We, the undersigned alumni, strongly condemn the actions taken by the North Broward Preparatory School (NBPS) administration in response to Middle School Pre-Algebra teacher Nadine Cutler’s display of a Black Lives Matter flag in her classroom.

Addressing systemic racism in the United States should not be seen as a “side” in a “debate” that students should “critically analyze” before “develop[ing] their individual positions.” Affirming that Black life matters in a classroom at a school that supposedly prides itself on its diversity and multiculturalism should not be controversial. Prioritizing “neutrality” over issues of racial justice, anti-racist teaching, and formative conversations with students from an early age on what it means to respect and empower each other to forge a more inclusive, equitable society is, in fact, taking a side.

By prioritizing not talking about what it means to say that Black Lives Matter, and why such a seemingly basic phrase needs to be said or displayed on a flag, takes the side of those in our society who do not acknowledge the intergenerational trauma, systemic injustices, deeply ingrained inequities, and racism present in the United States. It takes the side of those who believe that rather than acknowledging these very real harms, we should pretend to exist in a race-blind society where the only reasons why Black & Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) individuals are statistically less likely to graduate high school and attend college is their own fault, not the fault of generations of discriminatory and racist policy and societal attitudes.

We condemn that NBPS posits Black Lives Matter as a “side” of a “debate,” where “all sides” should be “critically analyze[d].” Does this mean that students are being presented with the other side—racism, including brutality at the hands of agents of the state—as a valid perspective to hold? Are students being taught both sides of the “debate” over slavery? Both sides of the Civil Rights Movement? Human rights and respect for others should never be seen as a political issue.

The North Broward Prep honor code that we pledged to uphold as students of NBPS includes Respect for Others and Respect for Myself as key tenets of the school’s guiding philosophy.

“I will be kind and polite to teachers, staff and fellow students, and refrain from hurtful remarks about appearance, race, religion, family, intelligence and sexuality. I will respect people's privacy. I will not deprive them of their right to be happy and successful in the school community.”

By denying Black students of an opportunity to receive affirmation from their teacher that their lives, their very basic existence, matters, does this not deprive these students of “their right to be happy and successful in the school community”? By denying students from having this conversation in the classroom, with the guidance of a trained educator, does this not embolden students and the NBPS community to make hurtful remarks about race in the future?

“I understand that if I observe violations of this Honor Code and do not stand up and uphold it, that I have violated the code and dishonored myself, my school, my fellow students and my parents. I accept my responsibility not to passively participate in a violation by allowing it to continue even though I know it to be wrong.”

We, the undersigned alumni “accept [our] responsibility not to passively participate in a violation by allowing it to continue even though [we] know it to be wrong.” We are disgusted by a vision of an NBPS  “community” that is not “a good fit” for an educator seeking to promote an anti-racist curriculum and to affirm that Black students’ lives matter. We are deeply ashamed to be associated with an educational institution that believes that a “holistic approach to cultural sensitivity” requires minimizing the belief that Black Lives Matter and that prioritizes the pursuit of profit over shaping young minds to reject racism.

We call on the NBPS administration to immediately allow all teachers to include references to BLM in their classroom and release a statement affirming their support of the BLM movement. Furthermore, we believe that NBPS should be taking steps to improve their recruitment practices by actively seeking out and offering financial support to BIPOC students who might not otherwise be able to afford tuition due to aforementioned societal barriers. To that end, we demand a statement upholding NBPS’s explicit commitment to racial equity and a detailed plan outlining changes to their recruitment policies. In addition, we request transparency into the Cultural Intelligence and Inclusion Team’s key objectives, active workstreams, and successes since its inception.

We believe that NBPS has the opportunity to rise above its reputation as a “business” that cares only about profit at the expense of all else. We believe that this is an opportunity for the school to be on the right side of history, and hope that the NBPS administration receives this statement and takes a serious look at whether their current practices truly align with a vision of a school where all students have access to a high-quality education.

Sincerely,

Isabela Karibjanian ‘15

Josie Roth ‘15

Bianca Ungerman ‘13

Connor Yockus ‘14

Briana Earhart ‘14

Eric Nayman ‘15

Ben Curtis ‘18

Caroline Kaplan ‘14

Charlie Rollason ‘16

Oliver Shore ‘15

Cameron Glass ‘17

Serena Bruno ‘19

Christine Dumervil ‘13

Loredana Petrucci ‘15

Maegan Fizpatrick ‘14

Lucas James ‘16

Maria Carolina Rodriguez ‘15

Daneille Molloy ‘16

Chris Molloy ‘16

Austin Greenfield ‘16

Lexie Krane ‘16

Lauren Dekok ‘12

Haley Pleskow ‘13

Giana SanGiovanni ‘16

Neil Goodman ‘16

Jordyn Walker ‘16

Jacob Blum ‘17

Corinne Drysdale ‘14

Francesca Vigna ‘13

Elisa Toivola ‘16

Amanda Blum ‘17

Jillian Nietschmann ‘15

Kelsey Blow ‘13

Matthew Ahearn ‘13

Megan Dekok ‘10

Rachel Steinman ‘08

Rachel Metzner ‘17

Alexis Walls ‘13

Jacqueline Carroll ‘15

Jake Renko ‘17

Alexandra Kaplan ‘11

Carmen Horn ‘17

Hannah Farmer ‘14

Katherine Fitzpatrick ‘14

Gabriela Rabasa ‘15

Nya Goberville ‘19

Niko Linzer ‘17

Devon Horn ‘14

Jessica Chomik ‘17

Aimee Baret ‘01

Stevie Maizes ‘16

Samantha Stone ‘13

Niko Linzer ‘17

Jasmine Knox ‘12

Alex Ellington ‘15

Danielle Ganz ‘18

Tina Sinclaire Crane ‘16

Olivia Gay ‘18

TJ Cooper ‘17

Lauren Skuta ‘14

Jordynn Lurie ‘16

Francis Diez ‘16

Katelyn Malanowski ‘15

Alec Campbell ‘15

Matthew Pleskow ‘18

Samantha Hodes ‘16

Emily Miller ‘16

eve cohen ‘20

Helana Pavelic ‘18

Alessia Binaggia ‘18

Quinn Devita ‘18

Afzal Qureshi ‘12

Hope Clark ‘18

Amanda Weinstein ‘16

Rebecca Fain ‘18

Andrea Giugni ‘15

Hannah Ziff ‘13

Lily Feldman ‘12

Alexandra Fitzpatrick ‘17

Brenna Vaz ‘13

Sevan Lusararian ‘15

Liam Randhawa ‘18

Evan Shapiro ‘17

Natalie Langnas ‘20

Nicole Zhou ‘19

Alexis Masciarella ‘18

Sara Winters ‘16

Dylan Jost ‘20

Jessica Girard ‘18

Victoria Edwards ‘18

Maia Botek ‘19

Regina Zavadzkas Garza ‘18

Dani Weiner ‘14

Jaeden Pinder ‘19

Samoa Arbulu ‘18

John Raffio ‘18

Rakeb Asres ‘19

Brooke Rader ‘15

Lucas Diaz ‘17

Arsham Kosari ‘16

Evan Haubner ‘14

Naomi Eid ‘18

Maria Luiza Domingues ‘15

Bryan Matamoros ‘16

Matthew Yang ‘12

Brooke Dubner ‘18

Ryan Wolf ‘13

Riivo Kruuk ‘15

Jake Glass ‘13

Adam DeVita ‘14

Afton Weiner ‘08

Jacob Werman ‘15

Madelyn Canter ‘18

William Walker ‘16

Tanya Lusararian ‘13

Victoria Adams ‘15

Kaitlyn Sheehan ‘16

Taylor Cooper ‘17

Zoë Gram ‘18

Indira Moosai ‘16

Sabrina Dominguez ‘14

Emma Dineen ‘15

Stefan Smith ‘14

Andrea Pulgar ‘12

Grant Kendall ‘14

Nestacia Lubin ‘14

Jay Silverstein ‘15

Lexis Alvarez ‘14

Sloane Delanoy ‘15

Amy Beck ‘15

Kristina Talio ‘15

Anonymous ‘22

Kirby Alou ‘16

Dana Musso ‘16

Lauren Kiffel ‘18

Kiki Estevez ‘15

Ben Ostrow ‘19

Laura Ebert Carl ‘15

Bryan Edwards ‘18

Alexandra Tanner ‘09

Alec Gordon ‘18

Max Pawliger ‘18

Jess Tanner ‘13

Rolee Sharma ‘16

Melissa Ozbeyler ‘19

Teluck Sharma ‘20

Brian Owen ‘17

Bahar Ghahremani ‘13

Alina Ali ‘16

Santiago Espinoza ‘18

Gabrielle Maya ‘17

Jade Moy ‘13

Heather Blum ‘13

Hira Ali ‘18

Ryan Heller ‘18

Roberto Rodriguez ‘11

Daniel Haubner ‘21

Francesca Inocentes ‘13

Brett Roth ‘18

Carlos Rodriguez ‘09

Sam Kocharov ‘13

Taylor Stevens ‘13

Sara Hartstone ‘13

Megan Smith ‘20

Arin Charash ‘21

Morgan Siegel ‘12

Mary Rankin ‘14

Manuela Mejia ‘10

Michael Kiffel ‘14

Gretta Marston-Lari ‘17

Amy Morgia ‘15

Kelsey Malanowski ‘15

Steven Smith ‘14

Hillary Jacobs ‘19

Matthew Fox ‘20

Jeff Schemm ‘14

Alexandra Jokinen ‘18

Rikkiya Brathwaite ‘15

Alison Ponn ‘08

Natalie Hoffman ‘14

Steven Chatoff ‘11

Christian Peter ‘18

Amanda Lindeman ‘16

Hanna Toivola ‘16

Pablo Penaherrera ‘15

Camille Bondy ‘14

Meghan Hoss ‘15

Marc Diamant ‘14

Drake Booth ‘12

Brett Levin ‘13

Jonathan Franca ‘19

Pooja Utamsingh ‘10

Angelica Cirino ‘17

Jasmine Maximilien ‘17

Ainsley Ross ‘20

Samantha Laufmab ‘17

Nathan Sarasohn ‘11

Mariah Levy ‘17

Maria Faleeva ‘15

Anna Ohanian ‘14

Christopher Figueroa ‘15

Richard Bien-Aime ‘19

Natalia Berkel ‘20

Kristen Watson ‘09

Estefania Holt ‘13

Derek Burkhardsmeier ‘10

Jessica Papagno ‘15

Sarah Steinman ‘14

Eric Steinman ‘13

Ashley Page ‘16

Anna Farronay ‘20

Karina Fernández ‘21

Rebekah L. Wildenberg ‘15

Taylor Tuchman ‘15

Michael Kareff ‘11

Joshua Marshall ‘19

Vanessa Soares da Silva ‘19

Nicole Bergamo ‘11

Andrea Casetta ‘17

Parker Qi ‘19

Hallie Salko ‘15

Gina Marie Gruss ‘17

Zach Ginsburg ‘14

Sydney Feiss ‘15

Jake Rosuck ‘13

Hannah Stevens ‘15

Emily Smith ‘18

Jeremy McMillan ‘15

Amanda Graboski ‘15

Leopoldo Castillo ‘20

Sydney Krulik ‘17

Matias Hernandez ‘18

Teddi Inkeles ‘15

Eduardo Reyna ‘17

Alexa Bryant ‘20

Evan Laufman ‘20

Melinda Page ‘14

Alexandra Guilfoyle ‘15

Layla Abou ‘21

Sabrina Widelitz ‘19

Dylan Rosenthal ‘19

Farhad Ibrahimzade ‘22

Natasha Pokrajac ‘21

Tess Frisman ‘19

Max Shooster ‘14

Briella Konsker ‘15

Alexia Dubreuze ‘17

Ty Frisman ‘17

Yizhe Gu ‘20

Rachel Weisz ‘20

Anh Thu Nguyen ‘21

Hanh Hong (Hanni) Vu ‘13

Yuliia Tkachenko ‘17

Lorena Diaz ‘16

Clemens Uhl ‘17

Michele St-Amant ‘11

Ivy Tam ‘19

Dorizabelle Northecide ‘19

Anastasia Baranova ‘19

Jennifer Widelitz ‘15

Morgan Desacia ‘19

Cheyenne Rivera ‘23

Ben Feltingoff ‘19

Lauren Watts ‘20

Taylor Early ‘15

Emily Kian ‘16

Marquis Wright ‘12

Romanov Jean ‘15

Nicholas Rendon ‘19

Mollie Ramge ‘15

Phoebe Gould ‘15

Abigail Rose Farmer ‘18

Mia Herrmann ‘15

Justin McCulloch ‘18

Krista Lighter ‘10

Karissa Nikolopoulos ‘21

Randi Patregnani ‘19

María Galindo ‘10

Jennifer Gittess ‘15

Elizabeth Clark ‘16

TJ Peterson ‘15

Alexandra Mack ‘18

Charles Malaga ‘22

Simon Christoffersen ‘14

Mathias Christoffersen ‘10

Mischa Christoffersen ‘26

Lilly Hulth ‘26

Alanis Henriquez ‘26

Sierra Greenberg ‘26

Joseph Hreschak ‘21

Elisabeth Akel ‘15

Raphael Scheinberg ‘13

Claudia Giugni ‘18

Colette Marquez ‘26

Anonymous ‘17

Anonymous ‘13

Filippa Lundin ‘17

Norman Rojami ‘12

Ray Kairi ‘18

Liv Stralman ‘26

Jenny Highstein ‘25

Emma Quirk ‘22

David Hartstone ‘09

Linsey Smith ‘19

Vikash Basdeo ‘17

Matthew Weinstein ‘18

Lowve Stralman ‘28

Nicholas Mancini ‘19

Rebecca Green ‘13

Halli Helfman ‘20

Michelle Smith ‘20

Aislinn Brophy ‘13

Liv Stralman ‘26

Katie Hodes ‘20

Jonathan Galka ‘14

Leonardo Franco Crespo ‘16

Jasen Vest ‘19

Rachel Wheeler ‘19

Sabrina Smith ‘17

Jordan Hirsch ‘20

Sophia del Granado ‘20

Bella del Granado ‘20

Julia F. ‘17

Madison Silver ‘17

Henry Porte ‘17

Lucas Altieri ‘20

Darren Keane ‘18

Amber VanHemel ‘15

Michele Shaked ‘13

Lily Kalandjian ‘20

Tisha Salkey ‘11

Alexis Thornton ‘11

Monique Maximilien ‘12

Tyler Marshall ‘14

Whitney Mays ‘13

Gracie Spina ‘17

Riley Edwards ‘14

Liam James ‘18