Roy Exum
When it was first learned that Chattanooga’s Girls Preparatory School had picked a woman from Wilmington, Delaware, as its hastily-hired ‘Head of School,’ the general consensus of the alumnae was “Heaven help us all … The last thing GPS needs after the last debacle is some ‘woke’ soul stirring up a mess.”
Apparently Megan Cover, this in her initial year at the famed all-girls school, is indeed causing quite a stir and a large group of concerned parents are becoming alarmed at what their daughters are bringing home besides homework.
No prayer in school any longer, no Pledge of Allegiance, and “lack of transparency” may seem small, but stir decades of cherished tradition with today’s volatile curriculum and the “mess” is altogether another.
GPS, located on the north shore of the Tennessee River, has about 700 students from mostly-conservative and affluent families who are taught by mostly liberal teachers. As such, there has always been a queasy mix between faculty leadership and the school’s patrons but – face it -- the school produces some of the most outstanding young women in the South, almost all going to prestigious colleges and universities.
Three generations in my family attended GPS, my daughter the most recent, and what Megan Cover is pushing won’t sell. “Woke” ain’t working anywhere in America these days. This isn’t what the Christian-principled school is about, nor, I am wont to say, what the core-and-crux women who once danced the May Pole at the school hold most dear. You’ll have better luck telling the student body to tighten their uniform belts.
This latest pushback against the administration is hardly new but worrisome; with McCallie and Baylor thriving, GPS can ill-afford to lose any more prospective students to Chattanooga Christian, Boyd Buchanan or other schools. A questionable curriculum can be disastrous in Tennessee.
A critical race theory program called “SEED” -- https://nationalseedproject.org/. -- has the school patrons’ attention, and “poor choices” in areas of social justice and gender identity issues are bothersome to those who pay in excess of $28K/year per student for academic and athletic excellence. Further, GPS has a large philanthropy list that an insider promised is “not amused” what the Board of Trustees is condoning under Mrs. Cover’s progressive leadership.
Today, just for example, the student body will be assembled to listen to guest speaker Jen Cort, who is a diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice consultant working with schools and organizations in multiple countries. Her goal “is to create spaces where students, and all community members, can be seen and heard while learning to be visible and use their voices in productive ways.” Exciting stuff for a 10th grader, huh?
Apparently there is actually a letter being circulated to the Head of School and to the board that voices a deep concern about the school’s direction and its perception in Chattanooga's conservative community. The letter represents over 70 parents and alleges other parents will join immediately in the effort when they are made aware of the quiet yet disturbing changes being instituted in the school.
With the NCAA in a whirl over women's athletics, the parents want a statement confirming GPS will remain an all-girls school. To wit: “GPS was founded as an all-girls school and reconfirms its clear and strong commitment as such. GPS will only admit students who are biologically female and who identify as female.”
Other areas of contention call for removal of divisive content from the curriculum, less reliance on “national organizations such as the BELONGINGS program and, recognizing the unintended consequences that have proven to be “decidedly negative” on the GPS campus.
GPS leadership is being called on for much clearer transparency, the belief a veil of secrecy is keeping parents from a proper accountability for their families. And, by all accounts, personal political agendas usually creep into daily doings despite what is “best for the child.”
GPS Head Megan Cover would be well advised to leave “Now” alone and, rather than concentrate on “Tomorrow,” abandon all else but the school motto: “Where everything begins and ends with what is best for girls."
Do the best thing.
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