June 30, 2020

Dear Stone Ridge Community,

In our ongoing response to systemic racism, the Stone Ridge community has engaged in a great deal of listening, reflection, and planning since our last letter to you on June 18. In that letter, we acknowledged that in order to work towards deconstructing racism in our nation and our world, we first had to deconstruct racism within our own school community. As a Sacred Heart school, we aspire to bring fully alive the Goals of Sacred Heart education in support of our mission. In this important moment, we are called especially to focus on Goal IV and the charge “to build community by promoting a safe and welcoming environment in which each person is valued, cared for, and respected,” as well as Goal III, and the call to a “critical consciousness that leads its total community to analyze and reflect on the values of society and to act for justice.”

Institutional racism affects Black people and it also deeply affects every single person in our ability to live truly faith-filled lives. In the past two weeks, we have heard from additional voices of Black students, alumnae, and employees who have shared their trauma about racism at Stone Ridge. Our Black community members are in pain, and this pain is deep. We have also heard from many members of our community who seek to learn to be anti-racists and to actively engage in the moral and essential work of transforming our white dominant culture and eradicating racism. To be a leader in all-girls education and a leader in expressing our Catholic, Sacred Heart values, Stone Ridge must engage in this work with great conviction, intentionality, and unity. This is the only way to be true to our identity as a school of Christ’s heart.

In her communication to members of the Society of the Sacred Heart on the Feast of the Sacred Heart which took place on June 16 this year, Provincial Sheila Hammond, RSCJ, said:

This year, as we know, the Feast of the Sacred Heart––the feast of unfathomable love––coincides with Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. These feasts of unfathomable love and of freedom for enslaved persons come together in an impelling synchronicity to awaken us. We are One Body. The Heart of Jesus impels us to act with hope and love for the freedom of all peoples…

We realize that true transformation must begin now and will take not months, but years, of deep work. This process will inevitably be uncomfortable at times, but if we trust in one another and engage with courage and humility, the Holy Spirit will guide us towards clarity and grace. Our pledge as a School is to commit to this work, beginning with the following initiatives:

Analyze our culture and current operations. Are we developing our community members to have hearts as Jesus did? Examine the perspectives we privilege and the experiences we marginalize by traditions, calendar priorities, and stories. Through thoughtful conversation and understanding, evolve this culture to be one of inclusivity, deeply rooted in respect.
Implement a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Action Committee to work with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to review, respond to, and plan ongoing DEI work. This group will support ongoing operational work of DEI, including helping to create policy around anti-discrimination and equity, rooted in mission.
Audit and amend the Stone Ridge curriculum from Little Hearts through Grade 12 to ensure that the areas of study reflect the lived experiences of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and fosters a realization that as a Sacred Heart school we are called to build a community in which the human dignity of each person is a sacred priority.
Examine the Social Action program and school-wide commitment to the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart education to ensure that the program reflects our strong focus on authenticity and reciprocity.
Educate employees and students on ally-ship, anti-racism, micro-aggressions, and white privilege starting at a young age. Expand our DEI work to increase opportunities and require annual personal and professional training for the Board of Trustees, Administrative Team, Management Team, entire faculty and staff, and coaches.
Provide additional support for the Diversity Cultural Groups that already exist in Upper School and add Diversity Cultural Groups in the Middle School. Develop affinity groups for students.
Strengthen the policies in our Student Handbooks that specifically address hate speech and misconduct related to racism, equity, and inclusion. Communicate clearly how students will be educated on our mission-based community expectations. Review the process we use to investigate and communicate about any violations of our expectations.
Expand outreach and access to support the enrollment of Black and historically underrepresented students.
Create additional strategies and support systems to increase the diversity of our employees through more deliberate hiring practices and retention efforts.
Allocate resources for diversity, equity, and inclusion by engaging the work of the Board of Trustees in strategic direction and governance. Utilize outside diversity, equity, and inclusion consultation to assist with this mission-inspired work and analysis.
Continue to promote parent education and cultural collaboration by expanding the Better Together program and by providing ongoing resources for parents/guardians to educate themselves and their children on race and other DEI topics at home. Create parent affinity groups.
Form a meaningful partnership with the Black Alumnae Association and create additional affinity groups for alumnae. Create mentoring programs connecting alumnae to one another and to currently enrolled students.

As leaders in our community, we acknowledge our personal complicity and our collective call to engage in this work with open and humble hearts, honesty, and integrity. Yet this work will be completely meaningless and ineffective without the engagement of the entire community. We ask that you join us.

In a recent letter from the Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, Sr. Barbara Dawson, RSCJ, wrote about our collective call “in this time of darkness and uncertainty, when no one can deny that our blessed world is broken.” In her own contemplation, she shared an important personal revelation:

The suffering Sophie saw around her and her deep experience of the wounded Heart of Jesus, gave her the courage to act, to be an active part of God’s plan to be and show God’s love in the midst of violence and desecration in the 19th century. The call I [hear now] from Sophie is a call to SOLIDARITY. Enter into the pierced heart of Jesus, experience the suffering of God’s people and all creation, be in solidarity with each other and with people who are suffering, do not sit and wait, discover anew the ways for our time to manifest God’s love.

Sr. Dawson goes on to write that our “solidarity will shake us out of our complacency” and encourages each member of the Sacred Heart family to:

...[W]ake up and pay attention to this moment when our hearts are filled with both fear and compassion, to allow this pain to enter into our own hearts, to begin the slow process of transformation and the invitation to real solidarity. The first step toward SOLIDARITY is knowing real people who are suffering, and deepening our compassion.

As we embark on this important work, let us hold each other in the spirit of solidarity, healing and reconciliation. May each of us deepen our compassion for our Black community members who are suffering and who deserve our commitment to true and lasting transformation.

As one way to spark meaningful dialogue and action, all employees and Trustees are reading How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi this summer. Parents/guardians are encouraged to join us in reading this important book and joining in discussions we will host later this summer and fall. An extensive list of additional resources regarding anti-racism for children and families organized by division can be found here. Resources for adults and teachers can be found through this link.

In the spirit of unity,

Catherine Ronan Karrels ‘86
Head of School

Michelle Black
Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Malcolm McCluskey
Head of Upper School

Nicole Escudero Christenson ‘87
Head of Middle School

Sandy Gillespie
Head of Lower School

Corie Fogg
Director of Curriculum and Professional Development

LaRita Gordon
Director of Enrollment Management

Melissa Prather
Director of Institutional Advancement

Connie Shaffer Mitchell ‘92
Director of Marketing and Communications

Eric Osberg
Director of Finance and Operations