March 1, 2018

Dear Gunston Community:

This week, Gunston hosted a remarkable Global Awareness Day, and I was so deeply impressed by the work of our Student Diversity Leadership Club in its planning and execution.  Central to Gunston's culture are two words located in the first sentence of our school's mission: personalization and nurture.  Since our founding in 1911, and long before it was fashionable, Gunston has sought to embrace, accommodate, and celebrate the emotional, behavioral, cultural, and neurodiversity of our students as we prepare them for the rigors of college and the world beyond.  This institutional commitment to diversity was comprehensively articulated in 2011 through the creation of Gunston's Diversity Statement, which was ratified by our Board of Trustees.

In response to changing norms, the evolution of legal standards in Maryland and nationwide, and most importantly, the needs of individual students at Gunston, our Board recently formalized the incorporation of the term "gender identity" within our school's Diversity Statement.  Accommodating gender identity diversity often involves a unique learning curve for schools; fortunately, many of our peer schools within NAIS and AIMS, with the help of organizations like GLSEN and GLAAD, have developed thoughtful policies and protocols to support individual students and the community at large.  Over the next few weeks, we will be working to review and update our school handbook as it relates to the needs and safety of students navigating gender identity questions.

A wise colleague once shared with me, "In this interconnected and globalized society, we need to habituate students to expect difference, not sameness."  As I mentioned at the outset of this letter, Gunston has been at the forefront of this educational challenge for decades. Last year, I read a remarkable and award-winning book about a transgender child entitled "Becoming Nicole" by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Amy Ellis Nutt.  Beyond its vivid portrayal of a child, a family, and neurobiological diversity, it vividly illustrates the emotional and psychological power of social tolerance in our world.  I recommend it highly as a starting point for questions that might arise regarding Gunston's accommodation of gender identity difference.

Warm regards,

John A. Lewis, IV

Headmaster