RE Log - Fall 2022

FALL 2022 Ransom Everglades LOG 27 The Ransom Everglades Anti-Racism Task Force, which was established in the summer of 2020 to provide information, counsel and recommendations to the school’s leadership and board of trustees, concluded its work last spring with an end-of-year report that you can find here: https://bit.ly/3xMuPPg “With the support of the administration, our office has become integrated into the critical decision-making processes related to the employment of faculty and the admission and retention of students of color.” – Wendell Graham ’74 and Victoria Beatty ’00 assembly (see page 32). We’ve come to learn David Lawrence’s speech at RE has been preserved not only in our Ransom Everglades archives but also by Vital Speeches of the Day, an organization formed in 1934 that publishes the most salient speeches on the most important issues of our time. With the support of ad- ministration, our office has become integrat- ed into the critical decision-mak- ing processes related to the employment of faculty and the admission and retention of stu- dents of color. We participated in 90 percent of the interviews of new faculty, assisted in the creation of individualized learning plans for students in academic trouble, helped construct a summer en- richment program for students in need of additional resources, and expanded our free tutoring services for students in need of additional help. By the end Chairs of the task force were Victoria Beatty ’00 , DEI Consultant to Ransom Everglades; Stephanie Dua P’22 ’24 ’27, parent and trustee; Wendell Graham ’74 , Director of Inclusion and Community Engagement; and Brandon King, RE History & Social Sciences faculty member. of the 2021-22 school year, Ransom Everglades increased the faculty of color by six and our Black student population by 20. We have purchased books for stu- dents and provided free tutoring services from current RE faculty to more than 15 students. We did a lot. But there is so much more. This fall, we have begun rolling out affinity groups, and creating a summer academ- ic enrichment program teach- ing critical skills such as writing along with subjects like algebra and biology. We are always expanding our tutoring services to incorporate more subjects and expanding our recruitment of faculty and students of color. This year we are also incorporating more service-oriented learning projects for the school, particu- larly during Black History Month. To say it has been a pleasure would be an understatement. This work would not have been possible without the complete support and backing of the trustees, administration, faculty, staff and alumni. So, we press on … thankful for our past successes, but with a hope- ful expectation for the future. Children’s Trust founder, David Lawrence, at RE Jessica Lam