January 20, 2022
from Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School
This is the third of a four-part series of Head’s Messages that dives deep into MPA’s new strategic plan, 2024ward. Today we will outline this priority: Ensure an equitable and inclusive community. The second article may be found here. An overview of 2024ward may be found here.
It is not by accident that my article this week highlights the second priority of our new strategic plan. “The time is right to do what is right,” said Martin Luther King Jr. in a speech at Oberlin College on October 22, 1964. In the midst of a particularly violent year and in anticipation of the election, Dr. King noted that while behavior cannot be legislated, it is none the less crucial to protect dignity and lives of African Americans. Fifty-seven years later, our society continues to grapple with not just individual acts of racism but institutional and structural racism that deprives Black, Indigenous, and people of color from realizing the fullness of their humanity.
Since the founding of MPA in 1982, our school has been committed to embracing diversity, seeking equity, and continually striving to be profoundly inclusive. It has been a national leader among independent schools, well ahead of its time, in areas such as sexual orientation and gender identity. As a community, we have focused on fostering a safe and inclusive space for all, aspiring to be cognizant of gender identity and equality, religious understanding, socio-economic diversity, multicultural awareness, and racial diversity of students and staff. Equity, justice, and inclusion are embedded in our mission statement and are key in preparing our students to learn, live, and thrive in an increasingly diverse world.
While I am proud of our historical commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at MPA, I also acknowledge the pain and trauma some of our students of color endured at MPA over the last forty years and continue to experience now. To say that MPA is a safe, inclusive community is authentic and it is also inspirational and aspirational. We are in the middle of great societal change and along with change comes periods of uncertainty, disruption, and discomfort. Nonetheless, we as a community must re-commit ourselves to actions and values that demonstrate a culture of respect, equity, and belonging.
In the fall of 2020, I formed an Antiracism Action Group to engage the MPA community in reflection, advocacy, and action to dismantle racism in our school and in the larger community. Composed of students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and trustees, the Antiracism Action Group met throughout the year and recommended a series of concrete steps to be taken to address institutional and individual bias and racism in our school. The recommendations were accepted by the Board of Trustees last year and serve as the foundation of this pillar of our strategic plan.
The work of implementing this priority is the responsibility of all members of our community. 2024ward calls for a balance of both immediate, short-term actions with longer-term strategies. To drive this important work and to hold us all accountable, the MPA Board of Trustees established a board level Equity and Belonging committee. The Equity and Belonging Committee will engage the larger MPA community to create a multi-year comprehensive action plan with quantitative metrics. Goals include expanding diversity throughout the MPA community including in our leadership, governance, faculty, staff, and student body and enhancing the capacity of faculty and staff to address instances of individual and institutional racism.
Work has already begun in several areas. For instance, the administration has been reviewing and improving our hiring process so that we are better able to attract high quality teachers and staff of color. Planning is currently underway for a comprehensive curriculum review to take place next year that includes ensuring that both content and delivery are centered on equity. In a new initiative this year, all employees are meeting monthly in small groups to build belonging, foster trust, and cultivate empathy so that authentic, meaningful, and ongoing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice work can be done to strengthen the MPA culture and community.
Mother Teresa once said that, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” As one independent school trustee said, “I’m talking about the kind of ‘when you feel pain, I hurt; when you feel joy, I smile’ belonging, going beyond the ‘let’s ensure that everybody participates in the trip to Italy’ kind of belonging that society might be more apt to take on within schools. It’s a “if I hurt you, I hurt everyone, including myself” kind of belonging. The work of diversity, equity, and belonging at MPA is a recognition that all of our fates are intertwined, and we can never be whole if we are unable to see and honor the humanity of others.
The MPA Parents Association invites you to Connecting for Understanding: An Open Dialogue about Neurodiversity.
This is Zainab’s second year at MPA. She joined in eighth grade and is currently in ninth grade.
Zaara has been an MPA student for six years.
Congratulations to Salmah Elmasry ’21
On September 23, at 6:30 PM Central, the Alumni Committee on Antiracist Practice will be hosting its first community discussion for BIPOC alumni of MPA. One of the many things that respondents to our survey suggested is that alumni of color wanted spaces, digital and in-person, to discuss life after graduating, existing in predominantly-white spaces, and to generally share experiences of life both during and after our time at MPA. This conversation, which will be specifically alumni-only, will kick off the committee and its work with the Antiracism Action Group and the Alumni Board.
Congratulations to Logan Sand ’08 on winning MPA’s Alumni Association Award for the 2020-2021 year!
“Climate change affects everything in our lives, and will only get worse from now on,” says Alex. “The Sierra Club Foundation is a leading member in the fight to solve climate change and make life better for everyone. They work towards climate solutions and they fight for environmental and social justice.” 86.9% of all donations go to directly to helping the Sierra Club’s four main programs: lands, air, water and wildlife!
The $50 donation to Steve’s charity Save The Children will provide meals to three children for an entire month. “What if every time you ate, you had to roll the dice to see if you were or not? Save The Children fights for the safety and future of the most unfortunate kids and gives every child, even the ones hardest to reach, voices,” says Steve.
Equal Justice USA fights for meaningful change and works at the intersection of criminal justice, public health and racial justice. “It’s insufferable that after so many years following the abolishment of slavery, systemic racism still thrives in our institutions and on our streets,” says Zoya. “All of us have heard case after case of police brutality, especially as Minnesotans. EJ USA meets the needs of survivors, advances racial equity, and works to abolish police brutality.”
Dr. Jazlynn Paige is a school psychologist who has her own consulting firm 
Congratulations to senior Dhruv Muppidi on being named one of 625 Presidential Scholar semifinalists from out of 3.6 million seniors across the country! Since 1964, the Presidential Scholars Program has honored the nation’s most distinguished high school seniors based on academic success, leadership, and service to school and community. Dhruv is one of only 10 semifinalists from Minnesota. He will find out if he is selected as one of 160 Presidential Scholarship recipients in early May!