HOLDING THE TENSION
In the middle of that tension— alongside a pandemic and a national reckoning on race— McDonogh did something I’ ve come to believe is essential: they named their values before they knew how things would turn out. The Freedom of Expression and Civil Discourse statement was adopted while the controversy was still live. It said, in essence, that McDonogh’ s job is to teach students how to think, not what to think. That we would welcome what the statement calls“ unrehearsed moments”— the uncomfortable, the contested, the not-yet-resolved— as opportunities for genuine learning. And it drew one clear line: expression that willfully dehumanizes, threatens, or jeopardizes the safety of any member of our community falls outside what we protect.
The memorial was dedicated in the spring of 2022. It is one of the most powerful things I have witnessed a school community do— not because it ended anything, but because it told the truth. Equity grounded in honesty, not branding.
Then came October 7th, 2023.
When the Values Were Tested
The attack in Israel. The war in Gaza. In the days and weeks that followed, our community fractured, as communities do when something this large touches people so differently. Jewish students and families were terrified and grieving. Muslim and Arab students felt invisible, their pain unwelcome, their humanity suddenly in
“... silence is always a stance. And it tends to fall hardest on those who already feel least seen.”
question. Others were trying to understand, to locate themselves in a crisis that felt both far away and unbearably close.
Everything our statement said we believed was about to be tested in real time.
Many schools went silent that fall. I understand why. The calculus feels real: too divisive, too likely to cause harm, too much risk. But silence is always a stance. And it tends to fall hardest on those who already feel least seen.
We chose a different path— though I won’ t pretend it was easy or that we got everything right. Our approach was both / and, not either / or. Immediate affinity spaces, so Jewish students could grieve without being asked to defend a government’ s policies, and Muslim and Arab students could mourn without being asked to prove their humanity. Open forums and one-on-one conversations with families who were directly affected. Real support for faculty who were navigating their own complicated feelings while still showing up to teach.
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CSEE Connections Summer 2026 Page 7