Roy Exum
The Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, after badly misjudging the school’s community, put a “pause” on its ‘gender diversity philosophy’ on Friday after two nights of terse meetings and over 1,000 signatures from concerned parents, alumnae, and the private school’s donors. There will be no biological boys attending the prestigious all-girls school anytime soon.
In a descriptive story that appeared on the Tennessee Star website (tennesseestar.com), writer Pete D’Abrosca revealed the school’s Board of Trust hastily reversed a seemingly “woke” decision that threatened to tear the school to its core when there was apparently no reason to adopt such a controversial philosophy.
The story is being followed by private schools across the South – and especially in Chattanooga - where there are single gender schools that have experienced great success.
Harpeth Hall, founded in 1951, is considered one of the best college preparatory schools in the country. With approximately 775 girls in the fifth-to-twelfth grades, the school’s graduating students have a high acceptance rate to the top colleges.
Here is the story that appeared on The Tennessee Star on Friday:
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ELITE NASHVILLE GIRLS SCHOOL WILL PAUSE POLICY THAT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED BOYS TO ATTEND
Written by Pete D’Abrosca of the Tennessee Star on August 19, 2022
A little more than a week after Harpeth Hall, an elite high school for girls in Nashville, said it would admit any student who identified as a girl, the school has at least temporarily reversed course.
“Last week, the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees shared with current parents and school alumnae a gender diversity philosophy, which was intended to offer clarity about how the school approaches gender identity at Harpeth Hall,” said a letter simply addressed to the Harpeth Hall community.
“We recognize that this philosophy elicited a strong reaction of support and opposition beyond our expectations,” the letter says.
“We care deeply about your feedback, and we have heard you. Based on the responses from our school community, the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees is choosing to pause the adoption of the philosophy in order to engage a wider audience in continued discussion.”
The letter says that the school does not wish to make any changes to its admissions practices, despite the fact that it struck an opposite tune just weeks ago.
In the first letter discussing the new gender diversity policy, the school said the following:
“Harpeth Hall acknowledges the developmental journey of each student and recognizes that adolescence includes natural searching and questioning about many topics. For some students, this may include the question of gender identity and the desire to identify as nonbinary or use they/them pronouns.
“Harpeth Hall approaches gender identity with understanding and open communication, rather than with shame or othering, and will provide a safe environment to partner with each student and family to consider the needs and requests of the student on an individual basis.”
After that initial announcement, the school community began a petition meant to dissuade school officials from adopting the new philosophy.
“We are writing to you today on behalf of a significant number of current parents, former parents, and alumnae … Adopting a policy that invites application to Harpeth Hall by anyone other than females is a critical change in the structure of the school, and by extension, has a major impact on our daughters,” the petitioners said.
The petition continued: “Nashville presents many options, including schools spread across every social and educational dimension – who accept and develop children without consideration of sex/gender. But we chose Harpeth Hall intentionally because of its educational excellence, its many traditions, and, yes, its focus on girls.
“As much as many see issues of sex/gender as very complex, there is also a simple approach for our school: that Harpeth Hall selects and develops girls across a wide spectrum of backgrounds, but only girls, girls at birth who also identify as girls today. We feel strongly that this is ideal for our daughters and granddaughters, and will allow them to develop and grow, compete, and thrive without the distractions and complexities of boys, born or declared, in the classroom, and on the fields and stages.”
The goal of the petition was to reach 1,000 signatures. As of press time Thursday afternoon, the petition had reached 1,008 signatures.
The school did not say in its update whether the petition was a factor in its decision to pause the new gender diversity policy.
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royexum@aol.com