What if I told you that our school is spending no money on diversity, equity or inclusion? This unfortunately, is the sick, unfair truth about Lewis Cass. Despite the school spending a whopping $40,000 to $50,000 a year on exceptional classes and programs in our school building, none of it is going to the students’ health or inclusion in our school. I think our school has a problem, and here’s why.

In the Pharos Tribune, a certain article caught my attention concerning our school. It was titled, “Anti-gay rhetoric concerns shared at Lewis Cass school board meeting.” I’m not a huge fan of reading the newspaper, but I was specifically interested in reading this article when the title caught my eye. After reading this, I think the school is… kind of dumb to say the least. At a school board meeting, according to the Pharos Tribune, “Miller brought up that superintendent Tim Garland had said the school spends $40,000 to $50,000 a year on professional development. She asked how much of that money was spent on diversity, equity and conclusion. ‘As far as an amount going towards that we have not had much going towards it,’ Garland said. ‘For an amount I would say zero.’” 

Zero. Dollars. Although a lot of students in our school are accepting of any identities or backgrounds that are different from themselves, a lot of them are also not. This is why we should educate them on not judging others based on their certain ethnicities, genders, sexualities, ect. And the fact that the school is dedicating no money at all to this problem, is probably why so many students’ mental health has beendropping from getting judged just for being who they are.