Dear Lowell School Community,
With great sadness, I'm informing you of an event at dismissal yesterday afternoon. One of our students was taking a bathroom break when he discovered graffiti written on a Xerox machine located in the 2nd-floor hallway in the Lowell West building. The graffiti alone is disappointing, but even more disheartening was the use of the n-word. This racial slur, and the message it conveys, have no place in our school or community. I want to make it clear that we do not tolerate any form of discrimination, bigotry, or racism at Lowell.
I understand that this incident has caused great hurt and distress, and we want to assure you that we are taking it seriously. Accordingly, the school is implementing the following measures immediately to support our community better and prevent a similar incident from occurring:
We launched an investigation this morning and quickly discovered who was responsible for the graffiti.
Alerting our community both staff and families.
Asking our Student Support Team the school’s counselors, psychologist, social worker, and administrators readily available to check in with students.
Increasing supervision for our hallways and bathrooms.
We have met with our Instructional Leadership Team to discuss how we can all work together to support our students and address the issue in our classroom communities.
The above steps are only interim measures as this incident reminds us that we still have much work to do to foster an atmosphere free from hate and prejudice.
All Lowell staff will be engaging in a professional development opportunity in April to deepen our own learning as anti-racists. Additionally, during that time, we will support teachers in leading class meetings that foster a space for conversations around racism, hurtful language, acceptance, and understanding. Our Lowell community is committed to staying engaged in these conversations to ensure all students feel true belonging.
Finally, incidents such as these can be unsettling and impact our community in different ways. Please don’t hesitate to contact our school counselors or administrators if you need extra support or have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Stacy
