Editor's note: We are sharing an important message from Dr. Jacob Greenwood (RHS Principal) and Mrs. Jennifer Phostole (ERMS Principal), written in collaboration with the Central Office team. As secondary school leaders, they are calling on all of us—families, staff, and community members—to strengthen our shared commitment to fostering safe, respectful, and inclusive school environments. Please take a moment to read their letter in full below.
We are writing to you today asking for your help.
It is rare that we communicate collectively as secondary principals; however, in partnership with the Central Office team, we feel a sense of urgency in making a shared request of the entire school community as we seek to provide a common message to everyone on our values, commitment, and response to any incident of hate on our school campuses. We recognize this letter is long, and we ask that you please read this entire letter.
Recently, we have learned of incidents across our three schools where symbols, words, or messages of hate or bias have been expressed in our buildings. These include antisemitic and racist terms or symbols. While we can acknowledge that these incidents are relatively few in number, it doesn’t matter. While we cannot confirm that all of these acts were driven by our students, it doesn’t matter. The Ridgefield Public Schools will not stand and allow any form of hate in our schools or our community. Therefore, we need each and every one of you to be our ally.
Any act of hate is in direct opposition to the values we teach and the school culture we are committed to fostering in our schools. Further, these types of incidents are painful, offensive and undermine the dignity and feeling of safety for members of our community. When these events occur or are observed in our schools, we grapple with whether or not full community communication is something that creates fear among the targeted group or a hostile environment for our students, or even influences copycat incidents. While many of our communications are specific to a given situation, we do receive questions about our process, thus we want to provide clarity regarding the steps we take in response to each of these incidents:
- We carefully investigate each incident to determine who may be directly impacted.
- We communicate directly to the impacted students and their family, and plan for any necessary support, which includes restoring the dignity and safety of the students who were targeted.
- Upon understanding the incident and the nuances that may be learned from the investigation, we may determine a school-wide communication is needed. Our response may also include individual or restorative learning, and full school lessons about hate or bias. All of this may be occurring simultaneously to our investigation, which, depending on the circumstances, may include the Ridgefield Police Department.
In addition to responding to an event, we are committed to being proactive. Our students have shared that our work with the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL’s) “No Place for Hate" program and the embedding of inclusive practices in our curricular work and 6–12 advisory work has been impactful. That said, we continue to strive to be better. We engage with area leaders, as well as program directors for advice and feedback, not only on our response, but also, additional action steps that we can take to confront any form of hate that our students may experience in and out of our school walls. Our goal remains to create space for learning, meaningful dialogue, and collective healing.
However, it is clear these efforts are not enough because these events continue to occur. To make lasting change and to create an environment where all truly feel valued and included, we need your help.
OUR REQUEST:
We must strengthen our partnership with families and the community. We ask that you review this document, and speak with your child(ren) about its contents. Hate doesn’t begin with loud acts—it grows quietly, through small choices. What we choose to ignore, laugh at, share, or say nothing about, can unintentionally contribute to an environment where harmful behavior feels acceptable or goes unchallenged.
Together, we must take a stand—peer to peer, adult to adult, adult to child. Your engagement is essential both in our proactive education and our responses when incidents occur. This shared responsibility between home and school is the primary platform in which we can meaningfully address these issues. Creating a space where all belong must extend outside of our schools.
We continue to ask you to engage with your child at home about respect, dignity, the impact of words and symbols of hate. The following resources could be helpful in your discussions at home: Shine a Light on Semitism, Subtle Behaviors, and ADL–Racist Incidents. Your partnership in engaging in these discussions is vital.
For those students who need support processing these events inside of school, our counseling teams are available. Additionally, students that witness hate of any kind should communicate immediately to a trusted adult or, if preferred, utilize the “Say Something” app for anonymous reporting.
Together we can build a stronger, more compassionate Ridgefield where all feel valued, welcomed, and included. Thank you for your partnership in helping us teach that hate has no place in our schools, our homes, and in our community.
With gratitude,
Dr. Jacob Greenwood (RHS Principal)
Mrs. Jennifer Phostole (ERMS Principal)