Aight so boom: a thread about the good ole boy Catholic school, @MaristSchool
I attended Marist School from 9th to 12th grade between the years 2013 and 2017. Located in Atlanta, Marist prides itself in providing a premiere education for all who attend. While I am indebted for the opportunities it has provided me, the school has a real accountability issue
I am referring to how it handles racial bias incidents. At Marist, their strategy is to discipline students privately and keep everything under wraps. However, this does not happen all of the time which can really make marginalized students feel bad. For example,
My senior year, a white student commented on a finsta post saying that the only reason a Black student received admission from NYU early was because she was Black. Black seniors stated a conversation in our GroupMe, condemning the behavior and asking for apologies
Understandbley, the school may or may not have caught wind of it and did nothing because they could do nothing. BUT when incidents are brought to attention, they keep things behind closed doors.
This year alone there have been THREE separate incidents: one was racially suspect, another was homophobic. The first, a group of young women made themselves appear darker with makeup and recorded a Snapchat video to Baby Birkin by Gunna.
The second, a group of eighth grade women accused other eighth grade women of "kissing girls" and harassed them using gay slurs.
The third, a student was in an Instagram argument with another student about how America is white, and the "illegals" have to get out. Clearly, something is not being taught at home and Catholic social teaching tells us that it is our responsibility to educate about why these
things are wrong. However Marist chooses to privately reprimand students is fine. But, these three incidents indicate that perhaps all students could benefit from anti-bias and anti-ignorance. That is what is lacking.
So why this thread? A faculty member at Marist addressed these incidents in a morning prayer but couched them in a larger act to raise awareness as to what highschool students go through and how we shuould be kind to another. They call on students, faculty and staff to
"live out the Marist way and the diversity statement. Stop seeing them as words on a poster on a wall, but a deep and personal challenge of metanoia." The teacher was defending students who have been wronged without naming offenders.
BUT @MaristSchool placed the teacher on a leave of absence. They sent out an email saying that the prayer was inappropriate because it embarrassed students even though they weren't named. Even if everyone knew who they were talking about, publicly denouncing ignorance is
important. Here is a link to the prayer itself and a picture of the response from @MaristSchool. Their history of following a good ole boy system where teachers are supposed to sit down and shut up out of fear of punishment or lack of promotion speaks for itself.
Everyone knows that the Catholic Church handling things behind closed doors never works (e.g. a history of sexual abuse in the church). @MaristSchool has had countless opportunities to educate students and denounce bad behavior but chose to do it behind closed doors
and not communicate to ALL students that that behavior is unacceptable. They need to do better and need to be held accountable for their actions. So, @ajc @WSBTVcommunity @FOX5Atlanta reach out to Marist for comment regarding why they placed the faculty member on leave
for invoking their first amendment right. Here is the original prayer 
Continued. And here is @MaristSchool response.
Twitter, do ya thang
@AJCGetSchooled ***another update
Over the past few months, the school has met with students, alum, parents, and other key stakeholders. They are working with diversity consultants to figure out what needs to change, but what about the teacher? Dr. Harmon-Christian is still without work and
Over the past few months, the school has met with students, alum, parents, and other key stakeholders. They are working with diversity consultants to figure out what needs to change, but what about the teacher? Dr. Harmon-Christian is still without work and
should be reinstated! Marist is seeking letters of support (with an unusually quick turnaround) for Dr. Harmon-Christian. I've attached an image below. Please tell ya friends and ya parents because no one should be out of work for doing the right thing
****massive update****
Dr. Harmon-Christian, you know the GOAT, was officially dismissed from Marist for "misuse of power which resulted in the embarrassment of students." I hope that after reading this thread, you understand her sentiment and intent. Yes, calling out bad
Dr. Harmon-Christian, you know the GOAT, was officially dismissed from Marist for "misuse of power which resulted in the embarrassment of students." I hope that after reading this thread, you understand her sentiment and intent. Yes, calling out bad
behavior may embarrass students but not calling it out makes it seem okay. Private conversations let the student know said behavior is not okay, but every individual in the school should know the same thing. Dr. Harmon-Christian fought to be reinstated but was unsuccessful.
Marist is choosing to prioritize the comfort of their students, biased, problematic students, over the position of a teacher who wanted to make marginalized students feel comfortable at their own school. Dr. Harmon-Christian is now willing to speak out to the media but media must
reach out to her. I've tagged a couple people that may have been keeping up with this but please feel free to share this with any journalist and have them DM me for her contact information. Marist needs to be held accountable - they've hired diversity consultants and are looking
for ways to improve campus and campus climate, but that still does little in the short term for students who have been insulted by other students and for teachers who can identify an issue, but fear speaking up because they want to keep their jobs.
