By Jalen Checo
On Wednesday October 4th, the LREI community gathered in the PAC for an unconventional morning meeting. Teachers and students came to discuss the tragic and horrible natural disasters that had recently transpired in Mexico, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other areas. Community members shared their personal stories and those leading the assembly called upon the student body to donate whatever cash it could to support. This assembly was part of ongoing work done by student social justice groups as well as members of the faculty to educate our community and support the relief of those affected. This also included a bake sale and an emergency supply drive organized by LREI Cares later that week. While there have been many successful aspects to this work done, some community members have mixed feelings on how the school responded to these events.
In total the school raised $2,594.48 between the bake sale and out-of-pocket donations, as well as a large amount of donated supplies such as health products, baby products, and batteries. Ann Carroll, the faculty adviser to the student government (which played a large role in this process), noted the immediate success of these efforts. “For a school with a student body of 250 students I thought that was a pretty successful collection,” she said.
Faculty members Arturo Acevedo, Jessica Prohias-Gardiner, and Ileana Jimenez, all of whom were also involved in some of the planning of these relief efforts and have family members affected by these disasters, voiced issues regarding the process of the school’s response.
Acevedo, a Spanish teacher who was born in Puerto Rico, noted that having more time would have been key to setting up the work to support. “It [the process of planning the assembly and addressing the disasters] felt rushed,” he said. He mentioned that they “had a couple of days to put together something massive.” Acevedo mentioned later over email that this time constraint was due to a disconnect between the work being done by the lower school community and the upper school. He stressed that there was not enough time to organize with the middle school Latina/Latino affinity group Azucar, a group that took a leading role in responding to these disasters.
Prohias-Gardiner, a member of the learning center staff, and who is Cuban and with family in the Virgin Islands, also felt not enough was planned, saying that the school could have tried to bring “someone in from these helping organizations” to further educate the community on what is going on and how to help. The lack of attention brought to the Virgin Islands in particular also concerned her. “There really hasn’t been any acknowledgement,” she said. “We’re not on the [school] flyer.” The flyer was designed by middle school parents involved with Azucar. It features the Mexican and Puerto Rican flags and became one of the key images to the LREI relief effort.
Jimenez, a literature teacher who is also Puerto Rican, voiced slightly different concerns. While she “appreciated [the] sense of urgency to respond immediately,” there was a “false deadline of being done,” she said, emphasizing that there is still much work to do to support and rebuild. “I would have wanted more education on the racist, colonial, imperial practices by the U.S. on both Puerto Rico and Mexico,” she said.
The three faculty members make clear that there was great effort and intent on the part of the school to support those affected. “[I was] grateful for how much money [they] were able to come up with,” Acevedo said. However there was also a consistent sense that the majority of the community would allow this issue to slip from their priorities. “They’re moving on,” a concerned Prohias-Gardiner said.
Carroll also voiced this sentiment of further work to be done and keeping these issues in the minds of the school community. “Just because Puerto Rico is off the front page, doesn’t mean it is in any less need of support,” she said. She also defended the immediacy of the school’s efforts. “[The] goal of the school was to raise immediate relief funds, get it out of here as fast a possible and get it to those on the ground who needed it,” she said.
Lulu Grant, a senior with family in Puerto Rico, felt concerned about how people have viewed the situation there and in places such as Mexico and the Virgin Islands. “There seems like a really big human disconnect,” she said, voicing that some of the community doesn’t seem to understand the reality of the devastation done to people’s lives and futures. While Grant was pleased with the work being done, she feels that “our school’s attention is on the disaster aspect, not the people aspect.”
Grant also points out that our assembly schedule isn’t designed to respond to current events as they occur. “We have assemblies set up a year in advance [but] we don’t know what will happen a year in advance,” she said. Grant expressed that part of this problem is a lack of understanding one another more in the school community. She states that it is hard for her to convey any personal problems to someone who doesn’t relate to them. “We don’t get to learn more about each other,” she said.