AnonymousBy Rob Hereford, Head of School for Laguna Blanca School
I am writing to respond to a powerful open letter to Laguna Blanca School, which was shared yesterday by an alumna on Edhat. Her concerns about diversity and equity continue an important conversation that we all need to have. We want you to know we, too, are listening and learning. Laguna Blanca School is committed to being a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community, but we must do better. We have been talking about what change can look like at Laguna Blanca and what we need to do to make it happen.
The demonstrations of continued systemic racism in American society and the outpouring of recent protests have underscored the need for Laguna to become more intentional and responsive in our approach to issues around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), so we recently created a DEI Committee. This committee is focused on deepening our responsiveness within our curriculum, and addressing the challenging issues in our society. Every member of the Laguna community will be equipped to understand and respond critically to the complex issues that we all must confront. While there is currently 29% diversity among our student demographics, we know there is more work to be done. We are continuing important partnerships, joint events, and offering curricular support within the wider Santa Barbara community in an effort to create and better support a more diverse student population.
The events of recent weeks have created an opportunity for us all, as individuals and institutions, to examine our practices and find ways to build a more just world. While this work may never be finished, it is imperative that we take seriously the need to commit to the ongoing task of creating Martin Luther King’s “beloved community.” Laguna Blanca School embraces that task, and we are driven to make our community more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
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Nothing in this response about the essential elitism of the school. The idea that they will work to include non-whites in their private elite is not that helpful. People spend the money to send their children to this school to avoid sending them to public schools. They thus choose to spend very large amounts of money on this school for their own purposes while ignoring or even begrudging the taxes and support needed by public schools. It is not a flattering sight.
This is an “ok” response I guess. What frustrates me about these organizations and corporations in their responses is they always feel the need to list what they’ve done in the past and how “diverse” they are instead of fully taking responsibility and listening. It’s a start I guess, but at this point no one is convinced unless there is concrete and continual action. Bravo to Karinna for her letter prompting response.
Wait so if you send your kid to a private school you don’t have to pay taxes that fund public schools? That’s awful. They should have to pay those taxes too!
Wouldn’t school choice go a long way in providing access? Let parents choose the school where their tax funded allocated education dollars go for their children. The US government allows higher education funding to follow the student. Why is this prohibited for elementary and high school students.
The public education system cannot be run like a business because students are not products.
Traditional schools must accept all children but choice options don’t, and traditional systems are hurt when financial resources are diverted from districts that are chronically underfunded.
Choice schools are not accountable to the public the same way traditional public schools are and oversight is lax in many states, leading to financial and other scandals.
Some choice options violate the fundamental constitutional principle of separation between church and state.
As a parent of three kids in public schools, I would love to get a voucher. We are already considering Olive
Luckily I didn’t go to Laguna Blanca, though I was headed there before my father objected. My current friends who have kids there, but do not live in Hope Ranch, tell me their children are subject to endless bullying from the rich kids, with zero administration support. I am not sure why the original author things this school needs to be diverse…it is exactly what it is intended to be, a safe little bubble for the 1% to hide their kids until their trust funds are accessible. Why would anyone want to subject their kids to the worst society has to offer?
Public schools run on approx $10K a student. Schools like Lagua are around $40/student plus a huge amount of donations. Private schools do have more expenses for land and buildings an can’t get property tax bonds.
I strongly agree with vouchers, but they would probably be a sizable gap to fill.
Private schools like Cate often bring in foreign students of color to make it seem like they have diversity. These are wealthy foreign families who send their kids to boarding schools like Cate. Laguna Blanca is a private school and I have no objections to them charging the tuition necessary to run the school the way their board wants to. Catholic schools (I went to them for 10 years) are private schools and their parents also pay for giving their kids a ‘religious’ education. I vehemently oppose vouchers or any attempt to use public money to bolster private schools. I also believe in a separation of church and state. If you want to give your kid a ‘Catholic’ education. be my guest. But do not vouchers as a political tool to take needed funds from public schools.
Public schools are community schools. They are traditionally neighborhood schools where kids can walk to school and be with neighborhood kids. School choice is a great idea but not when it is used for white-flight. And, sorry, that’s how the concept of ‘school choice’ has been used since schools were integrated in the 60s.
What are you talking about? The feds or state don’t pay for your Harvard education or your Cal State education, whichever you want. They won’t even loan you enough money for your UCSB education, so you are forced to borrow from private banks. The Grants they have don’t cover very much. Why do you think the average student is graduating with so much debt these days?
Don’t believe you… then why do they Pat to send their kids there? Nice try.
CitizenSB: Yes everyone pays for public schools. But the rich whine about paying for public schools and constantly undermine that institution. They don’t complain much about paying a considerably higher amount for their own children in the private schools.
The Feds or State don’t pay for your Cal State education? Of course California subsidizes the system – or do you think they can run a college for $6K a year?
The Feds or State don’t pay for your Cal State education? Of course California subsidizes the system – or do you think they can run a college for $6K a year?
“Private schools like Cate often bring in foreign students of color to make it seem like they have diversity.” So…they have students of color…but that just seems like diversity because they are from another country? Wouldn’t by definition someone of a different color from a different country create an even MORE diverse situation???!!!!!!
Rich people don’t whine about it – they can afford it. Maybe you are confusing rich people and talk radio?
Downthread, someone says, “School choice is a great idea but not when it is used for white-flight.” And that’s as close as I’ve seen to anyone addressing the 800-pound gorilla in the room in either this thread or the original one begun by Ms. Carrillo. Of course a huge reason many people choose to enroll their kids in private schools is because they believe the public schools have let down their students, either academically or socially. In many cases, but certainly not all, these are valid concerns. The public school in my neighborhood was so unsafe that my kids couldn’t even play there after school without being set upon by groups of up to five or six boys at a time, which was a regular occurrence. It wasn’t cheap to send our kids to Crane School in Montecito, but we did, with the aid of partial scholarships. This had nothing to do with “skin color;” it had to do with my Anglo kids being targeted because they were Anglo. So yeah, I KNOW what’s like to be discriminated against. Fortunately, that school seems to have totally cleaned up its act over the years, but it is still struggling to overcome its former image, and unfortunately, some people with long memories still won’t send their kids there. That said, it’s been my observation that pretty much all of the private schools in the area bend over backward to welcome and nurture ALL students. Even in the non-PC days when my kids went to Crane, if students couldn’t afford the cost of a trip, school outing, or other expense, it was not only “taken care of,” but taken care of in a way that never embarrassed or called attention to the student in question. I’ve known several Laguna Blanca attendees, parents, alumni and faculty members over the years, and I really don’t think several of Ms. Carrillo’s remarks were warranted.
We have a social responsibility to hold our friends, families and communities accountable by holding up a mirror to them. What looks back isn’t pretty when we realize we are part of institutional racism that we all have a part to deconstruct. Karinna’s comments need to be taken constructively. Yet the mirror reflected light on the destructive comments that ultimately demanded that Karinna be grateful, quiet, complacent, and to feel lucky to have a seat at the table–a seat that many imply could/should/would have gone to a perhaps person who would have “fit in” better. Laguna Blanca’s response could have simply acknowledged the painful experiences on campus for students like Karinna, and promised to eradicate conditions that make stories like hers possible. For starters, elite schools must not use children as tokens in glossy brochures to promise BIPOC friends to would-be students, who otherwise know us as nannies and gardeners. All elitist institutions should pledge not to saddle BIPOC students to teach “peers” diversity lessons at their expense. Scholarship students are often shouldered with teaching socioeconomic and race lessons as they respond personally and indelibly to bias, bullying and ignorant comments by children, teachers and parents. These experiences leave scars. Karinna got into her elite schools on her own merit, and despite her K-12 education. LB is not an Ivy League feeder. This is why we don’t see them applauding Karinna’s strong voice, activism and advocacy. The lesson in the mirror is lost on LB. Their response is empty and does not reflect that they will really prioritize equity. And perhaps that is exactly what they are teaching/selling, and what the parents of the students are buying/consuming.
This has been an important discussion and I appreciate the school being willing to engage and respond to some of the issues raised.
Glad to see productive discussion from both sides. Laguna, I hope you will carefully diversify your DEI committee with members who actually know and have lived the struggles of BIPOC. Perhaps include Karinna, if she is interested?
A well-written response. Sounds like Laguna Blanca recognizes the work to be done.
Shame referred to “all-black” colleges. That is incorrect. Those colleges historically served blacks who could not attend white schools up until the 60s. Currently they are integrated even if some of them are still majority black. Not sure about the history of equal access for latinos to higher education. Just another aspect of our history that wasn’t covered by my history classes.
Pitmix, I didn’t get this in history class either..
Just don’t know enough….did grow up in the south, still need to learn.
SB Unified allows students to “choose” their school. Some of the schools have up to 30% “transfers”.
The 29% diversity rate is about par with schools like Roosevelt.
The transfers are not all “white Flight”. In our children’s schools many Latino families choose to transfer for a “better education”.
So why are their “district lines” based upon the Census if the Public schools allows families to choose their school? Kind of defeats the purpose of trying to diversify a school?
As to private schools, they are a business and have to balance their check books. I’m sure they do not discriminate based upon much more than if one can afford it and many provide partial and full scholarships based upon academics, like colleges do.
I’ve have also seen and my daughter experienced discrimination against her for being white.
And yes there is racism in our schools, for example one black girl calls herself the “N” word and “allows”her non-black friends to call her by that.
Disrespectful and discriminatory. I know I wouldn’t want to use that word regardless of my skin color.
Then there are the groups of kids that hang together and pick on others just because of race or socio economics or because they’re in AP classes.
Discrimination and bullies are not just in private schools and it’s not just the “rich/elite” that bully others who are different.
ALL, children need to be taught discrimination of any kind (race, economics, grades) is not acceptable.
Diverse, yes, but not necessarily demonstrating economic diversity, which is a very complex issue.
There can be all black colleges and no one complains. I am Latina and I do not see any all Latina colleges. If private schools have mostly white so be it. That’s a choice they make to go to that school. Everyone can not afford everything they want that’s just how the world is. In my country the wealthy go to private schools and the others go to public schools. No one makes a big deal of that. Parents work hard and some sacrifice to send their kids to private schools no ma
Shame, to my knowledge there are no “all black colleges” only Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCUs) which were initially created because Black people were not allowed to attend post secondary schools due to segregation, but they have been inclusive of anyone who would like to attend. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-hbcus/2017/03/03/5adc236a-ff76-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html
As a society we need to hold private schools and businesses to a higher social standard if we hope to end discrimination. Laguna Blanca appears to be recognizing the need to change.
One of the elements at the heart of this discussion is the cost of education–which for many of us has become prohibitively expensive and, therefore, a force for elitism. I went to a boarding school in the 60s. Tuition, room and board was $2800 per year. The same school now charges over $67,000! However, 52% of their student body are non-Anglo. That the 3 Carrillo children all received free educations at LBS is laudable even if it was in an ethnically-rarified environment.
No one is forcing anyone to go to private school. I don’t think the sky-high costs of tuition at private schools is something we need to all feel bad about, or freak out about in terms of what it means for diversity. Now when we talk about our public schools, and how many of them are failing children, and how in order for many children to have any chance we really need to institute universal Pre-K, then that’s a valid discussion. Private schools can charge whatever they want, and it is not our duty to enforce some artificial “diversity” quota at them. They’re private institutions. Ms. Carrillo had a lot of good points in her letter – for instance, how even though they were given tuition there was not much thought given to supporting the family beyond that (uniform costs, etc.). That seems to have at the time been a glaring blind spot for the school and I agree they need to do better – and it seems like perhaps they now are. But we cannot insist on every single private group, club, institution, school, organization, etc. having “diversity” for diversity sake, or attacking private institutions for charging X amount of tuition. Some organizations will naturally end up “not diverse” – like historically black colleges – and some organizations will charge a fee to participate in whatever they’re offering that is prohibitive to some, or even many. That’s not a problem. It’s a problem when public institutions like public schools are not providing an education of high enough quality that people feel the need to seek out private schools to begin with.
What exactly does “work to be done” mean? They will lower the cost of tuition for people of color?
FERNALD – maybe you could call them and ask? Then report what grave injustices they are proposing to address racial disparity. Thanks for taking that on!
Shame – wow, sounds like you need some college courses immediately. No such thing as an all black college.
SB Townie, thanks for saying that and well said. I am sure many of us feel the way you do. A private school can charge whatever they want or feel necessary just as edhat, a private entity, can “Delete by Administartor” any comments they feel violate their rules. I feel that if minorities, whatever their race, creed, or color, don’t feel they can get a good and equal education then they and their parents should address those concerns with their local school boards and work with them and the elected officials to improve those deficiencies. One place to start is that teachers should be paid fairly; reducing huge salaries and pensions to city supervisors and other bureaucrats and diverting that money to our public schools and teachers would be a fine way to achieve that goal.
I want to comment, back to Shame…her edhat name.
She is correct, about black, elite, colleges.
Morehouse, in Atlanta, for one…
Texas A & M, another….
Don’t know of any primarily, Latino colleges ?