New Trier High School administrators called a video from several years ago in which a student used racial slurs unacceptable and outlined the school district's efforts to combat racial injustice.
Superintendent Paul Sally and Winnekta campus principal Denise Dubravec recorded a message for students and families to address the video, which has recently been circulated despite being filmed years ago while the students were in middle school.
“Right now, there’s a video circulating of students saying the N word while another student filmed the slur," Dubravec said in the recorded message. "The behavior in the video is unacceptable and hurtful. We are working with the students involved and their families. The students and their families want the New Trier community to know they deeply regret and apologize for the hurt the video has caused the community, our students’ families and our staff of color. They want to partner with us, the school, to move our equity efforts forward."
New Trier administrators have worked with students and staff to make changes to school curriculum and develop a strategic plan to fight racial injustice and inequality.
“As we come to the end of the school year, we are both sad and hopeful," Sally said in the video. "We’re sad because of the fear, injustice, and racism that our students and staff of color, along with their families, experience every day just trying to go about their daily lives. Events across the country have exposed these injustices and I know they happen everywhere, including our school. Many of you have shared your pain and anger about experiences you’ve had at New Trier and I want you to know we hear you, and we want to do better.”
New Trier has made headlines in the past for controversial efforts to promote social change, including one handout that encouraged students to volunteer at Planned Parenthood to prevent climate change. The predominately white school also held courses for students to educate them on their "white privilege" and innate racial bias.
Dubravec urged students and families to be agents of change.
“We believe the best way to affect anti-racist change is through calling in instead of calling out," Dubravec said. "We must be accountable for our actions and compassionate with ourselves and others. When we say or do something that hurts others, we must take responsibility for that action and also have an opportunity to learn and grow from that action. We have implemented restorative justice practices in our schools where students take responsibility and listen to understand the pain that their actions caused."
More information about the school’s efforts to increase equity in the school and community can be found on the New Trier website.
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