Middle School Common Ground registration
August 2019
Dear Middle School Parents of Students of Color,
This is Gordon’s thirteenth year offering Common Ground, an affinity group for students of color. This group provides a safe space to explore racial identity development through a variety of activities. Students reflect on who they are and how they live out their racial group membership. Many students have described Common Ground meetings as an essential part of their Gordon experience.
The structure for Middle School Common Ground will be similar to last year. Luke Anderson (eighth grade humanities teacher), Afiya Samuel (sixth grade math teacher), Angela Flynn (seventh and eighth grade science teacher) and Irene Horton (seventh and eighth grade math teacher) will serve as Common Ground facilitators.
Luke, Afiya, Angela and Irene will meet with students of color during Wednesday night POSOC gatherings from 6:00 to 7:30pm and two nights of parent dialogues on race. The first Common Ground evening is on September 18th. At this first meeting students will meet the facilitators in the dining hall. Dinner will be provided for all participants. Please register using the form below.
Common Ground will meet again on the evenings of October 30th, January 15th, February 19th, April 15th, and May 13th. Facilitators and students will also gather on Fridays for lunch and activities.
There are also other opportunities for students to be together during the year. We participate in two Association of Independent Schools of New England events that students are encouraged to attend: the Middle School Diversity Conference in November and the Middle School Students of Color Conference in February. Gordon pays for registration and provides transportation and supervision for these events.
Information will be sent regarding these opportunities, and linked at www.gordonschool.org/commonground, as it becomes available.
Please be in touch with me or with any of the facilitators if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Gabe Burnstein
Middle School Director