecure at some point in the 2018-19 school year—approximately 10% of all students. As many as 20% of children in New York City experience food insecurity, and rely on schools for meals. Dalton is in the enviable position of spending millions of dollars to enhance already-abundant opportunities for its students; most recently, the school spent at least $24 million to build the Ellen C. Stein Center for Collaborative Study. We believe that the school should redistribute a portion of its resources to support fellow New York City students, many of whom are in dire need. A commitment to “cultivating ethical, purposeful citizens of a diverse community” and structural anti-racism requires accountability and reparations for historic inequities, including those inequities that were not directly caused by Dalton. We recognize that our school exists within a broader community; good citizenship should push us to spend our privilege, support institutions that serve our neighbors, make our city livable, and safeguard our collective future.
  1. Going forward, any Black student or student of color who appears in Dalton’s promotional materials should receive reduced tuition, or be retroactively compensated the equivalent amount if they graduate before their likeness is used. Similarly, any Black student or student of color who does work or provides consultation with the school regarding anti-racist and/or DEI initiatives should receive reduced tuition. Dalton should convene a committee of students, parents, alumni, and outside consultants to determine an appropriate compensation policy. At least half of the committee participants should be Black.
  • The previous few weeks have been a stark reminder that Black students and students of color do not receive the same educational experience as their white peers. For some of these students, the benefits of attending Dalton are undermined by otherness, exclusion, and trauma. Nonetheless, Dalton relies on the presence and participation of Black students and students of color. Dalton says, “Our mission to educate students...hinges on their capacity to think critically and make ethical decisions that stem from a core belief in the value of difference, a real sense of cultural fluency, and a sincere and empathic regard for interdependence and the ways in which diversity enriches the way that we see ourselves and each other” (emphasis added). The presence of Black students and students of color affirms Dalton’s legitimacy as an appropriately multiracial, cosmopolitan, modern school; their participation is necessary for the “conscious collaboration, hard work, and dialogue” within the school. In this way, Black students and students of color make unique contributions and create value on behalf of Dalton. Just as Dalton compensates staff and faculty for the value they create for the school, it should similarly compensate Black students and students of color.

Name

Position

Alex Bertrand

8th grade math teacher, house advisor, & preceptor

Kenneth Hamilton, Jr.

House Advisor & Equity Chair

Donald Okpalugo

HS Equity Chair; History Teacher

Mark Anderson Jr.

Teacher, Equity Chair, House advisor

Tarika Coleman

Kindergarten House Advisor

Will Hummel

Director of College Counseling, House Advisor

Alicia Reid

MS and HS Science Teacher

Shahar Atary

MS/HS Science Teacher

Justine Ang Fonte

Director of Health & Wellness

Cortney Norris

MS/HS Teacher (Latin & Linguistics)

William Fisher

Teacher

Daniela Gomez Paz

Associate Teacher

Ilia Castro

DEI Office Assistant

Paula Cuello

Science Department Chair K-12 and science teacher

Parul G. Kalbag

High School History Teacher

Tao Wang

HS Math Department Chair

Crystal McCreary

Health Educator

Shobana Ram

Second Grade Head Teacher

Michael K Forbes

English Teacher/House Advisor Upper School

Nadege Casseus

Head Athletic Trainer/Physical Education Teacher

Roxanne Feldman

MS Librarian

Judy Calixto

Director of Middle School and High School Admissions

Bill Solomon

MS/HS Music Department Co-Chair

Samara Antolini

College Counselor

Josh Bachrach

8th Grade English teacher and House Advisor; Chair Middle School English

Craig Sculli

Associate Director of Stewardship and Advancement Research

Jennifer Pease

Director of Financial Aid & Assistant Director of Middle and High School Admissions

Colleen Grimes

Director of the Annual Fund

Rob Quatrone

MS Science & Engineering

Anne Lockwood

FP Art

Justin Greer

FP Performing Arts Specialist

Elissa Baim

MS Science & Health

Angelo Bove

Teacher

Juliet Baker-Samuels

Diversity Coordinator for Student Life

Nick Grasso

MS / HS Visual Art Teacher

Christy Payne

Director of Libraries and Information Services

Elizabeth Rappaport

FP Math Specialist

Chris Hood

Director of the Creative Writing Program

Natalia Malone Hernández

First Program Spanish Teacher

Stephanie Fins

Anthropologist and Museum Liaison

Amanda Hemenway

2nd Grade Teacher

Kate Chechak

Math Coordinator

Christine Leja

HS Curriculum Director of the Humanities

Danielle Braver

Learning Specialist

Megan Preis

High School Math Teacher

Joseph Quain

MS Librarian

Glenn Makos

Music

Sarah Dunitz

High School History Teacher

Catherine Edwards

8th Grade Teacher

Randi Sloan

HS Curriculum Director of the Arts

Elizabeth Brizzolara

High School Curriculum Director of STEM

Blake Pearson

Dance, House, Peer Leadership

Jocelyn Russell

First Program Visual Art Teacher

Johanna Braff

Middle School and High School Teacher

Jessica Joiner

Science Research Coordinator

Zach Terrell

8th Grade Eng / HA

Jasmine Bensky

HS Math Teacher & House Advisor

Sarah Appleman

First Grade House Advisor

David Harvey

High school mathematics teacher

Marly Bresler

Kindergarten Associate Teacher

Athena Decker

First Grade Associate Teacher

Morgan Pile

High School Preceptor

Meg Zeder

Theater and Art Teacher

Michelle Marcus

Art HIstorian and Museum Liaison

Laura Zanes

FP Art

Rachel Pellegrini

5th Grade Head Teacher & House Advisor

Mara Naaman

HS English Teacher/House Advisor

Lori Langer de Ramirez

Director, World and Classical Language Department

Susie Ott

Assistant Director of Admissions/MS/HS; Financial Aid Coordinator; HS House Advisor

Janet Chinelli

FP Music Teacher

Deborah Reilly

Kindergarten House Advisor

Evie Harrison

MS/HS Science Teacher

Elizabeth Cruz

Chorus Teacher- Co-Department Chair

Terria Meyer

FP Art Teacher

Alexandra Nakos

2nd Grade House Advisor

Terrill Caplan

HS Assistant Dean of Students

Tobi Fineberg

High School Librarian

Hope Donovan

First Program Science Teacher

Sarah Kerman

HS English Chair, Faculty Association President

Ryan Brennan

HS Science Teacher

Debora Tascher

FP Psychologist

Colleen Cumberpatch

Kindergarten Associate

Dave Morgan

Music Teacher

Nancy Silber

FP Music

Hyun Davidson

MS Science Teacher

Jess Emory

HS Math

Melanie Wassmuth

HS Science Teacher

Tracy Christopher

MS/HS French Teacher

Courtney Dennis

MS Science Teacher

David Lindo

HS Science Teacher

Andrea Velasquez

Associate Director of College Counseling

Jamie Levin

House Advisor

Matthew Williams

8th Grade Social Studies and House Advisor

Judith Geller

House Advisor (HS)

Douglas Berns

Community Service Coordinator/Afterschool instructor

Nicole Smith

College Office Assistant

Joanne Guzman

Physical Education Teacher and Athletics Coach

Tom Armstrong

MS/HS CS Chair

Liz Fiore

MS Preceptor

Erica Lee

2nd grade house advisor

Erica Lynch

FP Reading Specialist

Lillian S. Redl

High School Preceptor

Tammy Logan

Teacher

Neil Goldberg

Archaeologist in Residence

Kate Quinn

FP Reading Specialist

Nicholas Lechich

Assistant Director of the High School and Dean of Students

Christine Nassar

First Program Librarian

Linda Hanauer

Art Teacher, MS and HS

Ellen Stavitsky

MS & HS Art teacher

Mira Gelley

MS + HS Visual Art Chair, HS House Advisor

Malcolm Fenton

Science Teacher

Phillip Scaringi

Associate Teacher

Kristie Guiliano

Educational Technologist

Ashley Shaheen

3rd Grade House Advisor

Charles Forster Stewert

Interdisciplinary Project Coordinator

Sloan Warren

Director of In-person Programming

Jake Henin

First Program Science Associate

Joaquin Ramsey

High School Chemistry Teacher

Erik Romano

FP Science Associate Teacher

Ali Fleming

Middle School Math Preceptor

Moral Panic at Dalton



It seems a lot of parents didn't know about the faculty demands until yesterday. The Naked Dollar has
 learned that the demands were originally made in August, and have somehow been kept under wraps until now. One imagines today is not a pleasant day to be a Dalton board member. The Head of School has asked parents not to contact teachers until after the break.

One parent tells me that there is zero separation between the board and the school administration. This is not surprising. Most school boards, including colleges, are now wholly owned subsidiaries of their administrations, which are, in turn, controlled by their faculties.

People want their kids to go to schools like Dalton so they can grease the Ivy League skids. Nothing wrong with that, prima facie. Dalton, for its part, needs rich kids to juice the endowment and fund all their wish list items, including diversity outreach. Nothing really wrong with that, either. 

But the rich parents play the game. They go along with every progressive fad conjured up by the administration and faculty. Many embrace them. The 1619 Project, the seventy-two genders, Critical Race Theory...it can be hard to keep up. I'm told that young Dalton kids are made to watch a PBS video called Being 12, wherein white kids are shamed for the sin of their skin color and told they are complicit in perpetuating racism. After watching the video, the white Dalton kids are asked how it "made them feel." 

How do you suppose it made them feel? As a parent, what I'm feeling is pissed off that I'm paying fifty-four grand to have my kid shamed.

A Dalton fourth grade play featured a role for a "Racist Cop." Note that the list of faculty demands insists that every school play have anti-racist narratives. So much for Our Town. I'm told even To Kill a Mockingbird is out these days. It's a white man trying to save a black man. Can't have that sort of racial paternalizing. 

In science, they are learning about "systems." Biological systems, perhaps? Ecological? No, the class features "racism" as a system. The young kids get to learn about mortgage red-lining. In science.

I could go on. This is educational malpractice of the first order.

Parents who don't buy in - and there are many - learn to keep their mouths shut. Nod and smile. Because Yale.

Those who play the game the best - and give the most - wind up on the board. This not only brings major wood to Manhattan cocktail parties - oh, to dangle those recommendation letters - but again, Yale.

So the Dalton board, which has happily gone along for the progressive ride, now finds the train has arrived at Crazy Town. After years of kowtowing to every progressive whim, they are faced with demands that are objectively impossible to meet. But how to say no? That's social suicide. Cancel city. I'm guessing the last time a board like Dalton's said no was sometime in the Pleistocene Era.

One insider I know said this: 

"Dalton is a perfect storm of narcissistic self-importance, ignorance, virtues, and empty Upper East Side values."

Ouch.

But there's one thing the board doesn't understand, something that run-of-the-mill, virtue signaling liberals never understand about revolutionary movements. (And make no mistake, that's what this is.) There is a reason that revolutionary demands are always outrageous and can't be (entirely) met: because the Revolution is the point. Leftist revolutions never, ever, say "mission accomplished" and go home. It's not how they work. If Dalton somehow did agree to everything on the list, the board would find a new list on its doorstep the next day.

To be fair, though, while Dalton is perhaps the most egregious example, what's happening there is happening everywhere. Not just schools, either. All of our institutions. Fear of cancel culture is such that our institutional leaders can't roll over fast enough. Statements of obeisance are made, indulgences paid. Mea culpas made for thought crimes never committed.

When will the culture start pushing back? Will it start with Dalton parents? Doubtful, but who knows?

Later today, this site will post the full faculty letter, because apparently some people think this is being made up, or that it's meant to be satire. It's not.

Stay tuned.


Thursday, December 17, 2020

Breaking: The Dalton School Is in a Full Meltdown

 


The Dalton School, one of the most prestigious private schools in Manhattan, is in the throes of a full-on racial meltdown. The precursor of this, as first reported by Bloomberg News, was the school refusing to reopen even while most other public and private schools in New York did. (This despite the lack of any scientific evidence suggesting schools were significant vectors for COVID 19.) Parents signed an angry letter, saying that the $54,000 annual tuition, none of which was being rebated, should buy something more than Zoom classes.

Possibly relenting under the pressure, Dalton has announced plans to reopen, but this has ignited another firestorm, this time from the faculty. 

Apparently, reopening is racist. 

The charge has been leveled by black faculty and staffers. They suggest, among other things, that faculty of color are more at risk from having to come to work. The reasoning is that they have, on average, more distant commutes and therefore expose themselves longer to risky public transportation.

But that's just the start of Dalton's problems. 

Over one hundred faculty have taken the opportunity to issue a lengthly set of racially-based demands that are breathtaking in their wokeness. Black students have added their own demands. 

These demands, which have been obtained exclusively by the Naked Dollar, go on for eight pages, and have as their underlying assumption that Dalton is systemically racist. Dalton's teachers are refusing to come back until they are met. Parents are in an uproar, some threatening to remove their children. Major donors are said to be balking. The board, filled with New York movers and shakers, is in turmoil. The Naked Dollar has learned they have contracted an outside consulting firm to advise on handling the crisis.

Here is just a sample of the demands:

  • The hiring of twelve (!) full time diversity officers
  • An additional full time employee whose "entire role is to support Black students who come forward with complaints."
  • Hiring of multiple psychologists with "specialization on the psychological issues affecting ethnic minority populations."
  • Pay off student debt of incoming black faculty
  • Re-route 50% of all donations to NYC public schools
  • Elimination of AP courses if black students don't score as high as white
  • Required courses on "Black liberation"
  • Reduced tuition for black students whose photographs appear in school promotional materials
  • Public "anti-racism" statements required from all employees
  • Mandatory "Community and Diversity Days" to be held "throughout the year"
  • Required anti-bias training to be conducted every year for all staff and parent volunteers
  • Mandatory minority representation in (otherwise elected) student leadership roles
  • Mandatory diversity plot lines in school plays
  • Overhaul of entire curriculum to reflect diversity narratives

The demands for additional staffers alone would add millions of dollars to Dalton's annual budget. Siphoning off 50% of donations would dry up funding. Eliminating AP classes (referred to as "leveled courses") would destroy college admissions. It's not an exaggeration to say these demands, if implemented, would destroy Dalton altogether. According to insiders, much damage has already been done.

What you may not know is that Dalton has long been one of the most progressive schools in the country. They have actively encouraged the sort of thinking that is now biting them in the ass. And the obvious irony is that if Dalton is "systemically racist," a belief they themselves promote, it is progressives who bear the responsibility.

When progressive institutions embrace revolutionary ideologies, as Dalton has done, they fail to appreciate that the revolution comes for them first. The scaffolding is being built on East 89th street. 

We'll see how this plays out.

Here are the teacher demands in full.

Friday, March 27, 2020

Fighting Socialism May Be the Bigger Fight

This is an excellent article by my friend Emil Henry that ran in The Hill today, reprinted with his permission...


Forecasting the aftermath of the current crisis is nearly impossible, but here is one prediction you can take to the bank: However deep the economic carnage and regardless of its source, those who seek to drive this country towards socialism will exploit it for all it’s worth.
President Trump recently declared himself a wartime president, as well he should. He is fighting an unprecedented two-front domestic war — one a health crisis, the other economic. In the coming days, the economy will further decline, perhaps in unprecedented ways. And since economic upheaval usually precedes political upheaval, he will soon need to fight a third front: the inevitable propagandizing that will flow from forces of the far left who will lay many resulting economic inequities, real or perceived, at the feet of free markets and capitalism.
The catalyst for the ascendancy of socialism in our recent politics was the financial crisis of 2008. In its wake — sparked by Occupy Wall St., encouraged by hard leftists and enabled by the media — a majority of millennials and Gens X, Y and Z now look favorably upon the movement, according to most polls. They were the base that put a Democratic socialist within a hair’s breadth of the Democratic presidential nomination. And because political views formed in youth tend to last a lifetime, this voting bloc will be the pig in the electoral snake for decades to come.
If the economic blow of the Great Recession was able to catalyze such a breathtaking lurch leftward, imagine what two in a row — in less than half a generation — might unleash on our body politic. Socialists and progressives must be salivating at the prospect of the potential for a one-two punch.
So, brace yourself for the emergence of yet another generation of those intrigued by the false promises of socialism. Ominously, this will coincide with the natural decline of the elderly, the last demographic to understand, overwhelmingly, the abhorrence of socialism.
Will Trump rise to such a fight? I am not holding my breath. He is a warrior, yes. It is a source of his appeal. But he thrives on bludgeoning opponents personally, not in nuance and appeals to higher principle which this fight will require.
His adversaries will be nimble and guerilla-like since socialists already live every day on a wartime footing. Whether originalists Marx and Engels, revolutionaries Lenin and Castro, or modernists Bernie Sanders and AOC, a common thread amongst them all has been to pounce upon every inequity for maximum political impact.
Inequities on a scale that may exceed the financial crisis will abound in the days ahead. So, look for progressives to seize upon them as the true fruits of capitalism, and re-issue the siren call of socialism. Look for the Trojan Horse temptation of state-sponsored security at the expense of freedom, innovation and growth. Overflowing hospitals? Time for Medicare for all. Joblessness and bankruptcies? Time for Universal Basic Income. 
And look for the made-for-Instagram moments where AOC, Bernie and other opportunists will make great hay and stoke class warfare, the rocket fuel of all socialists. When a Southampton socialite is filmed at the butcher’s counter ordering, in full Marie Antoinette style, to “sell me the entire cabinet!”, demands for a Wealth Tax and other state confiscations will surely follow.
There will be winners in this mess. Private jet travel, the ultimate self-quarantine, is in high demand. Big Tech is king as remote work and in-home entertainment drive demand for broadband connectivity. Food distribution is humming from servicing a population now eating three meals a day at home. Amazon is hiring thousands to meet demand from folks avoiding stores and malls.
But to the left, winners are not exemplars of a vibrant, nimble private sector providing value and service in a time of great need. They are simply the rich getting richer. They are to be scrutinized, regulated, and gouged of ill-gotten profit.
The most dangerous propagandizing from the left will come if the number of U.S. COVID-19 infections, and our economic dislocations, exceed China’s experience. That would lend credence to their predictable and seductive yet insidious suggestion that central planners have the best tools to protect humans from themselves. Never mind that the cause of U.S. business dislocations will have been the government and its mandated business shutdown.
As we sit in our homes watching people die and savings destroyed as the economy melts, it may be hard to fathom that this third front might actually prove the more existential fight for our country. But if we lose, and yet another generation falls for what some have called the Big Lie of socialism, then founder Ben Franklin’s warning of our Republic’s fragility may prove hauntingly prophetic.
Emil W. Henry, Jr., served as U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary from 2005-2007. He is CEO and managing partner of Henry Tiger LLC and Tiger Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Conservatives Don't Win Stuff


The annual gathering of virtue-signaling liberals, otherwise known as the Academy Awards, was reminder of a phenomenon I have noticed for some time: conservatives don’t win stuff - that is, for pretty much anything (except maybe for sports, awards for which are presumably non-political).

Recently, I wrote a novel, Campusland, a satire about PC insanity on college campuses. Dipping my toes in the literary world for the first time, I noticed something: there are book awards, lots and lots of them, for any category and sub-category you can imagine. But don’t hold your breath for Campusland. A modest search of book award winners shows that winners overwhelmingly tow the progressive line, particularly in the area of identity politics. Michelle Obama will need a wheel barrow to take home all her awards for Becoming.

This phenomenon holds rigidly true throughout the entertainment world. But this comes as no real surprise, does it?


Greta, anticipating a lifetime of awards

But what about elsewhere? Greta Thunberg has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Don’t bet against her. Barack Obama won it before he’d even had a chance to remove Winston Churchill’s bust from the Oval Office. He won it for just being so…wonderful.

Check out who’s winning Rhodes Scholarships these days. (Seriously, please do - their bios are all on the internet.) They are virtually all social justice warriors. One of this years’s winners, for example, focuses her studies on the “criminalization of Central American asylum seekers and the trend towards closed borders.” Another is committed to “Asian diasporic speculative fiction and its intersections with queerness and biopolitcs.”

Yeah, that apparently means something, to somebody.


This never happens

All this is why it was a complete shock to see Rush Limbaugh awarded the Medal of Freedom. People like Rush have always understood they don’t get awards. Conservatives are expected to know their place in the cultural firmament. I’m sure Rush had long come to peace with this, which is likely why he was so emotional.

Overwhelmingly, it’s organizations that give awards; the media, academia, 501c3s, and foundations - it’s all one big bubble of self-congratulation. 

Why is this? Ever hear of O’Sullivan’s Law? It states that any all organizations that are not explicitly right wing will, over time, become left wing. This is almost unfailingly true. Left-leaning activists are attracted to positions of cultural leverage like bees to honey. Yes, they are a relatively small percentage of the population, but they are the tail that wags our cultural dog. They are brutish and unapologetic, but they aren’t stupid.


They had no idea

Exhibit A: the Mellon Foundation just gave $4 million to Yale to further “racial studies across the humanities.” Setting aside the fact that Yale already obsesses about identity politics, I submit that de-colonizing Yale’s English Department was not what Andrew Mellon, a staunch Coolidge Republican, had in mind when he set up the foundation years ago. I urge you to go to their website and look at their grant history. It’s full-on woke. While you’re there, check out their Board of Trustees. It includes the usual rogues gallery of academics, people like Richard Brodhead. You remember him, the former president of Duke who presided over the shameful handling of the lacrosse team a decade ago.


Brodhead - let's put at least one face on this

Alas. I know of no simple, or even complicated, way to stop this. Conservatives just don’t share liberals’ zeal for moving the cultural needle, and thus, over time, the Prize Givers have become dues paying members of the coastal elite. The populist revolt that is re-aligning our politics is in no small way due to their condescending smugness. Most of us have just started tuning it out. We don’t care who won the Nobel Peace Prize or Best Picture. We don’t know or care who won a Pulitzer or a Palme d’Or. 

Hey, libs: you are all just congratulating each other, and your bubble is shrinking every day.