“What we are seeing today with the breaching of our nation’s Capitol by armed rioters is an outrage and the very opposite of what we must model for our students when it comes to resolving conflict. Civil protest is a constitutional right. Storming the capital with guns is not. We must always remember that our children are watching. They have lost so much over the past year, and now they must reconcile what they have been taught about the ideals of our democratic nation with the criminal attacks they have witnessed in our Capitol. At the School District of Philadelphia, our educators and leaders will continue to focus on the needs of our students as we try to help them understand how this happened, what it means and how our nation must work together to restore peace and democracy in the days and months ahead. Our students deserve no less.”

Sincerely,

William R. Hite, Jr. Ed.D.