HOLDING THE TENSION
Doubling Down, Not Pulling Away
There is a temptation, in a moment like this, to retreat. To protect the institution by going quiet. To decide that the risk of getting it wrong is greater than the cost of saying nothing.
I understand that temptation. I have felt it myself, more than once.
But I’ ve come to believe it is exactly backwards. In a moment of rising hatred— of antisemitism and Islamophobia, of anti- Black racism, of rhetoric that dehumanizes immigrants, of an increasingly fractured public discourse— schools that go silent are not staying neutral. They are conceding the ground. They are telling the students
“ The students in our buildings right now are going to inherit whatever world we are building or failing to build.” who feel most targeted that their safety is less important than institutional comfort.
The students in our buildings right now are going to inherit whatever world we are building or failing to build. They deserve to graduate with the actual capacity to participate in a pluralist democracy while holding onto their values and their humanity. They deserve to see adults model what it looks like to stay present in hard moments— to disagree without dehumanizing, to hold complexity without abandoning conviction, to remain in the room when leaving would be easier.
Belonging in changing times doesn’ t mean finding ground that doesn’ t shift. It means deciding, again and again, that the people in your community are worth the discomfort of staying. That their grief matters. That their fear matters. That their humanity is not negotiable— regardless of what the moment is asking you to look away from.
That is the work. We are in the middle of it. And I believe, with everything I have, that it is exactly where we are supposed to be. •
Enaye Englenton is the Director of Equity & Inclusion and Parent Engagement at McDonogh School, a PreK – 12 independent school in Maryland. A veteran educator and equity practitioner, she leads faculty development and designs systems for belonging across a full PreK – 12 community. She founded and chairs the Mid-Atlantic Educators of Color Conference and has presented at CSEE’ s DEIB Exemplars program and the 2026 INDEX DEIB Conference.
CSEE Connections Summer 2026 Page 11