Mr. Porter shared the following message at June's Board of Education meeting:
June 9, 2020
Before I end my portion of tonight’s agenda, I want to share some comments from the heart. Last week we celebrated in a beautiful way the graduation of each of our 600 seniors. I am exceptionally grateful to those who helped to make that possible, and I am so proud of the seniors and their families who rose above the challenges of Covid to celebrate the accomplishments of the class of 2020.
However, last week also weighed heavy on me and probably many of you, as we witnessed another senseless death in our country, and the outpouring of emotions that followed. George Floyd’s avoidable and tragic death underscores a problem of systemic racism, which still permeates our society.
In my role, I feel a particular call to duty to not just protect our students, but to inspire and empower them. I want all of our students to feel accepted, safe, and valued. And while our district has made progress with our work in the areas of diversity, inclusion and equity, we still need to do more and need to do better.
Mentor Schools is committed to being part of the solution. Working with 7,500 4-18 year olds every year, we have a unique opportunity to have a profound impact on the advancement of equality, understanding, and justice. As a district, we have an ethical responsibility to unite together to find ways to foster hope, build trust, and strive for equal treatment for all.
Providing a high quality education for ALL the children of our community goes far beyond academics. We have the privilege to be a part of shaping important life lessons for our youth, including teaching kindness and compassion and what it takes to be good friends, good neighbors and good people. Certainly, we live in an imperfect world, but we have a golden opportunity to help this next generation learn from our past mistakes and work together to drive meaningful change.
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