Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Massachusetts Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Leadership Council

Dear School Leaders,

None of us is doing ok right now, especially our black students. Each horrific incident of state-sanctioned violence against black Americans intensifies the trauma for black students, already suffering disproportionate isolation and fear from the COVID-19 pandemic. And you, leaders of the learning organizations that are central to so many of their lives, are reaching out to them with solace and support.

At this point in our history, we all recognize that they—and the schools we lead—need much more from us. Words of sympathy are not enough. This moment in time calls on all of us to reject the complicit message of silence. This moment demands our outrage. This moment demands that we reaffirm our role as champions of equity. This moment calls us to loudly condemn not only overt racial violence but also the less obvious structural racism that permeates every dimension of American life—economics, health, the environment, housing, and, yes, education.

This moment in time calls on us as leaders to build our own cultural competence to recognize and address the racial disparities in our discipline policies and our academic systems, and in our use of school resource officers. It calls on us to lead conversations with all students and stakeholders that will build culturally responsive schools. These are difficult and challenging conversations, but we have to lead that dialogue in service to our schools and communities. Embracing racial equity in schools is a service, not only to our black students but to all of us. Our role is to advance our schools and influence the nation toward becoming the best version of ourselves—worthy of our highest ideals and intolerant of the idea that one man has the right to end the life of another because of his skin color.

Like you, NASSP is outraged by the recent displays of fatal violence against black people and the abrogation of our right to assemble peacefully. We echo the frustrations of peaceful protesters and the urgency for justice felt by all citizens of conscience. But we are not helpless to effect change. Far from it. As leaders who have risen to the challenges imposed on us by COVID-19, we recognize the vital role we play in building a more just future for all our students. NASSP commits to accompanying you on our shared journey of empathy and learning until one day we can finally declare the horrors that ended the lives of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor a thing of the past. We are better than this.

Thank you for all you do to build an ever more just future that we all—black, brown, and white—will share. And thank you for allowing NASSP to play a small part in your amazing work.

JoAnn Bartoletti
Executive Director

Peter Kruszynski
President

Message from Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff, NFHS
Executive Director

High School Sports, Activities: Opportunity for Everyone to be Included, Accepted

Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff, NFHS Executive Director

Seemingly overnight, the focus across the country is not on the COVID-19 pandemic or the restarting of sports. The horrific tragedy in Minneapolis and the ensuing protests in major cities across our nation have resulted in a sobering wake-up call that there are issues that must be addressed as fervently as the development of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

These are worrisome scenes from across the country and are signs that we have much work to do regarding racial injustice and equality for everyone. Many of the cities ravaged this past week are homes to our member state associations, including the city of Indianapolis where the NFHS and the Indiana High School Athletic Association reside.

In due time, the national health crisis will subside, businesses hopefully will be able to re-open and people will be able to return to their jobs. But what is the timetable for an end to racial injustice in our nation? If the clashes of this past week do not provide the necessary signal that these issues are more important than anything we have ever faced and could make or break our nation, nothing will.

Sports often provide an escape from the ugly scenes on the news. With high school sports – like most other sports – sidelined during the pandemic, we cannot “escape” the scenes of the past week. Perhaps, for the moment, that is a good thing as the nation can collectively focus on one goal.

That goal is to treat everyone the same, treat each other with respect, regardless of the color of one’s skin – the very fundamentals of high school sports and activities in our nation’s schools where all genders, all races, all religions – as in teamwork – work together to accomplish a goal. Nationwide, we have much work to do.

Our hearts are broken at what we have seen and heard this past week. Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to the families of Dreasjon Reed, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many other African Americans who have lost their lives in racially motivated tragedies just this year.

We must value the life of every single person in our country, and we must continue to provide opportunities for all people to succeed. Everyone must be a part of the solution, including participants, coaches and others in high school sports and performing arts in our nation’s schools. And to those students, coaches, officials and school administrators who represent these targeted populations, the NFHS stands with these groups for positive change.

By the end of the sixth day of the recent protests, one thing seemed to be crystal clear: the lack of a strong national voice emphatically calling for Americans to value the life of every single person – calling for an end to prejudiced, bigoted behavior.

We believe there is no better national voice than high school sports and performing arts programs, where opportunities exist for boys and girls of all races, all religions, all levels of ability to work together, to trust each other and to eventually make a difference on the streets of our nation.

Is everything perfect in education-based athletics and performing arts? Certainly not as we noted in this column last fall after reports of a couple of incidents of racism and disrespect had surfaced. We stated that high schools must establish a culture that values the worth of every single person – both players on the school’s team and players on the opposing team. There must be a no-tolerance policy regarding behavior that shows disrespect for another individual.

School-based sports and activities provide that unique opportunity to be part of a team and to provide identity, a sense of self-worth and a reason for engaging in academics. In high school sports and activities, all students are included, accepted and feel like a valued member of a community. Those protesting this past week are demanding much of the same.

When it comes to the opportunity that sports provides to bring everyone together, no one said it better earlier this week than Patrick Mahomes, the star quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes said he was thankful that he had grown up in locker rooms with people from “every race, every background” and he hopes America “can learn from the injustices that we have witnessed to become more like the locker room where everyone is accepted.”

In one of our columns last fall, we stated that racism was one of our greatest concerns nationwide. By mid-March, we were sure that fighting the COVID-19 pandemic was our greatest concern. This past week has been a rude awakening that indeed dealing with racial injustice MUST take center stage.

Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff is in her second year as executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the first female to head the national leadership organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities and the sixth full-time executive director of the NFHS, which celebrated its 100th year of service during the 2018-19 school year. She previously was executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference for seven years.

Please note: All educators must make a deliberate, accurate self-assessment in partnership with their school leaders and peers about opening up these conversations. For all teachers, particularly White teachers, our vital role requires us to ask ourselves how much our own academic, personal, and professional journeys have prepared us to hold these deep, complex, and often profoundly painful and vulnerable discussions. For example, only those trained in restorative justice skills should facilitate restorative circles, but more broadly, we must each consider our level of readiness for setting and implementing discussion norms, leading these conversations, and following up when the lessons surface deeper needs.

Click here for resources: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17pZqRO0T1D73aScTm8N0qILclcToKY9a