While we are glad that the Monitor’s coverage of current Concord school issues has shifted more toward student voices, we’d like to ensure everyone hears our voices clearly.
We value our Concord educations. We have had great teachers, advisers, coaches, staff, and administrators who have supported and lifted us up. Many of them have taught us the value of speaking up to share our own opinions and potential solutions.
We’re speaking up now to suggest that as Concord holds discussions and improves upon policies around power dynamics in our schools that the district actively empowers students throughout this process. This means more transparency, more student involvement and more education on the issues surrounding sexual misconduct and harassment.
We both chose to speak up because we wanted to bring more student voices into these conversations. As alumni, we can’t speak on these issues like the students walking through Concord hallways this fall can. We want to remind and urge the school board and the public to listen to different perspectives of current students with diverse voices. As we’ve seen in our own time at Concord, they are the ones who can and will create cultural change.
KATE RICHARDS and LAILA RUFFIN
Concord