With a 97.3 percent African American student enrollment and a brand-new, ready-to-win football team, it is timely and appropriate that the Taking a Knee discussion reaches our school.
Channel 5 interviewed our Director, Ramone Davenport, about this teachable moment. Davenport recognizes that racism and police brutality, issues inherent to the action of Taking a Knee, are complex matters for young students to process.
The driver in these discussions comes from the wisdom of Davenport’s leadership: that any action students take be authentic, true to them and not based on what others are doing.
The students feel safe in the teacher-led discussions where they can explore these societal issues in depth. The issues are steeped in the emotional, ancestral and environmental experiences our students’ encounter every day.
The driver in these discussions comes from the wisdom of Davenport’s leadership: that any action students take be authentic, true to them, and not based on what others are doing.
In our September 30, 2017, game, we played North Adams and won, 54-7. Our students stood for the National Anthem. Discussions continue about what it means to be a responsible individual in line with personal truths. Staying true to one’s self in relation to complex issues is a learning curve that lasts a lifetime. Teaching students how to live while being true to one’s self is one of the reasons that Dohn is A Place to Turn Your Life Around.